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

There are not many clearer examples of the mismanagement of the education portfolio than the way the current Government is handling issues around the New Zealand Teachers Council. Those following along at home—and I am sure there are many people avidly following this debate at home and reading along with the volumes of the report—will note that there is only a relatively short, somewhat pro forma report on the New Zealand Teachers Council in this particular volume of reviews. That is because the Education and Science Committee is currently dealing with major legislative change relating to the Teachers Council, and so it was decided not to do a more comprehensive report back to the House on the current state of the Teachers Council.

However, there are significant issues—significant issues at least in part because although on the one hand the Government talked about wanting to raise the status of the teaching profession, on the other hand it has proposed legislative change to the New Zealand Teachers Council that will completely remove all teacher representation from the governing body of that organisation. So on the one hand it says it wants teaching to be a high-trust profession and it wants the best and brightest going into teaching, but then, on the other hand, it says it does not trust them to actually make any decisions about their own profession.

I think that is somewhat ironic coming from this National Government, because this National Government seems to have a higher view of real estate agents than it does of the New Zealand teaching workforce. So, for example, we had the debate in the House on regulating real estate agents, where we got quotes from the National Government along the lines of: “We trusted the lawyers to come up with suggestions that would make their industry more user-friendly.” I suggest that the rational, calm approach adopted in that instance would have been a good model to use in this instance. Those were comments it made in defence of real estate agents. So it thought that real estate agents should be trusted to regulate their own affairs, but it was not willing to offer the teaching profession that same degree of trust and support.

Actually, there was a comment by Simon Power that I thought was very interesting when it came to real estate agents. He said “we are not in favour”—and, of course, the royal “we” he is talking about is the National Party—“of the vilification of an entire industry off the back of some scattered examples ...”. Well, the same thing can apply to the teaching profession. So often when we talk about the Teachers Council and the very difficult job it deals with, the entire teaching profession gets marred by a few bad apples, a few bad examples. Actually, by and large those in the teaching profession in New Zealand are absolutely top-notch. They are trustworthy and dependable, and we should place a very high value on them.

It is going to be very interesting to see how this legislation progresses because, of course, the critical vote in this legislation may well be the vote of the Hon Peter Dunne. Peter Dunne made some comments on the real estate agents. He said: “In this instance, this bill effectively nationalises the real estate industry, because it says ‘We do not trust you to regulate your affairs and the conduct of your members in a way that is appropriate. We will therefore put in place a statutory environment that you will not have control over but that will be independent’—and that is a double-edged word at the best of times—‘so that we can ensure’, allegedly, ‘a standard of public performance.’ ”

That was Peter Dunne talking about real estate agents, in defence of the real estate industry, and their ability to have a say in the regulation of their own profession. I am going to be very interested in seeing where Peter Dunne lands on the legislation relating to the Teachers Council because the Teachers Council legislation that the current Government has proposed does the same thing to the teaching profession that Peter Dunne opposed being done to the real estate agents industry. So if he adopts that same position, and I hope he does, I look forward to his opposing that legislation, along with the Labour Party and, I am sure, the other Opposition parties in the House.

We do believe that teaching should be a high-trust profession. It should be one of the most respected professions in the country. We want the best and brightest to go into teaching, and that means we should have some trust in them to regulate their own industry, their own profession, and that is what is not going to happen if the legislative changes that are proposed to the Teachers Council are enacted when that bill is reported back to the House. It will take away from the teaching profession the ability to appoint its own governing body. What is more, it is not even guaranteed in the current drafting of the legislation that there will be any teachers on the body of the new Teachers Council, which is being called EDUCANZ, or the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. There is no guarantee whatsoever that, in fact, teachers will have any control over that body. I do not think that is right. I think that when the time comes, we should put a great degree of trust in teachers. We should recognise that teachers are the best people to be making the decisions about the regulation of their profession, and we should trust in them to run their own profession.

It is a great pleasure to take a call on the Teachers Council. Delivering changes to meet the needs of 21st century children and young people, and a system that focuses on lifting achievement and getting the best outcomes for our young people is a crucial part of this Government’s concentration on the education field. Of course, it is also an important part of any Crown entity, such as Careers New Zealand, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, and the Teachers Council, that is involved in the education space. What does the future hold? All our entities need to be aware. They need to be flexible in their thinking and shift their thinking in response to the changing global and digital environments we are working in.

The Ministry of Education has been working with the Crown entities to make sure they are doing the right things in the right way to support the system that exists and to get the best outcomes for our young people. There does have to be change. That is clear. The Government has a relentless focus on raising achievement for all children and young people. It has been said in this House before, but it is worth repeating again, that if we keep on doing the same old things, then we will get the same old results. That is not what we in this Government are prepared to do. We want to lift achievement for all New Zealanders.

With our Better Public Services target we have nailed our colours to the mast. We want to have 85 percent of all 18-year-olds with a National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2 or better, or an equal qualification, to ensure that our young people have the qualifications they need to be successful. At the secondary school level we have invested in a number of flexibilities around funding and timetabling to support students to make choices of pathways. Careers New Zealand helps students plan and guide themselves through their learning work journey so that every child can achieve educational success. The other Crown entity, if I just briefly mention the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, is ensuring that New Zealand qualifications are valued as credible and robust both nationally and internationally.

But let us concentrate on the Teachers Council. A key part of the Government’s plan to raise achievement for all is our commitment to strengthen and value the teaching profession in the 21st century—to strengthen and increase the way the teaching profession is valued in the 21st century. As my colleague Chris Hipkins observed, currently before the Education and Science Committee we have got the Education Amendment Bill (No 2), on which we have heard many hundreds of submissions over previous months in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland. This committee often sat three, four, or five times during a particular week to ensure that we could hear the submitters who wished to be heard. Currently we are considering the Education Amendment Bill (No 2), and this will make a number of legislative changes to the profession, including transforming the Teachers Council into the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, or EDUCANZ.

There is overwhelming international evidence of the critical role that teachers play in educating children and young people. We know it is a tripod: you have got the school, you have got the child, and you have got the home. It is a tripod: the school, with all the teachers in it; the home, and we are doing an inquiry into parental engagement; and, of course, the child. So we are aiming to strengthen the teaching profession to give it the support it is needing. That is what the select committee is currently considering: legislation to transform the New Zealand Teachers Council into being a hallmark professional body for teachers—a hallmark professional body for teachers. This is the cornerstone of the Government’s work to raise, improve, and strengthen the value we place on our teachers and to back them to win. There are a number of strands in this cable that we have to lift student achievement, and doing this, valuing our teaching profession, is one of them.

It is too early to discuss at this stage what the format of EDUCANZ—the new, renamed Teachers Council—will be, because it is still before the select committee. But what we are aiming to do is ensure that the body that results after the committee has deliberated will be in a position to improve outcomes for our students and also improve the esteem with which our teachers are held. So as part of the consideration of the bill—

Report noted.

Children’s Commissioner