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Recent PPTA press/media releases.
 Posters and archived releases
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Great NCEA results in a difficult year |
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12 January 2012
PPTA junior vice president Doug Clark would like to congratulate students and teachers country-wide for excellent NCEA results despite a turbulent 2011.
“It has been a difficult year for many with the Christchurch quakes and Pike River mining tragedy, as well as increasing poverty and political change, but New Zealand students and teachers have responded admirably,” he said.
“I would particularly like to commend Canterbury teachers for their fine work in trying times. It appears that the special conditions set up for affected students worked very well, with very few missing out.”
Clark also pointed out that NZQA had certainly done its best under difficult circumstances to make sure Christchurch students had not been unduly penalised by the effects of the disaster.
“Sadly, recent shakes suggest this consideration might well need to continue.”
Former education minister Anne Tolley had done a lot to make the Christchurch exceptions possible and PPTA was confident current minister Hekia Parata would do the same, Clark said.
“PPTA is proud of the efforts of all our teachers and their students and look forward to continually supporting them in 2012,” he said.
Contact: PPTA Junior Vice President Doug Clark 021 806 337 |
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It all ends in Finland and in person |
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 22 December 2011
PPTA vice president Doug Clark says the prime minister’s holiday reading would end in Finland and he wanted to gift a final book to the leader in person.
“We wanted to give John Key our treasured copy of 'Finnish Lessons' by Pasi Sahlberg, but we can’t until the New Year and hope he will meet with us to receive it and discuss how the insights in the book might apply to New Zealand,” he said.
“New Zealand politicians need to read this book because it explains why Finland is the top performing education nation in the world. They have systematically climbed to the top over three decades by rejecting the ‘market miracle’”.
“PPTA wishes the prime minister a happy festive season,” said Clark.
 Read Robin Duff's letter to John Key - Finland is the top performing education nation in the world
Contact: Doug Clark PPTA junior vice president 021806337 |
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Last Updated on Friday, 23 December 2011 10:20 |
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A lesson in economic wisdom |
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 22 December 2011
“PPTA’s latest reading for the prime minister, Extreme Money by Satyajit Das, charts the rise of global finance and its inevitable collapse in 2008,” says PPTA vice president Doug Clark.
“Das describes the policies that caused the collapse as ‘voodoo economics’. Tax reduction for the wealthy, fire sales of assets and privatization are the problem not the solution”.
“According to Das these policies promote ‘private profit and public squalor,’” said Clark.
“This phrase sums up the charter school policy and the determination of politicians to serve the needs of ‘extreme money’ by supporting tax cuts, tax avoidance and tax havens leaving insufficient revenue to run the public infrastructure.”
PPTA hoped the reading it had sent the prime minister had left him informed and we look forward to concluding our Christmas reading gifts to him tomorrow.
Read Robin Duff's letter to John Key - evidence about the effect of poverty on learning is irrefutable.
Contact: Doug Clark PPTA junior vice president 021806337 |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 22 December 2011 10:05 |
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PPTA’s history gifted to prime minister |
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 21 December 2011
“Our latest book to John Key is the history of the PPTA. It is a reminder that secondary teachers have a powerful and long-term commitment to a fair and equal public education system,” says PPTA vice president Doug Clark.
“In contrast, governments come and go and history shows they are often more interested in their own electoral goals than meeting educational needs and the charter school experiment is a case in point. ,” he said.
”The government rips funding out of low-decile schools through the quarterly funding policy but has no problem finding money so the ACT party can experiment with kids’ education.”
In the spirit of the season PPTA continues to help John Key build up a collection of reading by gifting him a book on each of the 12 working days until Christmas.
Read Robin Duff's letter to John Key - Teachers are committed to a fair and equal public education system
Contact: Doug Clark PPTA junior vice president 021806337 |
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 December 2011 10:47 |
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Frame’s life story sends a clear message to prime minister |
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 20 December 2011
PPTA says its latest book to the prime minister is a real example of education operating as a public good.
“To the Is-land by Janet Frame is a rare insight into education in the 1930s, and adds to the reading John Key has just done on C.E Beeby’s life and the reforms he made in education,” says junior vice president Doug Clark.
“Janet Frame was fortunate to be attending secondary school at a time when the government expanded its investment in public education. The introduction of charter schools signals the return to a system where education is left to the whim of the market, churches and charities and is not an automatic right.”
“Today this system has been replaced with an incoherent and fragmented web of privatised and contracted services which inherently fails to meet New Zealand’s skill needs and burdens our young people with a lifetime of debt,” said Clark.
“Charter schools are not a public good and we hope this latest reading reiterates the importance of real solutions for quality education.”
In the spirit of the season PPTA continues to help John Key build up a collection of reading by gifting him a book on each of the 12 working days until Christmas.
Read Robin Duff's letter to John Key - Education is not only a right but a public good
Contact: Doug Clark, PPTA junior vice president, 021806337
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 13:08 |
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No government should be unwilling to hear advice |
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19 December 2011
Rumoured government plans to gag principals will backfire, says PPTA junior vice president Doug Clark.
“Isolating and attacking the sector is not going to do anything to improve education for New Zealand students.”
“If the government has so little confidence in its plans for education that it has to ban criticism, it’s time it went back to the drawing board. Heavy-handed censorship won’t work. No country in the world has improved education by disrespecting the profession,” said Clark.
“These repressive and undemocratic suggestions, if true, will have a major impact on schools. The message from the government seems to be that they don’t want people in education who advocate for their students without fear or favour, but compliant, blind followers who do the government’s bidding.”
“Successful countries are characterised by a willingness to work with the sector so the best ideas, the best research and the best understandings can be put into practice in the classroom,” he said.
Contact: Doug Clark PPTA junior vice president 021806337 |
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Last Updated on Monday, 19 December 2011 15:28 |
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