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December 05, 2013
OECD report points to need to resource all schools
Waatea Team
Posted On December 5, 2013
Green MP Catherine Delahunty says the latest OECD education rankings shows the government is on the wrong track with its charter schools, especially when it comes to addressing Maori underachievement.
The Greens held a forum at parliament yesterday to consider the results of the three-yearly Programme for International Student Assessment or Pisa.
Ms Delahunty says one of the most important aspects of this year’s release was the admission by OECD deputy education director Andreas Scheicher that market-based initiatives like charter schools have not lifted student performance.
She says that has implications for the way the Government is touting kura hourua or partnership schools rather than resourcing existing schools including kura kaupapa.
"From a treaty perspective that doesn’t mean we should stop resourcing and challenging ourselves about how to make sure Maori medium is the best it can be. I think it’s the opposite. I think it means that for Aotearoa we need to make sure that kura kaupapa Maori, that Maori medium education for early childhood right through, that it is properly resourced by the state and that it is genuinely led by the kaupapa of Maori aspiration," Ms Delahunty says.
She is talking to the groups setting up kura hourua to try to understand why they feel the need to take that option.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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