Radio New Zealand

Education

The questions we asked

• Early Childhood Subsidies
  Will you maintain Early Childhood Education subsidy rates, including the 20-Hours rates, at current levels?
• Subsidy Levels and Qualified Teachers
  Will you restore higher subsidies for Early Childhood Education services where more than 80% of the teaching workforce are qualified teachers?
• National Standards
  Will you retain the national standards in reading, writing and maths? If not what would replace them?
• Underachievement
  How will you address under-achievement among students from low socio-economic, Maori and Pasifika backgrounds?
• Student Loan Interest
  Will you make any changes to the current policy of charging no interest on student loans?
• Fee Rise Controls
  What regulations, if any, will you set on tertiary institution's annual increases in student fees?
• Subsidised Enrolment Levels
  Will you retain the current system for deciding government subsidised enrolments and for restricting un-subsidised enrolments at tertiary institutions? If not, what would change?

Background information

Responses from parties in parliament

National

Declined to answer this question.

Labour

Labour views ECE as a hugely-rewarding investment. Each dollar invested in ECE returns at least $11 in long-term benefits to the country. Labour will retain existing subsidies and fee controls and reverse National’s changes to funding rates that have led to higher fees for parents.

Green

We are firmly committed to universal access to high quality care and education for children under five. We believe the 20 hours free ECE is a great investment for the country. Research points to the multiple benefits that flow to society as a result of participation in early childhood education services. We will retain the 20 hours entitlement, and in consultation with the sector, we will review and improve the funding system for early childhood services.

ACT

Has not yet answered this question.

Maori

Has not yet answered this question.

United Future

Yes.

Mana

No – we would increase them in line with inflation but our main focus will be to extend ECE services into all low-income communities and extend the 20 free hours for the children of sole parents where the parent is working full time.

National

Declined to answer this question.

Labour

The previous Labour Government was committed to the goal of having 100% qualified and registered teachers in all teacher-led services, and that remains our party’s position. Teachers are our most valuable educational resource and ensuring that they are fully trained is vital to the health of our ECE sector. Labour will retain existing subsidies and fee controls and reverse National’s changes to funding rates that have led to higher fees for parents.

Green

Yes, we will re-establish the target of 100 percent qualified staff in teacher-led ECE centres, and resurrect the funding to support this. We recognise the need to improve ECE participation for Maori and Pacific Island children, and children from disadvantaged communities. But cutting funding to high quality ECE services is not the way to achieve that. At the same time, we value Playcentre, Kohanga Reo, and other models of ECE, and reject the market funding mechanism proposed for them by the Government.

ACT

Has not yet answered this question.

Maori

Has not yet answered this question.

United Future

We will ensure that government funding of early childhood centres is reflected in the fees passed on to parents by requiring them to disclose what proportion of fees are taxpayer-funded.

Mana

Yes – quality early childhood education is a right of citizenship. Well trained and qualified teachers are at the heart of quality education.

National

Declined to answer this question.

Labour

Under Labour, schools will not be required to implement National’s standards. Labour will lift achievement by setting high expectations for each student according to their individual ability and providing parents with information they want in plain language about their child’s learning. We know that children learn at different rates and in different ways. The “one size fits all” approach to education fails children.

Green

We are concerned at the flawed, rushed National Standards, and the way that they could label kids as failures and undermine schools in low-decile areas. Parents want informative plain English reports on their own child's progress, but we don’t need to implement National Standards to achieve that. Research shows that National Standards will not lead to improved outcomes for students. In fact, many countries that have gone down this route in the past are now turning away from it. Refusing to recognise the weight of local and international evidence against such policies is most unwise. We will remove the National Standards, and remove the requirement for schools to report against them. Instead we support the implementation of the National Curriculum.

ACT

Has not yet answered this question.

Maori

Has not yet answered this question.

United Future

Yes, although we believe implementation of national standards policy has not been done effectively.

Mana

No – we would replace them with increased resources so that teachers and schools can deliver the extra help to the children the teachers and schools already know are underachieving.

National

Declined to answer this question.

Labour

New Zealand’s schooling system is world-class, but we can do even better. Labour will ensure there is support for the most vulnerable students, including Māori, Pasifika, and children from low-income families. We are committed to increasing these groups’ participation and engagement in education.

Green

Educational underachievement amongst children from disadvantaged families and communities is a complex issue, with roots in poverty and other social problems, as well as failings in the education system. Our Mind the Gap and End Child Poverty packages contain policies that will reduce inequality and move children out of poverty, with benefits that will flow through to their education, health and social outcomes. Our education policy also contains a raft of measures to address educational underachievement: Education programmes that meet the diverse needs and unique learning styles of individuals, as well as the needs of the whole community; Kaupapa Maori education as alternative learning institutions, and to enhance kaupapa Maori throughout mainstream education; Improving Maori leadership at all levels of education with adequate resources to support this; The expansion of Kohanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa, with specific incentives to encourage teachers to train for and teach in kura, Kohanga Reo, full immersion and bilingual schools; We would immediately boost the operations grant by 10%; Maximum class sizes no greater than 20 through a reduction in pupil to teacher ratios for primary, intermediate and secondary schools; Partnerships between high and low-decile schools for their mutual benefit; Ensuring that all schools and early childhood services are create a whole school culture that is inclusive and supports the elimination of prejudice, racism, bullying intimidation, and violence.

ACT

Has not yet answered this question.

Maori

Has not yet answered this question.

United Future

Specifically target struggling students through being tough on truancy.

Mana

Reducing income inequality is an important aspect to this because educational under-achievement gets worse in societies where income inequality increases. Our tax and incomes policy would deal with this. There are many successful initiatives already in place in many schools to address Maori and Pacific underachievement but these often rely on over-worked and under-resourced teachers. We would address this with smaller class sizes and significant increases in money for professional development and resourcing of classroom teachers. Increased resources and capacity building for Kohanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Maori are important as are their growing counterparts in Pasifika education.

National

Declined to answer this question.

Labour

Labour is committed to keeping interest free student loans. The scrapping of interest has reduced total debt and knocked years off repayment times for students.

Green

No, we support the current zero interest scheme.

ACT

Has not yet answered this question.

Maori

Has not yet answered this question.

United Future

No.

Mana

We would not charge interest on loans and would develop ways people with debts can have them paid off quickly through work of social value.

National

Declined to answer this question.

Labour

Labour will retain the Fee Maxima system and keep the annual maximum fee movement at its current rate of 4%. Tuition fees grew out of control in the 1990s at almost 10% each year, Labour brought fees under control during its last term, but they continue to grow. Labour will ensure that tuition fees are kept affordable and reasonable so students of all backgrounds can study to their full ability without facing cost barriers or excessive debt.

Green

The Green Party supports a return to fee-free tertiary education. We would cap and then progressively reduce student fees and investigate bonding, or other mechanisms of contribution, in place of fees.

ACT

Has not yet answered this question.

Maori

Has not yet answered this question.

United Future

We propose a zero-fees policy for tertiary education in New Zealand in place of Student Allowances, accompanied by a push to increase the quality of tertiary education and protect the value of New Zealand degrees. This will apply to both full and part-time students.

Mana

No regulations needed. We would abolish fees for New Zealand citizens attending tertiary education.

National

Declined to answer this question.

Labour

Labour will review the cap on enrolments in tertiary institutions, with a view to providing flexibility in its implementation, particularly in times of high unemployment.

Green

No. We do not support a cap on total numbers at tertiary institutions especially during tough economic times when youth unemployment is high. The Green Party would ensure universities are properly funded by reassessing the current and confusing funding models. The tension between EFTS and PBRF (and other) funding models makes for waste and bad educational outcomes.

ACT

Has not yet answered this question.

Maori

Has not yet answered this question.

United Future

Yes.

Mana

The driver here is the interest, motivation and ability of students. If a student meets the requirements for a course they would be funded by the government to study. However we would not subsidise private PTEs and would withdraw funding from public institutions where courses are of low quality and which do not advantage a person entering the workforce. For example many hospitality courses result in students getting huge debt burdens but still only the ability to earn close to the minimum wage.

Background Information

• NCEA indicators - School leavers with Level 1 or above 2010 (Education Counts)
• NCEA indicators - School leavers with Level 2 or above 2010 (Education Counts)