- Target:
- New Zealand Government
- Region:
- New Zealand
- Website:
- apps.facebook.com
The National Standards policy in it's current form has several potential pitfalls that will inhibit our children's learning.
1. Classing our children as above or below standard as per Mr Key's letter to parents is negative labeling that we parents encountered at school. We have moved away from labeling and 'streaming' children.
2. The possible production of 'League Table's will gut communities particularly in lower decile areas.
3. Several principals of well-performing schools have stated National Standards will create a greater administrative and financial burden. This will reduce the amount of time teachers have to expose our children to a wide range of lessons and experiences within the classroom.
‘Under achievers’ will be given extra tuition in literacy and numeracy that they may not be ready for. All of our bright, talented and gifted children will suffer from the deployment of resources away from nurturing their strengths to highlighting their weaknesses. Children who are identified as poor readers are already well catered for with our Reading Recovery programme which was developed in New Zealand and exported world-wide.
Just as infants do not all crawl and walk at exactly the same age, children do not attain a standard of literacy and numeracy at the same age. If a child displays a talent in a certain area, they are better to explore this talent in a setting that will allow them to transfer their skills to reading and writing when they are ready. That is why our best schools expose our children to a wide range of activities.
Finally: This policy is discriminatory and takes no account of the differences in cultures, particularly Maori, Pasifika and Asian communities.
To the House of Representatives
ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL – NATIONAL STANDARDS PETITION
We request that the House of Representatives:
delay the introduction of National Standards until all the following parental concerns are satisfied:
1. That all possible causes of primary school children failing to attain satisfactory levels of literacy and numeracy have been explored, including factors entrenched in the preschool years.
2. That funds will not be diverted from the diverse range of lessons and activities currently explored in New Zealand’s classrooms; while literacy and numeracy are essential basic skills, more attention needs to be paid to drawing out each child’s unique skills. In New Zealand we do not just raise professionals and academics. We also produce philanthropists, Master Chefs, entrepreneurs and All Blacks. This diversity contributes to the rich social fabric of New Zealand and enhances New Zealand’s political and economic standing on the world stage.
3. That collated information not be available to agencies outside the Ministry of Education.
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The "One Size Does Not Fit All" National Standards Petition petition to New Zealand Government was written by Monique Watson and is in the category Education at GoPetition.