(National Party media release)
The falling standards in our education system are clearly demonstrated by a recent NCEA [National Certificate of Educational Achievement] pilot which showed a staggering two-thirds of Kiwi students would fail the new literacy and numeracy standards, National’s Education spokesperson Erica Stanford says.
“Documents released to National show that pass rates in the 2021 pilot were just 34.5 per cent in writing, 66.9 per cent in reading and 65.3 per cent in numeracy.
“As students must attain all three standards before gaining NCEA, these results translate into just one in three students achieving our national curriculum.
“The results from this pilot are alarming and are another sad reminder of the sustained decline of education standards in New Zealand which has been ongoing since the 1980s.
“Under Labour, standards have continued to drop, with the Minister of Education Chris Hipkins admitting earlier this year that the performance of New Zealand students is getting worse.
“Labour has no plan. Their only action has been to release a waffly strategy document which contained no details on how they would turn around falling standards.
“When only 60 per cent of students are attending school regularly, that is a clear indication Labour needs to prioritise getting kids into the classroom because they cannot achieve if they are not there.
“We know that attendance is the most important indicator of student achievement and education is the strongest tool we have to ensure every kid gets an equal chance in life to be successful.
“Without change, our literacy and numeracy standards will continue to decline. This is not just a social failure but a future economic crisis.
“Labour’s lack of delivery is failing a generation of children.”
Waikanae Watch 
Labours lack of skills and leadership is failing all New Zealanders ! Period !
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Labour dumbing down the population so as to have even more people relying on them for handouts therefore gaining more votes
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The education problems should be very concerning to everyone. It seems to me that our country does really value education in fields such as maths and science. Labour’s plans to combat absenteeism were pathetic. We can’t they aim for 95% attendance after one year? Social issues have become a valid reason for non-attendance in the eyes of Labour. The country as a whole will suffer from this.
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“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” Albert Einstien.
Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them.
R. Buckminster Fuller
Hay Teacher leave those kids alone….Pink Floyd
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Just another reason to take the family over to oz
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In my view the appalling demise in the standards of literacy and numeracy – and the accompanying lack of student success within NCEA is a direct result of the current ‘courtship of the lowest common denominator’ across the board within its tiers of strategy, policy and resultant Law making. Unchecked lack of attendance at secondary school level reinforces the likely outcome of school leavers who lack the basic skills to live and contribute as functioning members of a democratic society. The net negative flow on to either professional tertiary or crucial trade qualifications is abysmal. Within the Labour Government’s tenure any expectation of the emergent generation contributing to a strong economy or holding any understanding of basic civics and individual responssibilities within this- has been close to – if not totally extinguished.
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As an older generation I see every day young people in retail cannot workout change in their head, to further confuse them I give them the odd cents from my purse, it’s amazing to see that they haven’t a clue how to work it out. We need to go back to basics, reading, writing & arithmetic, the three most basic forms of education that’s been used for earlier generations. I can add up my purchases in my head, just like lots of us “oldies” who don’t know anything according to some of these young guns. Take the calculator & the computer away from these smart young ones & they are totally lost. !!!!!!.
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If you never fail, you never succeed.
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Yes thats the problem with this gen, everyone wants to be a winner all the time, example is dropping kids sprint races from 100m to 70m. Some kids come back in the last 30 m etc passing others. When I was a kid you accepted your loses and moved onto things you are actually good at. not bloody babying them making them all cry babies.
“
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Thats right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don’t want that!
You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork. And just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shitty jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you sooner or later cause they own this fucking place! It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it! You, and I, are not in the big club.
Geogre Carlin
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