Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

School groups want political immunity for education

Updated at 8:11 am on 26 August 2011

School principals, teachers and trustee groups will meet on Saturday with the aim of making some parts of the school system immune to political interference.

They want to agree on the areas of schooling that they feel politicians should not meddle with.

The Principals Federation, which organised the meeting, says it hopes the groups can identify core principles of education.

It expects any consensus from the meeting will carry a lot of weight and says Governments would be unwise to ignore it.

Radio New Zealand's education correspondent says the meeting is inspired in part by the national standards, which the federation says are distracting schools from an innovative new curriculum.

It expects any consensus reached will carry a lot of weight and says government's would be unwise to ignore it.

Groups attending the meeting have suggested the curriculum, self-managing schools and the Treaty of Waitangi as likely areas for agreement.

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