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Letter
Great time to praise teachers
Thursday, June 28, 2012
After the class-size debacle, the Minister of Education has certainly been keeping a very low profile. This is a pity as it would be a great time for her to promote the success of our education system in the 2012 OECD Education Report released recently.

New Zealand rated fourth in reading and science and seventh in mathematics out of the 34 OECD countries that took part. It would be a great opportunity for her to praise our teachers for this success rather than constantly taking issue with their capabilities and belittling them. NZ has a world class education system. It has world class teachers who are constantly being sought by other countries.

The OECD report also shows NZ already spends less per student than almost all the other 34 nations. This further demonstrates the quality of NZ teachers as our students achieve at higher levels for less cost.

Once again, however, our current Government is reluctant to acknowledge this and give our teachers the credit and recognition they deserve.

Instead it continues to try and sway the public against teachers so they can promote their policies like National Standards, charter schools, league tables and performance pay. These policies do not, as claimed, lift student achievement. They have failed in countries like the United States, Australia and England.

Since these international comparisons were first conceived in 2000, NZ has maintained its position close to the top without these policies.

England and Australia have had significant declines in their results and are now both well out of the top 10 in all three subject areas. USA has only rated around the average level.

Finland, the country that regularly tops the OCED ratings, supports and trusts its teachers. Teaching is a highly-respected profession and as a result they attract high-quality teachers. They invest heavily in education, ensure all schools are equal. They do not need National Standards, charter schools etc to produce an extremely effective education system.

This is the model we should be looking to emulate to lift our students’ achievements.

STEVE BEREZOWSKI
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