2 Aug 2010

'Time running out' for national standards agreement

4:06 pm on 2 August 2010

The Principals Federation wants to know within the next two weeks if the Government will meet its demands for changes to the national standards in reading, writing and maths.

The Federation called on Education Minister Anne Tolley to work in partnership to revise the standards more than three weeks ago, and the organisation's president, Ernie Buutveld, says it needs to know within two weeks if the minister will do that.

Mr Buutveld says the Government needs to stop rushing ahead, and should adopt a strategy suggested to school children for road safety of "stop, look and listen".

The federation wants the Government to set up a working group by the start of next month to revise the standards, and a moratorium on their implementation in the meantime.

Mr Buutveld says it will be up to the federation's members to decide what to do if the Government does not agree to work with them.

Ms Tolley says the federation has failed to provide her with the information she needs to make a decision on the matter.

In a statement, she said the federation had agreed to provide a copy of the information contained in a presentation made to her two weeks ago, but has yet to do so.