A teacher writes:

"You probably have seen this

http://parliamenttoday.co.nz/2012/10/questions-and-answers-october-18

Hon Nanaia Mahuta: What criteria will be used to determine the funding and staffing level provisions for charter schools?

Hon ANNE TOLLEY: Each school’s contract will differ according to the needs of the sponsor,

The needs of the sponsor not the kids!!!!"

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Dear Anne

I have just read your party education policy. This letter is written in disappointment that National Party education policy can so blithely ignore the best evidence in education research and policy, and dismay that you appear not to have heard the education hopes, dreams and aspirations that teachers have for their students.

National takes credit for all improvements in the education sector over the past three years; some achievements - such as retention rates in school, are unlikely to have been influenced by National education policy, others are simply manipulations such as 'employed 1600 more teachers"; shuffling funding from one education area to another doesn't double it; league tables encourage some particularly unpleasant uncooperative competitive behaviours so how on earth can your policy blithely state "ensure schools make the most of their facilities and resources and they collaborate rather than compete with each other" or does this only apply to Canterbury?

We'd like you to know that all actual improvements in the secondary education sector can be attributed to school communities, the hard work of parents, boards, students, teachers and, most importantly, quality teaching.

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Well this whole blog thing has been a bit slow. Nearly everyone was keen, some even promised to blog weekly and possibly more often. But with the exception of Observer's sharp blogs the intentions of 'nearly everyone' didn't quite make the reality. Then came the day that the boss instructed- "there WILL be a blog every week - it's a roster- if you are responsible for facilitating the advisory team meeting on Monday - you are responsible for the blog that week".  The result would suggest we either don't have meetings on Mondays ... or don't follow instructions too well?

So here I am, thinking we either take the blog off the website or someone takes responsibility. I don't have anyone to delegate to ... and suspect disabling the blog would have been a "no-can-do" from the boss, which means I have to think of some regular PPTA or education fodder that has a little bit of interest/use.

I've started following, on Twitter(!), Dave Armstrong @malosilima, a co-writer of Mr Gormsby - and that got me thinking about Mr Gormsby - Gormsby occasionally  referred to PPTA National Office so that's my fodder.

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By David

I am a New Zealand trained teacher who was lured over the Tasman by the need to live in a country that respects and values education.

Throughout Australia, various levels of government are injecting over $16 Billion into schools in a program called the Building Education Revolution. We have new halls, gyms and state of the art classrooms in our public schools.

The Digital Education Revolution (valued at over $2 Billion) is delivering laptops, broadband and essential ICT services to schools – often resulting in a ratio of 1 computer to one student.

As a teacher in Australia I feel empowered by salaries that can surpass $80,000 per year (although this is still inadequate) and the security of ongoing professional development from a well-organised State Government.

One day I would love to return to my homeland of New Zealand, and see my family live the Kiwi childhoods that my wife and I enjoyed whilst growing up.

There really is no place like New Zealand – believe me.

But the idea of returning to teach in New Zealand is laughable.

I am not prepared to sacrifice my career and all that I have worked for to live as an undervalued, overworked educator living on a pauper’s wage.

Don’t give in to the insulting and belittling rhetoric of John Key and Anne Tolley. It is time for the teachers of New Zealand to stand up for what is fair.

So from one former member of PPTA to those who have done the right thing and continue to believe in the New Zealand educational system, I have one request. Please don’t back down.

Keep fighting for the pay and conditions that our profession requires to thrive.

Kia kaha!

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The recent OECD education ministers’ meeting held in Paris on November 4^th and 5^th was unusual for three reasons:  for the first time in its ten-year history it had permitted a brief union presence in the form of Education International (EI) and TUAC, the trade union group that advises the OECD ; the morning session on Thursday was chaired by the New Zealand Minister of Education, Hon. Anne Tolley, and PPTA was there!

As an organisation the OECD works actively to push privatization in member countries more for the benefit of multi-national corporates and its own OECD consultancy arm than for students.  Its prime tool for influencing education policies in member countries is its international achievement tests such as PISA (Programme for International Assessment). Even though the PISA comparisons ought to be treated with great caution for the reasons discussed in PPTA’s conference paper, Building on excellence: How to make a great schooling system even better, education ministers seem to be in thrall to the data.  The OECD creates a market for its testing products by keeping nations in a perpetual state of performance anxiety about the simplistic global rankings it extrapolates from the tests.

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