Maharey out of line on student failure, says National

Steve Maharey

National has accused Education Minister Steve Maharey of trying to direct public servants to change their opinions about student failure, ahead of a parliamentary inquiry into the school system.

Mr Maharey was reported in yesterday's Herald as saying that the Education Review Office's finding last year - that as many as one in five schoolchildren was not succeeding - was misinterpreted to mean a fifth of children were failing.

Parliament's education and science committee is to review the issue, after what it says was an unsatisfactory ERO explanation of the finding.

Referring to ERO chief executive Mike Hollings, Mr Maharey said "one in five children is not failing and once Mike Hollings is back in front of that select committee, which is where I hope they will start ... [it will become clear] that he didn't mean there was one in five kids in New Zealand failing."

National education spokesman Bill English said yesterday that Mr Maharey was, in effect, directing civil servants to change their opinions.

"It's hard to understand why Mr Maharey goes to such lengths to deny the existence of failure [in schools] when the evidence is so compelling."

For example, 30 per cent of 15-year-olds failed basic NCEA literacy standards last year, he said.

Mr Maharey's comments were a "ham-fisted" attempt to influence the inquiry.

Now that the minister has made it clear he won't let officials admit that failure exists, "the inquiry will need independent advisers to ensure the problem of failure gets the disinfectant of sunlight it so desperately needs".