Principal: Political 'game' must stop

UNITARY VIEW: Karl Zimmerman says politicians should not be "moving from one end of the spectrum to the other". Photo/File

Labour and National's education policies are becoming a "political point-scoring game" and parties should work together to develop an education policy that benefits all Kiwi children, says a Wanganui principal.

At its election-year Congress on the weekend, Labour announced education policies costing $850 million over four years, including reduced class sizes, hiring 2000 more teachers, increasing teacher quality, restricting school donations and funding digital devices.

Under the policy centrepiece of reducing class sizes, primary school classes would drop from 29 students per teacher to 26 by 2016, and secondary school classes would drop to an average of 23 students per teacher by 2018.

Wanganui Primary Principals Association president and St Anne's Catholic School principal Karl Zimmerman said it would be better if political parties could agree on a unitary view of education, instead of "moving from one end of the spectrum to the other".

"Basically, what we're given is one side versus the other and to me that's not good for kids.

"We need something in the middle that says 'this is our view around New Zealand of what we believe is education, let's just tweak it at each election'."

Hiring more teachers and reducing class sizes would mean building more classrooms to cope with the overflow, he said.

Providing students with digital devices was a positive move as long as teachers were trained to use them, and devices were used for effective learning.

A Labour government would provide a $100 subsidy towards buying tablets or netbooks, with parents paying off the remainder at $3.50 a week.

The poorest families could call on a $5 million hardship fund if they cannot afford payments or fall into arrears.

Teachers would also be given training in how to get the best use from the devices.

Education minister Hekia Parata said it was unnecessary to reduce class sizes, and last time a Labour government introduced the policy it made little difference to student achievement.

However Labour's policies have found favour with teacher unions and education groups.

New Zealand Educational Institute president Judith Nowotarski said last week that Labour's plan to introduce a more rigorous pre-screening programme for teacher education would go a long way toward ensuring the "best and brightest" entered the profession.

"In recent years there has been virtually no oversight of teacher training and this has led to too many courses, too many students and not enough emphasis on quality."

Labour's policy was a welcome shift from National's policy of "dumbing down" the teaching profession by allowing unqualified and unregistered people into charter schools and early childhood education, she said.