Education Amendment Bill (No 2)

Although we do not resile from our support for increased Māori representation to reflect that at least one member of the wānanga or university council will have Māori representation as a result of the Education and Science Committee’s feedback, we duly believe that there are many other areas that will have greater detrimental effect on the rangatiratanga of tauira and staff. That is where I finished off last night and that is where I would like to continue today.

Essentially, what we are saying is we are not supporting this bill at this stage because there are a number of concerns that we have. Submitters told us that the changes in the new Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand represent a lack of respect for the profession of teaching. Their call to Parliament was that at least five council members should be teachers registered under new section 353, inserted by clause 38, who hold a practising certificate. Teachers were also of the view that the professionalism of teaching was undermined by the clauses that seek to replace a code of ethics with a code of conduct as another move away from the high-trust model required to maintain an aspirational profession. The Māori Party is very concerned by these responses. In all other respects, we have been pleased by the confidence and commitment Minister Parata has provided to the teaching profession by means of the Investing in Educational Success initiative. A couple of weeks ago the Minister announced a fund to invest in teachers’ ideas to undertake practical research, test the ideas, and share successful strategies with others. We would really want to see that same commitment and faith in teachers being represented in the new Teachers Council.

We are aware that the new proposed education council is being treated with some scepticism because all of the appointments to the council are being made by the Minister of Education. The question submitters have put to us is how we can encourage the potential of a participatory democracy when others are kept out of the appointment process. This was the view that was loudly expressed in the context of the wānanga and university councils with the concerns around the lack of a guarantee of student or staff representation. It was the impact of that legislation to undermine university governance that came across particularly strongly in the select committee process. Submitters consistently defended the legal definition of universities as “the critic and conscience of society”. It was their deeply held view that the tertiary institutions, as strongholds of academic freedom, were being undermined by the clauses that give appointment powers to the Minister and remove all powers based on badly drafted, unclear criteria. Put another way, this means that people who disagree with the Government can potentially be removed, and this is quite simply Draconian.

It is really important in the Māori Party that we support the initiatives to advance the application of knowledge, but we cannot wilfully ignore the submissions of close to 1,000 New Zealanders. That is why we are opposing this second reading.

Although I am no longer a member of the Education and Science Committee, I was a member of it during the previous Parliament and, as a result, I had the opportunity to read and hear many of the very large number of submissions that we heard on the Education Amendment Bill (No 2). I want to say the committee was very well chaired by Dr Cam Calder, the previous chairman.

We did indeed hear from a large number of submitters, and it is true that many of them had very strong opinions on this bill. However, contrary to the assertion of many of the speakers from the other side of the House last night, I want to make it very clear that all of the submitters were heard with considerable respect at all times. Some significant changes to this bill were recommended by the committee in our report, which was tabled just before the general election, especially relating to the composition of the new council, which is to be known as the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. I mention this because it demonstrated the value of the select committee process and, in particular, the merit of making public submissions. It particularly demonstrated the willingness of this Government, and the two very fine Ministers in charge of the bill, to listen to the people and to take their points on board. That is democracy in action, and that is why I am very proud to commend this bill to the House.

The question was put that the amendments recommended by the Education and Science Committee by majority be agreed to.