King Colin: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Colin: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 30 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:12087. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]COLIN KING (National—Kaikōura):Just to add a bit of history for the benefit of the last speaker Sue Moroney when Labour was in Government the teaching level at early childhood education centres was funded at around 67 percent and what we have at the moment is a funding level under a National Government of 80 percent teacher-led. We have a lot to be very thankful for from the good leadership of a string of Ministers of Education especially Hekia Parata at the moment who is very focused on getting the very very best out of a first-class education system. We have $9.7 billion committed to the compulsory education sector and a Better Public Services goal of 98 percent involvement in early childhood education.I would have to say as a grandparent that I am absolutely delighted to see my grandchildren going ahead at leaps and bounds at quality early childhood education centres in Blenheim with those outstanding passionate teachers. I am confident that my grandchildren will be able to cope successfully in a modern global economy. They will be successful because in 2008—it is surprising how time flies—there was effectively $1 billion spent on the early childhood education sector and today it is $1.5 billion. We have got to bear in mind that this is during a time of incredible hardship and a global financial crisis and yet this Government’s priority under Minister Hekia Parata has focused on ensuring that we spend those taxpayers’ dollars effectively and wisely.I just want to refer back to an earlier policy that was put into effect by this National Government—national standards—and to say how well that has sat today with the good reporting. I am so pleased and delighted that finally we are recognising the importance of measurement and that we have momentum going forward—momentum going forward—around education. For so long the Labour members over there buried theirheads in the sand. Well what did they do? Nothing. We had a whole lot of rhetoric but we had no real substance.So what have we seen here? This Government has initiated some really important reviews and inquiries and I cannot stand here and not mention the digital literacy. That is an area that Minister Hekia Parata has delegated down to Nikki Kaye. It is an area that we in the Education and Science Committee have had the privilege of doing a review on and I am excited. I am so excited to see what is going to come out of that. It is a National Government that is going to drive those initiatives and they are going to benefit many many people. What we are living in today is an exciting dynamic environment. It is quick and changing and there are so many variables to it so we have got to empower our young people with the ability to be able to cope. If we do not we will be underselling them. I am afraid that on the record of the previous Government whose members are now in the Opposition it failed miserably.I just want to mention one of my really pet areas which is around the vocational pathways. What a great situation there that now inside the National Certificate of Education Achievement we have identified vocational pathways. We hear a bit of a mock and jovial approach to the plumbers gasfitters and drainlayers but really when you look at the examination the foundation problem there is that a lot of our young ones today do not have the literacy skills or the numeracy skills to be able to do a distance-learning situation qualification or an exam.There is no doubt about it when you look at the package of policies that this Government has implemented over a series of Budgets we have made a significant difference. We have set up a step change going forward and I am just so delighted about it.So in conclusion we talk about partnership schools—a very very important situation—and you hear the other side lament and talk about the teachers. We understand that the teacher is the inspiration and that that ignites a person’s potential. What I have lamented is that within the teacher qualification it is very very hard to get people in those technical trades and skills in front of kids.