Debate on Crown Entities, Public Organisations, and State Enterprises — New Zealand Teachers Council

Tēnā koe, Mr Chair. Tēnā tātou katoa. It is good to see us here tonight looking at Crown entities, in particular—in this case, the New Zealand Teachers Council. [Interruption] That is right.

It is often said in education circles that good teachers are costly but bad teachers cost more. That is what they say. The New Zealand Teachers Council is the professional body for all registered teachers working in any teaching situation. It should, theoretically, be the body that distinguishes between the good and the not so good, and between those who inspire and those who merely tell. The council’s purpose is to provide professional leadership in teaching, to enhance the professional status of teachers in schools and early childhood education, and to contribute to a safe and high-quality teaching and learning environment. Members will understand, then, that the Māori Party has been interested in looking at the progress achieved by the Teachers Council, with a particular focus on Māori education.

Despite some positive trends, educational indicators for Māori generally compare poorly with those of the total population. Māori still have lower rates of participation at early childhood level, higher truancy rates, and lower mean scores for reading, maths, and scientific literacy. Māori are less likely to stay on at school to the age of 17½ years and are less likely to leave school with high qualifications.

What does this tell us about good and bad teachers? Ka Hikitia sums it up: “education system performance has been persistently inequitable for Māori learners … fewer teacher-student interactions, less positive feedback, more negative comments targeted to Māori learners, under-assessment of capability, widespread targeting of Māori with ineffective … teaching strategies … failure to uphold mana Māori in education, inadvertent teacher racism,” and so on. Those are some of the comments that have been made. This is not a Māori Party document; it is the Government’s own publication. It is a Ministry of Education resource that defines issues that impact on teacher credibility and success with Māori.

How then can we get to the 2009-10 financial review of the New Zealand Teachers Council and find that Māori education or Māori students are not even mentioned? How does a select committee comprised of Labour, National, ACT, and Māori MPs—including Kelvin Davis, a former school principal—not appear to have asked even one question about Māori? It does not take much investigation work to find an organisation briefing paper presented to the members of the Education and Science Committee. This is a two-page paper. It highlights significant variations between estimated and actual performance in the annual report: “a report to identify further research and policy development concerning the reo proficiency required of graduates of Māori medium initial teacher education programmes that was due by March 2010 has not been completed”.

The question I ask is why. And why was that question not asked by the committee? The financial review’s introductory statement states quite clearly that part of the role of the Teachers Council is ensuring that individual teachers have gained the skills encompassed in teacher education programmes, such as proficiency in te reo and the ability to motivate students. So why not ask what was going on that meant that the Teachers Council did not complete such a vital report?

If our own Education and Science Committee does not ask the questions and the Teachers Council does not complete the work, then perhaps we need to look elsewhere for robust advice on teacher professional development. Just last week the Māori Youth Council presented a report to the Minister of Māori Affairs that had three simple recommendations to improve Māori youth success in the education system. It recommended that Government: “1 Requires all secondary school teachers in New Zealand to complete a level 1 Te Reo Māori and Māori Education/Tikanga course at a tertiary institution; 2 Provides the resources for existing teachers to sit at least level 1 Te Reo Māori as a part of their professional development, and ensures that teachers have the resources to effectively deliver on the objectives of Ka Hikitia—Managing for Success; and 3 Encourages schools to actively strengthen the relationships between teachers and the wider community through hui with iwi or hapū to ensure that schools have the discretion to develop programmes that suit the needs of the community.” Perhaps these recommendations can be picked up.

I close by saying that they say the art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. I hope that the solid foundation provided by the Māori Youth Council will assist the Teachers Council to discover some of the key skills we believe are required to ensure that all of our children benefit from excellent teaching and quality teachers.

Report noted.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise