Many schools oppose National's minimum standards plan

NEW ZEALAND HERALD: Just one in 10 school principals support the type of national standards for pupils being proposed by the National Party, a study suggests.

Opposition education policy includes setting national standards in reading, writing and maths that will describe all the things children should be able to do by a particular age or year at school.

But findings of a New Zealand Council for Educational Research nationwide survey, to be released today, indicated principals and primary school teachers were strongly against the idea of Government-set minimum standards for pupils.

High school teachers were more positive about the idea, with 25 per cent of those surveyed in favour of it.

Boards of trustees members were also receptive at both primary school level, where 38 per cent of those surveyed were in favour, and secondary school level, where 31 per cent of those surveyed were in favour.

National's education spokeswoman Anne Tolley said misinformation circulating about the party's proposal was likely to have contributed to the resistance.

"There's a fear of national testing and what is happening in the UK and that has flown into discussion that I've had here," said Mrs Tolley. "We are not asking for a different test - we are certainly not asking for one test on one day."

Schools are required to gather evidence about student achievement, identify areas for improvement and report on progress.

However, some educationists fear that national standards could encourage a "teaching to the test" approach, in turn resulting in a more restricted curriculum.

The NZCER data showed the sector had generally become more accepting of the national standards since a similar survey in 2003. The proportion of high school teachers to respond that they wanted it rose from 14 per cent in 2003 to 25 per cent when the data for the new study was collected in 2006.

It showed parents were satisfied with information provided on how their child was doing in class but many wanted more.

Almost a quarter of parents of secondary school students surveyed wanted their child's results compared with national standards.

At primary school level, the most common request from parents wanting more information about their child was how they compared with others in the same year level.

WHAT THEY THINK

National education standards are favoured by:
* 10% of the 196 primary school principals surveyed.
* 13% of the 912 primary school teachers surveyed.
* 38% of the 329 primary school board trustees surveyed.
* 10% of the 194 high school principals surveyed.
* 25% of the 818 high school teachers surveyed.
* 31% of the 278 high school board trustees surveyed.
SOURCE: New Zealand Council for Educational Research