National care about ideology, not the education of NZs children

League tables inevitable, teachers fear
League tables that rate schools' performances are inevitable once national standards are introduced, a teachers' union says. Three union groups raised fresh fears yesterday that the new national standards will lead to league tables. Education Minister Anne Tolley said she was waiting for answers from a working party set up to look at the matter. Mrs Tolley is embroiled in a confrontation with unions over the controversial policy, which comes into effect on Tuesday. The Government and Education Ministry are spending $26 million on implementing national standards, but Mrs Tolley rejected suggestions yesterday that the money was part of a "charm offensive" ahead of their introduction. She said the $26m cost attributed to the campaign would be spent on teacher training and support. Of that, $12.7m was for "in-depth training and support" in numeracy and literacy, and "information workshops" would cost $4.35m. No figures were available on how much other initiatives, including 10,000 brochures explaining the system, would cost.

These bullshit national standards have NOTHING to do with the educational betterment of NZ's children and has EVERYTHING to do with National implementing free market ideology into education. The standards will be used to create league tables, these league tables will create a false competition, which is what National have aimed for within education since day one.

This is NOT about the educational achievement of NZ children because national standards like this are pointless because they show nothing of any educational value because children develop at very different stages this early on in their educational life. How do we know this to be true? Because our undisputed educationalists like John Hattie bloody well tells us so!

Here is what he has said about National's failed experiment of free market ideology in education:

Could be the most disastrous education policy ever formulated.

Will only barely raise student achievement, if at all.

Could "pervert the nature of teaching" by pitting schools and teachers against one another.

Hattie also writes that the standards themselves – the targets students will be measured against – are "untested and experimental" and need to be drawn up based on evidence, not committees.

Hmmmm, “Could be the most disastrous education policy ever formulated”, see even if I was a humper for National (like so many of you are), surely those kind of warnings could get through and make an impact. And now National are blowing $26million on a propaganda campaign to sell this bullshit! And let's not forget Tolley lied about parental support for her league tables by stealth...

'Three Rs' plan alarms parents
AN OFFICIAL report reveals one-third of parents had concerns about the new national school standards system before it was launched – despite the government's claims the system has a "strong mandate" from parents.

These league tables National have been trying to smuggle in under the national standards regime have been sold to NZ as having the support of parents yet an official report released shows that 38% of parents made negative comments about National’s plans and only 14% made positive comments. Yet Education Minister Anne Tolley’s press release on the report read, ‘Patents support National Standards’ – no they didn’t only 14% did, 38% were negative.

How's that change feeling NZ? Feeling like you got conned yet into voting for a change you had no idea what it stood for sold by a Party who did all they could to minimize the actual policy? These national standards will be the worst thing ever done to NZ education, yet National are still ramming it through because free market ideology trumps reason when it comes to the Nats.