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Election 2011 - Party Policies - Education - Secondary

Election 2011 - Party Policies - Education - Secondary

Secondary

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  • Have state funding to primary and secondary schools "follow the child" - to any school. state or private, meeting basic standards, including standards of literacy and numeracy. In other words, you'll get to decide which school you'll send your child to, and have your taxpayer funding pay for it. 
  • Allow and require schools to expand to meet demand, including by taking over the land and buildings of failing schools. (more here)

Not set out on their website.

Not set out on their website.

  • Make English and Te Reo compulsory to Level 1 NCEA.
  • Create a “Pharmac for schools” where bulk buying will significantly reduce the cost of equipment and resources.
  • Investigate other ways of central provision of services (eg security) which can benefit schools by reducing bureaucracy at local school level so the school focus shifts further to teaching and learning rather than management. (more here)

Not set out on their website.

Not set out on their website.

  • Introduce a minimum number of standards for each subject that must be externally assessed.
  • Look at initiatives to address the problem of boys continuing to fall behind girls in achievement and completion rates for NCEA
  • Establish consistent policies on internal and external reassessment opportunities.
  • Ensure that the time allotted to complete externally assessed exams is appropriate to the number of standards that students are sitting.
  • UnitedFuture supports the raising of the school leaving age provided: it is accompanied by a range of options for students to use their years 12 and 13 for more career focused learning options like trade training; and students capable of moving on to tertiary opportunities during those years are not prevented from doing so.
  • Ensure that senior students have sufficient access to advice and information about career choices and opportunities for further education and training. (more here)
  • Include relationship education as part of a holistic life-skills curriculum at secondary school. The aim is to ensure that secondary education is focused not just on knowledge, but also its everyday application. Students should be equipped for successful interdependent living, not just for tertiary learning.
  • Ensure that character education programmes, also known as values education and life-skills education, are established in full consultation with parents and staff and operate in all of New Zealand’s schools. Character education is about incorporating universal values such as honesty, respect for others and the law, tolerance, fairness, caring and social responsibility into a school’s culture.
  • Introduce civics and life-skills education into the curriculum, to ensure that kiwi students leave secondary school prepared for more than just tertiary education and employment. Ensure that they have an understanding of how to make good decisions, enjoy good health and how to participate in civil society as well as having an understanding about their country, its history, and how its basic institutions function. (more here)

 

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