8 May 2013

By announcing the continued funding of the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) programme the government has shown it is prepared to put resources into projects that work.

PPTA president Angela Roberts welcomed minister of education Hekia Parata’s pre-Budget announcement of four years continued funding for the programme.

“PB4L has been a transparent partnership between government and the education sector. This is a great example of the government collaborating with unions, listening to schools and supporting them,” she said.

6 May 2013

This week will be the last chance for the Maori Party to listen to those with the highest stake in the future of Maori children – its own voters.

Submissions by the very groups the government says it wants to help with its Education Amendment Bill – including Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu - have made it very clear they do not want charter schools, PPTA president Angela Roberts said.

Roberts urged the party, which has voiced concerns of its own about the legislation, to heed the submissions – and particularly Ngai Tahu’s – before using its deciding vote during the bill’s second reading to inflict charter schools on New Zealand’s children.

Ngai Tahu’s submission says the proposed legislation has “fundamental flaws” and recommends all the sections of the bill empowering the establishment of charter schools be removed.

It describes the schools as creating “an opportunity for the crown to opt out of its responsibility for positively increasing educational achievement for all Maori” and specifically requests that trials not be conducted in any area that has high risk students.

17 April 2013

If the government is as serious as it says about raising student achievement extending paid parental leave should be a no-brainer, says PPTA president Angela Roberts.

Roberts, who presented PPTA’s submission on Sue Moroney’s bill to extend paid parental leave from 14 to 26 weeks today, said there was overwhelming international evidence that time spent early on in the life of a child had a positive educational impact.

“Teachers and principals have long recognised the health, early education and wellbeing of their students as being prime factors in their ability to learn and develop successfully through their secondary school years,” she said.

“Give me a student with good health and strong bonds with their parents and I will give you your five out of five.” she said.

A prime example of the success of paid parental leave is Finland, which has one of the best educational records in the world.

12 April 2013

The Education and Science Select Committee’s decision to recommend the government’s plan to establish charter schools (outlined in the Education Amendment Bill) with only minor changes flies in the face of public opinion says PPTA president Angela Roberts.

“Of the 2,193 submissions presented to the select committee, 2100 were opposed to the creation of charter schools and only 62 were in favour,” she said.

“The committee’s recommendation shows the whole submission process is just a token gesture so a disengaged government can claim it listened to the community and engaged in the democratic process when really it couldn’t care less.”