Kerre Woodham: Do standards pass the test?

My daughter's nearly finished uni so the prospect of coming to grips with the National Standards isn't nearly as personal for me as it is for parents with primary school-aged kids.

Given the stridency and the implacability of the arguments from the Government and the NZEI over standards, it's difficult to read, respond to and think critically about the texts - as National Standards demand a Year 4 pupil be able to do - but I'll give it a bash.

Initially, I thought National Standards were a good idea. When you look at the numbers of functionally illiterate people in prison, you understand just how harmful it is for the individual and the community for a young person to be failed.

I accept that teachers aren't the only answer in helping kids who are failing. If these kids are coming from families where ignorance is endemic, chances are these woeful parents aren't going to give a fat rat's arse about their children's progress.

But can the NZEI tell me how a 13-year-old can reach secondary school without being able to read and comprehend basic texts?

Are they just passed from one year to the next with each successive teacher breathing a sigh of relief a troublesome child is now out of their hair?

On the other hand, it's all very well identifying the kids who need help - teachers can do that now - but how does Education Minister Anne Tolley intend to get those children up to speed.

Thirty six million dollars spread between the estimated 20 per cent of children who are failing isn't going to go very far - one academic said it worked out to $138 a year. You don't buy many miracles for that.

The needs of non-performing pupils are complex and I've heard some teachers say there are kids who are unteachable.

What do we do with them? It reminds me of what happened after the institutions for the mentally ill were closed.

Resources were promised to the families of patients to enable them to live safely in the community and that promise was never kept. There aren't enough psychiatrists, rehab centres or secure facilities that can provide respite care.

The same lack of resources is evident in the education system. So when a teacher produces a report that says a child is not meeting the level of education, what happens next?

A teacher - even a brilliant one - can do only so much. And if it's the parents who think National Standards are such a good idea, why is the Government spending money on a letter writing campaign, designed to get parents on board?

Why are kura kaupapa schools allowed to trial the scheme and state schools aren't? And why is the NZEI so defensive?

So many questions and, until we get a few answers, the energies of government ministers and education professionals will be taken up in fighting for the moral high ground rather than helping the most vulnerable of our kids.