Teacher union funds research into National Standards

A teacher union is funding independent research into the impact of the new National Standards in schools.

The Government introduced the standards - benchmarks in reading, writing and maths - this year against strong opposition from the unions.

It says parents need clear information about how their children are performing but unions say the standards should have been trialled and are difficult to implement.

The primary teachers' union, NZEI, said today it was funding research which would be part of a three-year project involving some of the world's leading educational researchers.

It would focus on the way six diverse primary and intermediate schools were approaching National Standards and the impact they were having on those schools and their students, NZEI president Ian Leckie said.

"Given the absence of a trial of National Standards and the deep concerns the profession and school communities have, NZEI has decided to fund this research in a bid to get robust evidence about the impact of National Standards on teaching and learning," he said.

The project is being run through the Wilf Malcolm Institute for Educational Research at the University of Waikato and is headed by Prof Martin Thrupp.

- NZPA