Education Policies of the Political Parties, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 07:46PM Read summaries of the main political parties' education policies, as they headed into the 2011 general election.
ACT
Every child would get an “opportunity scholarship” equivalent to current per student spending provided directly to parents or by direct payment to the school of the parents' choice (public or private). An “Education Authority will establish guidelines of expected standards to be reached at various age levels (similar to inflation targets of Reserve Bank)” and the curriculum will move “back to basics”.
Greens
“A free education system that fosters participation, sustainability, equality and peace. High quality teaching, learning environments, and curriculum that fosters peace in our communities.” The Greens have committed to increase the Operations Grant by 10%, retain and support local and rural schools, maximum class sizes no greater than 20, and increased teacher-child ratios in early childhood services. They want environmental education in the core curriculum at all levels, more funding for Maori language, immersion and bilingual programmes, oppose bulk funding of teacher and support staff salaries, support pay parity, want to improve resources for community-based 'not for profit' early childhood services, and ensure the Special Education Grant is adequate for the actual number of special needs children.
Mana Party
Mana would restore "quality standards and funding for teacher-led early childhood centres and increase funding to parent-lead early childhood centres", while phasing out public funding for profit-driven ECE centres. It would increase public provision of ECE centres in low and middle income areas and increase the emphasis on te reo and tikanga Maori. It puts a strong emphasis on building and resourcing capability and capacity in kohanga reo, starting with an independent review of the Kohanga Reo National Trust and audit total immersion or bi-lingual centres for the amount and quality of te reo being delivered to children.
Mana would abolish National standards and replace them with moves such as reducing classroom sizes and improving the quality of teacher-student relationships. It supports central funding for school support staff and rejects PPPs in schools. It is looking to develop policy for Māori, Pasifika and children with special needs that are "continually being underserved by the current education system". These would include greater emphasis on Ka Hikitia and a step up in training teachers of te reo. It would make schools the centres of provision of free dental, healthcare and social intervention for children, with every school having dedicated health workers and social workers.
Maori Party
Maori Party policies appear unchanged since 2008. They include compulsory and free early childhood education from four years of age and lower adult: child ratios in ECE. They want culturally competent services and an increase of the supply of quality early childhood care and education services in low-income areas.
At primary level, the Maori party policy says it would establish incentives that reward school success and innovation in reducing under-achievement and disengagement; reduce teacher-student raios and support professional development for teachers, particularly in cultural competency and te reo.
The policy suggests that schools need to provide better information on school performance, including Māori and Pacific achievement and that there should be more invesement in key support staff. The policy also recommends iwi service provision of mobile literacy and numeracy services for both children and parents and " greater freedom to supplement Maori educational outcomes with whanau, hapu and iwi models of education."
Labour Party
Labour has announced that it would make National Standards optional. , and schools would monitor and track student progress against their own school expectations, and would not be required to implement ‘National Standards’. Teachers would be required to report twice a year to parents in plain language against the curriculum, about a child’s rate of progress, and on next learning steps. Children not achieving at the appropriate curriculum level would be identified.
It appears that Labour will put high values on partnerships with educators, and make some moves towards restoring ECE qualified teachers targets. Statements to date centre around "joined up" policies for young children, tackling income, caring, education, housing and access to health care to "give every child a good start in life" with the goal of ultimately eradicating child poverty. Labour says it supports universal entitlements for all Kiwi children under 5, rather than targeting "vulnerable children" only.
National Party
National has not announced any new education policy. Its general direction in ECE policy is to blame “spiralling costs” for cuts to funding and thus needing to make “tough decisions to ensure spending is effective”. It points to the ECE taskforce for future direction: “The ECE taskforce will review spending and the value gained by investment in early childhood education. It will look at improvements for Maori, Pasifika, and children from low-income families, proposing innovative ideas to support children's learning.” Although the Minister has said the Government will retain 20 hours, there has been no commitment to maintaining fee controls.
National’s other main policy plank remains National Standards: “Last election, we promised to establish National Standards to combat under achievement in schools. We have delivered on that promise. National Standards is a crucial part of our plan to make sure children learn the basics at school, and build a brighter future for New Zealand... Parents want clear answers to simple questions like… Are they doing as well as others in class? This is what National Standards delivers through clear, easy to understand, plain language reports.”
New Zealand First
“Money spent on Education will be treated as an investment, not as expenditure. Educational advancement is both in the national and in the individual interest. Educational investment is critical for economic and social recovery. “
NZF does not yet have any detailed policy on ECE and primary education beyond this broad statement which is one of 15 "policy priorities".
United Future
UnitedFuture has supported National Standards, but the lead statement on its primary schooling policy now reads "however the current system has been poorly conceived, inaccurately portrayed, badly communicated and hastily implemented. This has generated no small amount of animosity and mistrust among the numerous stakeholders." United Future policy includes setting a minimum number of hours for teaching of literacy and numeracy, and the introduction of character education and oral language as core curriculum areas.
It wants to separate support staff funding from the ops grant, increase special needs funding (ORSS, Reading Recovery, ESOL) and reduce class sizes. The party wants to see more men in teaching, internationally competitive pay rates for teachers, and more robust processes for non-performing teachers. It appears to signal interest in a review of the Tomorrow's School governance model. Its ECE policy supports parents as first teachers, more parenting programmes and early intervention for children at risk, along with support for 20 hours ECE.
Reader Comments (2)
Have been waiting for this information. couldn't access it initially but am very pleased to say have now been successful. will share it with the staff at my school.
Have been waiting for this information. couldn't access it initially but am very pleased to say have now been successful. will share it with the staff at my school.