Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Education
,
Hekia Parata
,
Investing in Educational Success
,
Labour Party
,
NZEI
,
Porkies
,
PPTA
,
Sue Moroney
,
Tamati Coffey
The Dom-Post has a profile of Labour's Rotorua candidate Tamati Coffey this morning. Now Mr Coffey doesn't really need profiling, given his graduation from the TVNZ School for Aspiring Labour Candidates.
But this bit stood out:
He said he was still taking time to come to grips with being a candidate.
"I've been taken under the wing of people like Sue (Moroney) and Nanaia (Mahuta), they were there this morning and are helping me understand all of the problems going on regarding young people," said Coffey.
He said education was the policy area that would likely tip the scales at the September election.
"It's that thing we need to get right for the sake of all of these kids," he said.
The official campaign period begins on June 20 and while Coffey has been on the hustings since he won the confidence of the party in March, he said policy was still weeks from being released.
"Nobody likes the Government's current proposals to spend $350 million on education that's not going to directly benefit the outcomes of children."
In being mentored by Sue Moroney, it's likely that Tamati Coffey has been spoon-fed NZEI anti-National propoganda. But we'd like to give him the benefit of some advice, and suggests he reads a little more widely.
To say that "Nobody likes the Government's current proposals to spend $350 million on education that's not going to directly benefit the outcomes of children." is an outright porkie, but that's what happens when you start using absolutes like "nobody" and "everybody". It may provide a sound-bite, but it's not the truth.
The PPTA claims to represent 95% of secondary teachers; around 17,000 in all. That's a pretty big bloc of nobodies, and a group with far more experience in the education sector than Tamati Coffey or Sue Moroney. And over the last couple of weeks the PPTA has put aside its traditional suspicion of education initiatives proposed by National.
We have blogged extensively on this, and even though we are no fans of trade unions we have praised PPTA and its leadership for being open to Hekia Parata's Investing in Educational Success policy. But for Mr Coffey's benefit, here's what PPTA had to say two weeks ago:
The government’s $359 million Investing in Educational Success (IES) program has been a positive example of sector collaboration, says PPTA president Angela Roberts. Roberts welcomes today’s release of the working group report on the initiative which will see schools across the country collaborating rather than competing. From PPTA’s point of view the consultation over IES was comprehensive, robust and genuine, Roberts said. “We stepped up to the challenge and engaged as fully as it is possible to do.” The sector had worked hard together to find pragmatic answers and there had been significant movement from the originally unacceptable cabinet paper, Roberts said. “You know it’s collaboration when it’s hard work – and this was really hard work.” “We feel cabinet has heard us,” she said. That did not mean there would not be further work to be done or challenges in the future. Details of the new provisions would be a matter of collective bargaining, Roberts said.
“This is just the next step. We still have a long way to go to make sure that this lands well in schools and look forward to continuing to be part of the process,” she said.
Roberts was pleased cabinet had affirmed the working group’s final report.
“This is not performance pay and it is not a lolly scramble – it’s an investment that will have a positive impact on our schools and our students.”
In her engagement with teachers and principals they agree that competition is destructive and that something should change.
“This is something PPTA has been working towards for more than a decade, we are pleased a government has finally decided to resource it,” she said.
So here's the choice, Dear Readers. You can take the word of a political novice with no education sector experience that "Nobody likes the Government's current proposals to spend $350 million on education that's not going to directly benefit the outcomes of children.", or you can take the word of one of the major education sector unions that the IES is "an investment that will have a positive impact on our schools and our students.”.
Can you guess which option we're backing? Here's a hint; it's not the bloke being mentored by Sue Moroney. We reckon he could do worse than find someone who might give him some more balanced and accurate talking points.
