Getting Real

National Standards have been a policy of the National Government for many years so no surprises they have dragged these out and are trying to expedite their implementation into our education system.
As with many short sighted and narrow government policies the Government believe they can rush these new standards through with minimal consultation and time for feedback from parents and educators. On top of this our new minister seems to believe that by threatening Principals that they are breaking the law that this will bring them meekly into line. Good luck with that Minister- in my experience Principals are leaders and not people who will allow their staff and children to be jeopardised by a third world dictator style threat.

To the standards themselves- a little unrealistic in scope particularly year 8 . However schools are allowed to use their own assessment tools to assess student achievement which begs the question how can you compare( and thats what this is all about- lets be honest) results between two schools using different assessment tools.

So league tables will be a reality in our country and I believe these will drastically alter the educational landscape of this nation. As an educator and a parent who was unable to attend the consultation meetings because A) I was at work and B) only parents of schools who asked the Ministry to hold consultation meetings were allowed to attend parent meetings-
so somewhat limting in that respect.