NCEA and truancy issues are high on the agenda for education ministers while progress is made in replacing Three Waters
The Minister of Education today advised us the Government is to “rephase” the NCEA Change Programme.
The coalition Government is making “significant changes” to the NCEA Change Programme and will delay its implementation by two years.
At a time of public service culling, we might ask how this affects the career prospects of the officials who will be involved in the work.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour had something to say too. He reckons school kids should be in their class rooms learning stuff instead of protesting during school hours.
Seymour disagrees with the previous government’s view that protesting instead of attending school could be justified.
This in my view is unacceptable. My expectation is that schools will treat students protesting today as explained but unjustified absences.
Next week he will be announcing the Government’s Attendance Action Plan to tackle the truancy crisis.
Regular attendance, defined as being in school over 90 percent of the time, has declined from 69.5 percent in Term 2 2015 to 39.9 percent in Term 2 2022. England’s attendance rates in 2022 were 75.1 per cent, the USA was 70.3 per cent, Australia was 49.9 per cent.
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown – who generated a great deal of heat after announcing legislative plans to require councils to either vote to disestablish their Māori wards or to hold a binding poll – had another hot issue on his media agenda today.
He announced that the Cabinet has agreed on key steps to implement Local Water Done Well.
This is a reference to the Coalition Government’s clumsily named plan to flush away Three Waters and introduce its own financially sustainable locally delivered water infrastructure and services.
The latest announcement looks likely to invite lots more questions about exactly what is intended.
Cabinet has agreed to a streamlined decision-making process for the establishment of council-controlled organisations (CCOs) for water services as part of Local Water Done Well.
The Government’s transitional legislation is expected to be passed by mid-2024.
Brown says this will make it easier for early movers to shift the delivery of water services into CCOs as a first step, setting the foundations for more financially sustainable and transparent services.
Transitional provisions will include the requirement for councils to prepare Water Services Delivery Plans within 12 months
“… to demonstrate their commitment to deliver water services that are financially sustainable, meet regulatory standards for water infrastructure quality, and unlock housing growth. This will require the ring-fencing of funding so that sufficient revenues from water services are used to maintain those assets.”
Information supplied by councils in these Plans will assist in the establishment of economic regulation for water services by late 2025, ensuring fair prices and service quality for consumers, and appropriate investment in infrastructure, Brown says.
“The Government will provide further details in mid-2024 on the broader range of structural and financing tools which will be available to councils to ensure they can make the required investment in water services infrastructure. This legislation will be passed by the middle of 2025.”
The Government is currently working with Auckland Council as it develops options to the financial sustainability of Watercare’s investment programme.
Cabinet has agreed a path which would enable any required legislative changes for a financially sustainable model for Watercare to be included in the Transitional Provisions Bill.
The Beehive’s media machine has also brought news of Winston Peters’ travel schedule and what he has been up to.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour had something to say too. He reckons school kids should be in their class rooms learning stuff instead of protesting during school hours.
Seymour disagrees with the previous government’s view that protesting instead of attending school could be justified.
This in my view is unacceptable. My expectation is that schools will treat students protesting today as explained but unjustified absences.
Next week he will be announcing the Government’s Attendance Action Plan to tackle the truancy crisis.
Regular attendance, defined as being in school over 90 percent of the time, has declined from 69.5 percent in Term 2 2015 to 39.9 percent in Term 2 2022. England’s attendance rates in 2022 were 75.1 per cent, the USA was 70.3 per cent, Australia was 49.9 per cent.
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown – who generated a great deal of heat after announcing legislative plans to require councils to either vote to disestablish their Māori wards or to hold a binding poll – had another hot issue on his media agenda today.
He announced that the Cabinet has agreed on key steps to implement Local Water Done Well.
This is a reference to the Coalition Government’s clumsily named plan to flush away Three Waters and introduce its own financially sustainable locally delivered water infrastructure and services.
The latest announcement looks likely to invite lots more questions about exactly what is intended.
Cabinet has agreed to a streamlined decision-making process for the establishment of council-controlled organisations (CCOs) for water services as part of Local Water Done Well.
The Government’s transitional legislation is expected to be passed by mid-2024.
Brown says this will make it easier for early movers to shift the delivery of water services into CCOs as a first step, setting the foundations for more financially sustainable and transparent services.
Transitional provisions will include the requirement for councils to prepare Water Services Delivery Plans within 12 months
“… to demonstrate their commitment to deliver water services that are financially sustainable, meet regulatory standards for water infrastructure quality, and unlock housing growth. This will require the ring-fencing of funding so that sufficient revenues from water services are used to maintain those assets.”
Information supplied by councils in these Plans will assist in the establishment of economic regulation for water services by late 2025, ensuring fair prices and service quality for consumers, and appropriate investment in infrastructure, Brown says.
“The Government will provide further details in mid-2024 on the broader range of structural and financing tools which will be available to councils to ensure they can make the required investment in water services infrastructure. This legislation will be passed by the middle of 2025.”
The Government is currently working with Auckland Council as it develops options to the financial sustainability of Watercare’s investment programme.
Cabinet has agreed a path which would enable any required legislative changes for a financially sustainable model for Watercare to be included in the Transitional Provisions Bill.
The Beehive’s media machine has also brought news of Winston Peters’ travel schedule and what he has been up to.
He will engage with high-level United States Government and United Nations officials.
The visit will focus on major global and regional security challenges and includes meetings with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UN Secretary General António Guterres.
Visits in the past week to Egypt, Poland, Belgium and Sweden have highlighted the challenging strategic environment facing the world today, Peters said.
While in New York, he will address the UN General Assembly on New Zealand’s deep concerns about the situation in Gaza.
Peters arrives in the United States (from Sweden) on 6 April and returns to New Zealand on 14 April.
He also informs us:
NATO is the world’s largest and oldest political military organisation, which New Zealand has cooperated with for decades – from Kosovo to Afghanistan – Winston Peters said.
But as our shared values of human rights, the rule of law, freedom and democracy come under sustained attack, our longstanding cooperation with our traditional partners must be enhanced.
“New Zealand and NATO are working towards renewal of our long-standing partnership through our Individually Tailored Partnership Programme. We expect to conclude this partnership in the coming months, agreeing tangible areas of cooperation,” Mr Peters says.
Back in this country, Defence Minister Judith Collins was announcing the good news that …
The aircraft, which will be one of a fleet of five, took to the skies for 246 minutes over Georgia and Alabama, reaching 10,500 feet and flying 984km.
The Hercules C-130J is faster, flies further and holds more cargo than its predecessor, the C-130H, Collins said.
“It is versatile, powerful and reliable, which is just what the hard-working men and women of the New Zealand Defence Force need for their challenging work in often-difficult conditions.”
But can it fly a prime minister across the Tasman to important talks in the comfort to which a former airline chief executive would feel entitled?
Latest from the Beehive
5 APRIL 2024
The first New Zealand C-130J Hercules to come off the production line in the United States has successfully completed its first test flights, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today.
The coalition Government is making significant changes to the NCEA Change Programme, delaying the implementation by two years, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today.
Ben Dalton has been appointed the new board Chair of Tupu Tonu, the Ngāpuhi Investment Fund.
Students should be in school and learning instead of protesting during school hours, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says.
Cabinet has agreed on key steps to implement Local Water Done Well, the Coalition Government’s plan for financially sustainable locally delivered water infrastructure and services.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will engage with high-level United States Government and United Nations officials in the United States next week (6-12 April).
But back to school: Education Minister Erica Stanford says the current NCEA Change Programme, introduced by the last Government, is fundamentally flawed, in that it designs the assessments before writing the curriculum that details what students should be learning.
“Principals and teachers around the country said the sector was not ready for the roll-out of NCEA Level 1 changes, but these changes went ahead anyway. As a result, some schools stopped offering Level 1 NCEA at all.
“Therefore, I will be delaying the programme’s start by two years. It is essential to change the approach, give certainty to teachers, parents and students about the implementation timeline of the NCEA Change Programme and put in place a clear, knowledge-rich curriculum.
“Teachers have repeatedly called for greater clarity about what to teach. Only 40 per cent of schools reported being ready for the introduction of the new NCEA Level 1.”
The Government will be rephasing the NCEA Change Programme to develop the secondary curriculum of Year 11-13 subject areas before introduction of new assessments.
As a result of this the NCEA Change Programme will be delayed by two years. During this time key actions will support the more effective implementation of our National Qualification;
- A review of the new NCEA Level 1 will be undertaken by the Education Review Office documenting key learnings
- Additional review of other aspects of the NCEA Change Programme, including the methods for external assessments, periods of study leave, and moderation practices
- The senior secondary curriculum for Year 11-13 students will be developed
- An implementation plan will reflect learnings from ERO’s evaluation of Level 1
- NCEA Level 1 (revised) and NCEA Level 2 will be fully implemented by 2028
- NCEA Level 3 will be fully implemented by 2029
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
1 comment:
For some reason I watched TV1 "news" at 6pm. It covered the childrens climate protests around the country.
One piece included a young girl, possibly 12 - 14 years old, ranting about climate with the words clearly stated that "climate change will kill me"
Who on gods earth is telling kids this BS?
They are obviously being told that the climate will change fatally before they mature.
No wonder the greens want the voting age lowered.
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