Todd McClay: Education debate involves all of us

Education seems to constantly stir up debate in Rotorua.

However, debate isn't always a bad thing and when constructive it's extremely worthwhile, in particular when it comes to deciding what's best for our children. While the debates surrounding education can be wide-ranging, the one thing we can all agree on is that high-quality education is vitally important.

Already New Zealand's education system is among the best in the world and our top students are some of the best.

However one student in five leaves school without the skills needed to succeed in a modern economy. Too many young people are falling through the cracks and missing out on integral educational opportunities. Unless we turn this poor performance around, these students face a life of unskilled work or welfare dependency.

Ultimately, we all want our kids to leave school with the skills they need to reach their potential in the modern economy. That means lifting up those who are being left behind, and encouraging those who are doing well to do even better.

The Government is committed to increasing participation and raising achievement across the board. This requires a system-wide lift in quality teaching and leadership from Early Childhood Education, through to primary and secondary schooling.

To attain this, we've set ambitious Better Public Service targets of increasing Early Childhood Education participation to 98 per cent and ensuring 85 per cent of all 18-year-olds achieve NCEA Level 2 or equivalent by 2016. This is the minimum qualification any young person should leave school with.

Having this qualification up their sleeve will open up more employment opportunities and further study options.

To reach these goals we need to focus on providing targeted support to our schools and teachers and ensuring parental and community involvement in education. Modern teaching has changed and so too has the way our children learn. For this reason we need to change the way our schooling system works in order for it to be flexible enough to support 21st century education.

This means looking at all areas of education and at the way children are learning - and who they're learning from - from the moment they are born. Today the responsibility does not just fall on teachers and education professionals - we as a community need to be more accountable for the future success of our young people.

Four years ago when I campaigned on improving educational standards in Rotorua, involving the wider community in decision-making processes regarding specific local education issues was a key part of that.

Moving forward, we need to focus on opening up the communication lines between schools, parents and the wider community, including sharing knowledge about what works and what doesn't. Together, we all need to be focused on lifting student achievement.

Building strong and informed connections between families and schools is a no brainer.

We can all play our part in ensuring our children get the quality education they deserve.