Kennedy sticks it to Roy

Today's 'letters' column had Dave Kennedy serving up the correct national standards message to National MP Eric Roy.
And rightly so. Roy's earlier statement was pablum.

Correcting MP's misconceptions


I am disappointed that Invercargill's MP, Eric Roy, doesn't appear to have listened to the delegations of teachers and principals from the electorate he is supposed to represent.
His letter in Wednesday's paper just repeats much of the Government spin that has been presented since the national standards were launched and I would like to correct several misconceptions Mr Roy has promoted.
In their current form, there can be no useful data that these national standards can produce.
The untested standards are not aligned with any assessments teachers use and rely on teacher judgments without effective moderation to ensure consistency.
Mr Roy's claim that the ministry is focusing on delivering frontline services is ironic, after $25 million was cut from their budget earlier in the year and I have personally found Education Ministry staff stretched as they attempt to wear multiple hats to make up for those who have been laid off.
At the same time the $30,000 increase to the salary of ministry head, Karen Sewell, seems nonsensical.
After the dismal failure of the initial professional support, that many schools were asked to pay for, Mr Roy claims that it is being redeveloped.
It is a pity that it hasn't been recognised that the failure of the original professional development was largely due to the problems within the standards themselves and any future support is doomed to fail also if these are not addressed.
To claim that teachers will get support across all curriculum areas will be problematic since all the advisors outside literacy and numeracy have been sacked.
Ignoring expert advice and the genuine concerns of education professionals to blindly push through this ill-conceived policy is wasting taxpayer's money and will deliver nothing to those children with real needs.

DAVE KENNEDY, Invercargill