Dunedin principal ordered to ignore national standards

Macandrew Intermediate in Dunedin has taken a stand against the Government's National Standards by refusing to open a box containing information about the initiative.

Principal Whetu Cormick said the school's board of trustees had instructed him to leave the box closed until the Ministry of Education provided effective professional development and a clear implementation pathway for national standards.

"Ideally, I would like to send the box back to the ministry," he said.

"I agree we have a problem with under-achievement in New Zealand primary schools.

"But this is moving too fast and we need to be given time to unpack the box, analyse it, understand it and then implement its contents."

Board chairwoman Ernie Mather said the majority of the board had agreed the box should not be opened.

"It's like Pandora's box.

"If we open it, we're just going to have to deal with it.

"So, it's better left closed.

"We've got enough on our plate without worrying about this, too."

Mr Cormick said Education Minister Anne Tolley would be well advised to listen to teachers, because they were the people who were going to help her solve the under-achievement problem.

"The way to solve under-achievement is through programmes such as Te Kotahitanga, which builds relationships between teachers and students.

"And, most importantly, having a curriculum that students can negotiate the learning, and be involved in learning that they are interested in."

"National standards will not turn kids on.

"It will turn kids off."

Mrs Tolley said an Education Review Office report released yesterday showed immediate action was needed to help New Zealand's youngest pupils.

The report evaluated reading and writing in the crucial years 1 and 2 at 212 primary schools around New Zealand, and found almost two-thirds of school principals and senior managers were not properly monitoring how well young children were achieving or progressing.

It also found three-quarters of principals did not set expectations of high achievement levels.

"While 70% of teachers are doing well, 30% are not teaching reading and writing effectively and set low expectations for students," Mrs Tolley said.

"It is also extremely worrying that the report finds some school leaders are ignoring achievement information that does not show positive results, or do not give the information to boards of trustees and school communities.

"Parents want the information, and boards of trustees need the information.

"Boards are investing millions of dollars of community and taxpayer money into literacy programmes, and yet are not being told how effective they are."

NZEI president Frances Nelson said the report was not as alarming as the Government claimed and much information in the report came as no surprise.

"Teachers and principals are committed to raising student achievement across the board.

"The value of this report is that it gives us some good baseline information.

"The challenge is to build on the effective quality teaching, which is happening in the vast majority of schools, and support the very small percentage where this needs to be developed," she said.

- john.lewis@odt.co.nz