Categories: News

Education Act review seen as opportunity for debate

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1889" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;11&sol;SND21-wk1-NZEI&lowbar;Educatiuon&lowbar;Act-Louise&lowbar;Green1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND21-wk1-NZEI Educatiuon Act-Louise Green1" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"199" &sol;>Monday&&num;8217&semi;s announcement of a review of the Education Act introduces an important opportunity to debate and build a strong national consensus around what is needed to ensure we have a high-quality&comma; free public education that meets the needs of every child&comma; NZEI Te Riu Roa says&period; <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;It may sound a bit dry and lack the visual appeal of the flag debate&comma; but this public conversation is arguably even more important because it is about the shaping of our future citizens&comma;&&num;8221&semi; NZEI President Louise Green said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>NZEI is encouraging educators&comma; parents and students to get involved in the process&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A taskforce established two years ago recommended that the Act be updated to ensure it outlined a clear purpose for education that was &&num;8220&semi;enduring and inclusive&&num;8221&semi; and that recognised student success across a wide range of learning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Free&comma; quality public education must be at the heart of any new Act&period; We want New Zealand to be the most inclusive&comma; equitable and excellent education system in the world&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Ms Green said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;What we don&&num;8217&semi;t want to see is a narrow statement about &&num;8216&semi;student achievement&&num;8217&semi; defined only by standardised quantitative data in the 3Rs&period; Schooling must be part of lifelong learning and recognise that educational success comes in many forms&comma; not just National Standards in reading&comma; writing and maths&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Education Minister Hekia Parata has invited input from the education sector&comma; parents and the wider community&comma; and we are looking forward to a robust and genuine consultation period&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The review of the Act will also look at school governance and clear roles and responsibilities for Boards of Trustees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is now a six-week consultation period running until December 14&comma; including multiple workshops&comma; an online platform and meetings with interested organisations&period; This will be followed by the introduction of legislation and six months of select committee hearings around the country next year&period;<&sol;p><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Rosie Clarke

Rosie is the managing editor here at Multimedia Pty Ltd, working across School News New Zealand and School News Australia. She has spent 10+ years in B2B journalism, and has spent some time over the last couple of years teaching as a sessional academic. Feel free to contact her at any time with editorial or magazine content enquiries.

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