Confidence in National Standards mediocre - NZEI

NZEI president Frances Nelson. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

Confidence in National Standards is mediocre a year after their introduction, according to a survey for the education union NZEI.

NZEI has campaigned against the standards, saying they were untested and would not solve underachievement, and about 270 schools have deferred setting targets around national standards in next year's school charters.

About a third of the 750 people surveyed by UMR were confident the standards would improve student achievement, a third did not, and the rest were neutral.

Of the people surveyed, only 8 per cent said they knew a lot about the standards, while 49 per cent claimed to know not that much or "hardly anything".

"If 8 per cent of the people polled say they know a lot about it, that's not actually a heartening thought that there's a huge group of people who know very little," NZEI president Frances Nelson told NZPA.

It was not disinterest, as much as confusion, she said.

"Nobody in the sector knows a lot about it. They (the standards) were developed behind closed doors, it's taken a long time for schools to have any sense of understanding, and then they lack the confidence to do anything with them because they can't come to grips with them," Ms Nelson said.

"This will transfer through to parents and to the community, because they are the parents who are going in to parent conferences and receiving written reports about the standards and it's clear the schools can't get their heads around them."

The standards were introduced on February 1, part of a three-year implementation.

Next year, schools were required to set learning targets against the standards, Ms Nelson said.

"There are a large number of schools who are just putting their heads down, working on their assessment and teaching practice and hoping that National Standards sorts itself out before they have to do anything about it."

According to an Education Review Office report last month, 34 per cent of 80 schools surveyed were well-prepared to implement the standards, up from 19 per cent earlier this year, while 7 per cent were not yet prepared, down from 20 per cent.

The NZEI has accepted an invitation from Education Minister Anne Tolley to attend a new advisory group on National Standards, on the understanding that members would be listened to and if change needed to be made, then it would be.

The "well-rounded" group included representatives from the ministry, principals, iwi, the Education Review Office, academics and education unions.

- NZPA