National Standards data shown to be suspect

The revelation that schools have been told by the Ministry of Education to include National Standards in their charters --- even if they are not implementing the standards --- calls into question Government data on the issue, says Labour’s Education spokesperson, Sue Moroney.

“The reason for the large discrepancy between how many schools the Government says are implementing National Standards, compared with what schools themselves have reported to the New Zealand Principal’s Federation, has now become obvious,” Sue Moroney said.

“When a government department puts pressure on schools to ‘fudge’ the facts, it shows how desperate the Government is to mislead parents about its flawed National Standards policies.

“It is also ironic, given the Government has accused schools of not giving accurate information to parents, and has used this as an excuse to implement untried and untested standards on their children,” Sue Moroney said