Beaumont Carol: Education Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBeaumont Carol: Education Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 30 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10607. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CAROL BEAUMONT (Labour): The Education Amendment Bill—let me pick up from where Tracey Martin was on this bill. The title of this bill is an innocuous one is it not? The Education Amendment Bill—it could be anything but actually the title does not reflect the magnitude of change that is being proposed in this legislation. The changes are probably some of the biggest changes for decades. In particular the changes around the charter schools are the ones that I wish to focus on and I want to look at them in the context of the title and also look at what is being changed and reflect that in the title.The charter school provisions are providing for a number of things that Labour is strongly opposed to. They give schools the right to have unqualified and unregistered teachers and that includes the principal of the charter school. It also means that the school will not have to follow theNew Zealand Curriculum. So I have been reflecting on this title the Education Amendment Bill and thinking that if we are serious about this and if the Government is so proud of this initiative let us call it something that does reflect what this bill is actually about. It could be called the “Charter Schools (Parents Don’t Deserve to Have a Voice) Bill” because what this bill provides for is doing away with our democratic provisions in our school system our elected boards of trustees that provide parents and the community with a say on what happens in their local school. That is all done away with. Instead the sponsor of the school can determine what happens in that school. That includes as I say staff who are not necessarily qualified as teachers or indeed registered to teach. Maybe it could be called the “Charter Schools (Profit Before Pupils) Bill’ because what this bill does is allow schools to operate at a profit.We had quite a lot of discussion last night about why it is that this legislation excludes charter schools from coverage from the Official Information Act and the Ombudsmen Act. We had a lot of debate about what was excluded in terms of the Official Information Act. It was pointed out by the Minister that those things that are in the contract of the charter school would be able to be accessed from the ministry by people using the Official Information Act if they needed to. But a lot of debate last night was about what information would and would not be included in that reporting against the contract. The information held by the school will not be covered by the OfficialInformation Act. So I wonder whether perhaps an alternative title for the bill could be “Charter Schools (Lack of Transparency and Accountability) Bill” because I think the fact is that information about what is going on in these schools at least in part will not be covered by the Official Information Act and certainly the Ombudsman is not able to be used in relation to charter schools. I was not there for the submissions process but I understand the Ombudsman was absolutely critical—absolutely determinedly critical in fact—of what the Government was proposing here and the lack of transparency the lack of accountability in this legislation. I think “Charter Schools (Lack of Transparency and Accountability) Bill” may well be a good name for this bill.I want to go back to where I started from. I am somebody who values education very highly as I know my colleagues on this side of the Chamber do and we recognise the importance of teachers and those who lead teachers—principals—and their very critical role in terms of delivering quality education. I think I am going to go with the title “Charter School Students Don’t Deserve Qualified and Registered Teachers Bill” because that is what is enabled by this legislation.Teacher quality is something that those across the other side of the Chamber say they believe in. At a time when the Government claims it is focusing on increasing the quality of teaching—in Budget 2012 the Government indicated that it intended to introduce a postgraduate qualification as a requirement for trainee teachers—this bill allows charter schools to employ staff with no formal teaching qualifications at all. That is like saying that in the end anybody could teach. There are no specific requirements of teachers. There is no specific knowledge base. There are no particular competencies or skill requirements of teachers. In the end perhaps if you are funny enough or engaging enough you could teach. That is what it is really saying—that this is not a real profession. Well actually we all know if we are honest that that is not true. We all know that that is not true.Even the principal of a charter school does not need to be a qualified teacher. You have to say to yourself—and all of us I am sure visit schools—that the role that is played by a principal as a leader of education and learning in a school is absolutely critical. A good principal has to understand what teachers do. They have to understand the learning environment. Having as a principal somebody who is not a qualified or registered teacher just does not make sense. I have to say that that just seems to me to reinforce the need to change the title of this bill to make it really clear to New Zealanders who hear about this legislation going through that it is not the innocuous Education Amendment Bill. This is the “Charter School Students Don’t Deserve Qualified and Registered Teachers Bill”.There is a unique set of skills that teachers require. Apparently the Prime Minister on the other hand said that people should not be “hung up” on the fact that teachers without qualifications will be able to teach New Zealand children in charter schools. So let us not be “hung up” about that says the Prime Minister. But actually not that long ago that same Prime Minister was telling parents that it is not the class sizes that matter but the quality of the teaching that we are getting in our schools. How are we going to get this quality teaching if we are able to have unqualified and unregistered teachers across that school? It is astounding really that the Prime Minister thinks that those two statements go together.Part of National’s promise to improve teacher quality does not make sense because it said that it wanted to improve teacher quality at the same time that it cut funding for teacher professional development by $15 million per year.Hon Simon Bridges: Where is this speech going?CAROL BEAUMONT: This speech is about what this bill is really about. It is not about the title the Education Amendment Bill. My suggestion if we are being honest isthat this bill should be called the “Charter School Students Don’t Deserve Qualified and Registered Teachers Bill”.I know that the Government likes to say that teacher opposition to this bill is all because they are unionists and they are trying to protect their wages and conditions. I have been appalled during the last term and the current term of this Government by the way it thinks it is appropriate to attack teachers constantly to undermine teachers when we all know that the community actually values and respects teachers and that their job is critically important to the future social and economic development of this country. Let me say that it was not just teachers teacher unions principals and principals’ organisations that raised concerns about this bill and the lack of a requirement for qualified and registered teachers—not at all. The National Council of Women New Zealand’s largest women’s organisation which is made up of branches from all around New Zealand and women from an absolutely diverse range of professions and organisations in its submission to the Education and Science Committee was absolutely adamant that having unqualified and unregistered teachers in our schools was the wrong way to go.Hon Simon Bridges: They did not.CAROL BEAUMONT: It is not just about teachers. They did say that Mr Bridges. Have a look at the submission.I just want to say that this concern and this disquiet about what is being proposed in this legislation are widely shared in the community—by teachers and principals yes indeed but also by the wider community and the parents who know what a difference teachers can make. If we are all honest—