Editorial: Parents heed teachers for good reasons

Secretary of Education Karen Sewell. Photo / Mark Mitchell

When 225 school boards of trustees declare they will not adopt the Government's National Standards it is time to take stock. Boards of trustees are representatives of parents, the very people in whose interests the Government has been pressing teachers to report children's progress more rigorously and clearly.

The 225 boards comprise just over 10 per cent of the national total. Most of them may be strongly influenced by the school principal and staff representatives, but elected parents are not likely to be swayed by political antagonism or professional jealousy. They have listened to teachers' concerns and taken them seriously. It may be time we all did.

The boards' revolt has been sparked by a letter from the Education Ministry head, Karen Sewell, outlining how they should incorporate the new testing and reporting policy in their plans for next year. Among other things, they are supposed to estimate next year how many of their pupils will reach the standards for reading, writing and maths in 2012, when they must report how many actually did.

That does not sound much like the measurement tools the National Party had in mind when it put its educational standards policy to voters at the last election. It promised clear national benchmarks that would give parents factual reports in plain language.

Now it appears schools can set their own goals and measure their pupils against them. If so, it would not be the first time the education establishment has "refined" a policy directive beyond recognition.

The complaints from teachers who have attended ministry briefings on the National Standards sound much like those that accompanied the introduction of the NCEA at senior school levels. Teachers cite imprecise instructions and general confusion. But NCEA was conceived in the education establishment and, despite its flaws, most of the profession believed in it. They do not believe in National's standards.

They suspect Education Minister Anne Tolley, never a teacher, does not know what she is doing. Ms Tolley, a parent and former school trustee, is doing exactly what many a non-professional would do. She knows schools already test pupils' progress constantly and she sees no reason that parents could not be kept better informed. She has stood calmly against the campaign to discredit the policy and rejected constant pressure to defer its introduction with a trial.

It was not until mid-September, in response to continuing unrest, that she set up an advisory group to hear the sector's concerns. The group's report will be awaited with added interest now that 225 school boards have broken ranks.

It is time for the Government to reconsider its tactics, if not its strategy. The objective of National Standards is good but no goal in education is reached without teachers onside.

Ms Tolley has been patient and polite but she has not managed to convince teachers, nor many boards, that pupils and schools need not be labelled failures if they miss the mark.

If teachers can be reconciled to the objective they would soon solve the semantic problem. They are adept at avoiding the word failure - and quite rightly. Failure is not the accurate word for any lapse of progress at primary school. Children can usually catch up.

But it is crucial to monitor their progress and see that they are helped to catch up. Teachers do that, constantly. National Standards are intended to ensure that parents can monitor and help too. If schools can be assured on that score, they in turn should recognise that the Government has a mandate for this programme. With goodwill on both sides it could work.