﻿Mr SPEAKER: Question No 7, Chris Hipkins.
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka)
to the Minister of Education:
Does she stand by her statement that national
standards data has been “remarkably consistent”;
if so, why?
Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education):
Yes. The picture of achievement in reading,
writing, and mathematics that national standards
presents has been remarkably consistent
since public reporting began in 2012. The information
collected through national standards is highly comparable
with other domestic and international studies.
Prior to the introduction of national standards,
there was no systematic collection of information
on student achievement from years 1 to 8 to make sure
that those kids who need the support get it.
Many, many teachers today are more confident in using data
and are relying on it to identify and grow achievement
for their students. I see this as I go around the country—
as recently as Friday at Whakatane Intermediate School,
which I visited with the outstanding local MP,
the Hon Anne Tolley. We saw highly competent,
really engaged, very inquiring teachers developing data maps
of the specific learning needs of individual students
and then sharing them with those students so that
they too could be excited and track their own progress. So, yes—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! That answer is long enough.
Chris Hipkins: Why does she continue to claim
that national standards provide, in any way,
an accurate picture of student achievement
when the latest study by the Ministry of Education,
of 15,838 children at 100 schools, found that 60%
of the national standards results were wrong?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: As usual, Mr Hipkins is quoting selectively
out of a really big context. First of all, that report
was indeed commissioned by the Ministry of Education.
We were so interested in seeing where we needed
to improve in the implementation of national standards that when
this was commissioned for 3 years, we extended it
by 2 years. Why is the member continuing
to attack teachers, who are themselves trying
their very best to improve the consistency
of their overall teacher judgments? National standards
now give them a very clear and very consistent way
of measuring these against the NZ curriculum.
Chris Hipkins: What evidence does she have to support
the claim that she just made that national standards data
is getting more accurate, given a September 2013 report
found that they had incorrectly measured achievement of four
out of 10 students, and the latest report suggests
that they are now incorrectly measuring the achievement
of six out of 10 students—in other words, it is getting worse?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: In the report that the member is referring to,
it actually said that 90% of principals were confident
that their teachers were making good use of national standards.
In the same report, Mr Hipkins, and in the NZ
Council for Educational Research of 2013, it said
that 70% of teachers were becoming more confident
about their own assessments.
If the member wants even more numbers, the reason why
I am confident is that about 30,000 teachers
are making independent judgments of 400,000 kids
in 2,100 schools. The difference at the macro level is about 1%
or 2%. That is how I know; it is because I trust
the teachers’ judgments.
Chris Hipkins: How can parents have confidence in the accuracy
of national standards when the Ministry of Education’s
analysis of 352 children who were judged to have met
the maths standard for their age showed that only 28%—
less than a third of them—had actually met the standard?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: Under national standards,
it is the first time that parents have had reporting
to them twice a year in language—
Chris Hipkins: It is wrong.
Hon HEKIA PARATA: No. The alacrity with which
the member jumps on the potential of failure
is really, really depressing because, actually,
what this showed was how committed the Ministry
of Education and the education sector
are to getting this right, to finding
where it is not working, and to working with
the teachers to get it right to ensure that parents
do understand exactly how well their individual child is doing.
Chris Hipkins: What action has she taken to address
the finding of the latest report that there is growing concern
amongst principals that the standards will have
unintended consequences such as narrowing what is taught,
creating league tables of school results, and demotivating
the very children whom they are supposed to be targeting?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: The member is so out of date.
It is really rather sad that he is quoting things that are
really out of date. What action have I taken?
What action have I taken? Let me count the ways:
the 78 moderation workshops for teachers last year,
and the 128 workshops this year; the design and development
with the sector of the progression and consistency tool,
which is an online tool that works on the curriculum
with national standards; the learning and change networks,
which are focused on a particular achievement challenge;
and the Investing in Educational Success policy that this Government
introduced last year for $359 million in order to form
an end-to-end pathway for kids from early childhood
to senior secondary. We have been a Government that is
absolutely putting its money where its mouth is,
and we are seeing the results both in national standards
and at the NCEA level. Sorry to bore you with success.
Chris Hipkins: If national standards were supposed to improve
children’s learning, why, 5 years after they were implemented,
does an independently audited national monitoring study
show that less than half of year 8 children were performing
at or above level 4 of the maths curriculum—
the level they are expected to be performing at?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: It is inappropriate to blame
the measuring system for what it found.
What it has found is that we have particular challenges.
Hon Members: Ha, ha!
Hon HEKIA PARATA: The members may well laugh
but we are interested in understanding where exactly
kids are in their learning and what we need to do about it
to help them to do better, and in then doing it.
That is what national standards do, and every review of parents
says that they welcome them. There have been reports
subsequent to the 2013 one that the member
is basing his comments on.
Chris Hipkins: Why does she continue
to use national standards data to claim that the Government’s
education policies are working, when the Ministry of Education’s
own evaluation has found that increases in the percentage
of children at or above the standards should not be read
as indicating that children are performing better over time?
Hon HEKIA PARATA: Because the system was relatively new
when that report was written. We have been publicly reporting
in 2012, 2013, and 2014 only. We are working with the sector
to get better at this, and that has been the case with the NCEA.
Chris Hipkins: It’s getting worse.
Hon HEKIA PARATA: It is not getting worse.
I understand that the member hopes that it is,
in the absence of his being confident about kids,
but the fact of the matter is that all around the country,
schools are using national standards, and they are getting better,
and they are getting more confident in using data—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order!
Question No 8, Denis O’Rourke.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community