Kerre Woodham: Education should be an election issue for all New Zealanders

Yesterday we were wondering what Nationals announcement was going to be around education, today we know.

From where I'm sitting, it's pretty good.

The basics are primary and intermediate schools will teach students for at least one hour a day on each of the topics of reading, writing and maths, and children will be tested at least twice a year to make sure that they've got it, that they understand what they're being taught.

It's a commitment to New Zealand's children that their education will ensure they will be literate and numerate when they leave school. It's a commitment that New Zealanders will once again see our education system ranked as one of the best in the world.

A commitment that wherever you and your child are in the country, your education, or your child's education won't be left to chance or fate.

And of course, the unions and Labour have come out and criticised it.  

Jan Tinetti, the Education Minister, says that forcing children to do an hour each of reading, writing and maths every day isn't going to make them enjoy it or learn better. More intensive testing isn't going to make school a place they want to be.

She says Labour has invested in our kids, upgraded nearly every school in the country, improved teachers’ pay and introduced programmes that help parents and make kids want to be at school.

So why are the truancy rate the highest they've ever been, Jan? Why are your teachers on strike? Why are we the worst in just about every single category?

So fine, grizzle and moan all you like about a standardised education system, but that's what we had before when we produced literate, numerate young people from our schools.

I've banged on time and time again about how we're letting down our kids, this generation of kids, and we are.

If you go back to the 90’s, young New Zealanders were better educated than they are now. We are going backwards. What we have right now in our schools is some sort of interpretive dance.

We've far too many young people, and I'm not going to say they're failing, they are being let down.

The teachers, too, are being let down by not having the resources and the structure they need to deliver the results they want.

Good on Christopher Luxon for making education an election issue.

I couldn't believe it when I read Matthew Hooton's column that education doesn't make the top issues concerning voters, according to their own pollsters, and it’s a lowly 11th in Ipsos’ New Zealand Issues Monitor.

It shouldn't be. Education should be top of mind for every single New Zealander.

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