Dom Post on Education

The Dom Post has a supportive editorial on John Key’s speech on education. Extracts:

Education is, as National Party leader John Key observes, a one-shot game for most, and it is vital to get it right, writes The Dominion Post. If children fail to learn to read adequately at primary school, they spend the rest of their lives playing a game of catch-up with the odds stacked against them. That is why his education policy release this week is welcome, both for its intent and for its moderation in pursuing that intent.

Mr Key is right not to accept the status quo. His proposal to set clear national standards in reading, writing and maths using existing tests, to give parents the right to see all assessment information and to have regular reports on their children’s progress toward meeting national standards is what should be happening in all schools anyway. There is little point in parents being told their child is a joy to teach but not that he or she is struggling with reading or mathematics.

That is what is happening too often ….

Wisely, that is not what Mr Key proposes. Instead, he is asking all schools to do what the best of them already do – test pupils using existing assessment programmes, and then use information from those tests to see how those pupils measure up against their peers nationally, and share that information with parents. That is both reasonable and sensible.