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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Schools prepare to whack National

Good. It's about time. Now we'll see if the Government has managed to convince New Zealand that teachers are bad and that New Zealand education is poor.
Hekia Parata has started the fire but burned herself and her Government badly in the process and it's only just begun. The sight of Parata hobbling away from Parliament today, with a wrenched back was pathetic, in the classic sense, and indicative of how this is going for her and her fellow National Party MPs. Not a good position from which to start a fight.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just smacks of the Teachers Union protecting mediocrity again.

Paranormal

robertguyton said...

On what basis do you make that lame claim, paranormal? Your own prejudice?
What aspect of the industry's objections to the aspects of the Budget that will impact negatively on education, do you think indicates that the union, teachers, parents and children who are, for the first time, uniting to tell the Government where to put it, are 'protecting mediocrity?
Hmmm?

Anonymous said...

RG over the years we have seen the closed shop of teachers unions protecting the status quo. There are a number of extreme cases where the individuals should have been thrown out of teaching but were protected within the union folds. In addition we have a system with an incredible failure rate that is seen as acceptable. Depending on which stats you want to believe 20% to 25% of children leave school without literacy or numeracy skills.

As an aside, I find it absolutely disgusting that the Teachers unions whipping up hysteria again using their students as political fodder.

The system needs to be improved, the status quo is not working, and yet the unions want to retain it. It just seems to me their actions show they just want to protect mediocrity.

Here's a comment from Farrars blog I found pertinent: I do agree with the basic premise of making teaching an important profession with corresponding rewards and status. ...part of the problem is that we made teaching a profession for the mediocre (as well as the dedicated) and that any solution requires the removal of the mediocre as well as recruitment of the best for education.

And of course, you have no prejudices in this area do you RG....

Paranormal

robertguyton said...

What I have, paranormal, is experience. You'll not know this, but I didn't fit at all well, the mold you describe and struggled constantly with many of the aspects that incense you so, however, I saw for myself the reality of teacher quality, dedication, application and collegiality, so find your comments to be so far off the mark that it pains me to address your claims. It'd be easier to dismiss you as an ideologue, but I feel bound to at least try.