NZ Centre for Political Research

This week's poll asks:

Are you supportive of the Partnership School trial?

*Partnership schools seem like a step in the right direction but by no means a completed ideal.
Education, like 'Maori Language Week', should not be a governt-sponsored fixture which coercively monopolises what should be taught according to the statist mentality driving the government line.
Figuratively speaking, compulsion should be struck from the lexicon of a civilised mind. It is the tool by which any potential demagogue can impose irrationality and state dependency on an unsuspecting public. DONRO

*They need to sort out the existing system not gamble on untested systems. Tony

*Fix the existing system never mind gambling on alternatives. Fine if they finance themselves but the state should not finance them. Tony

*Our role in life is to make sure that our Children get an education that will allow them to have a future. Rick

*We must offer these kids an alternative from the washing machine that is education. To succeed, partnership schools must keep the teachers unions out. Ronmac

*But what does that matter?

Key or Shearer or Manacle-scarred-russell will ride roughshod over any fair and reasonable debate that goes against their dictatorial wishes.

New Zealand was once a wealthy and great nation.

Now it's full of RACIST MOARI, POLITICAL PROSTITUTES like Key, Shearer, Dunne-nothing, Unleavened-sharples and Beneficiary-bennett.

Where has the wealth gone?

Down the DPB toilet, into RACIST MOARI "grievances" and into the pockets of oxygen-stealing central and local government political PROSTITUTES.

When we are bankrupt, what good will radio waves be to the RACIST MOARI?

When we are bankrupt, what good will national standards be to POLITICAL PROSTITUTES?

No good at all.

Watch as New Zealand quickly follows Greece into financial oblivion.

Thanks a bunch, John, for being "the man to make those hard calls"...yeah, right. Mark

*Recognition must be given to the fact that a significant number of people do not in fact possess the mental competence to succeed in this due to possessing less than average IQ... They need to be helped not frustrated. Christopher

*Yes. It's WELL past time that NZ education was given a MAJOR overhaul. Peter

*Most children who fail have poorly organised State funds spent on them. Jim

*Without Property Rights, No Social or Econmic Growth or Peacefull Existance. Jim

*We have to try a different approach for those set to fail in the current system as long as its closely monitored. Ali

*I believe that anything that will loosen the stranglehold that teacher trade unions have over the state education system must be of benefit. Peter

*We need schools that do NOT teach cultural marxism, Maori language or political correctness, only historical facts and figures. If Partnership Schools fit that criteria, then I would support their trial. Monica

*If our education system keeps doing things the same way, nothing will change. We need to change the results for the bottom 20%. Graham

*The German schooling system is great, perhaps this new system will go someway towards it. Barbara

*Schools operated successfully in the past before PC arrived. Also before discipline was lost. Untrained teachers are not a step forward. Return the situation when NZ was a leader in education. Cyril

*With 40 years "at the chalk-face" I've seen all sorts of dumb political decisions in education - none of which have advanced education - rather they've dumbed it down further and further - little by little and those of us wise enough to see through it had to circumvent the rubbish.
We've had very successful results to teaching and learning, none of which came from overseas, like this latest "idea." Why do the U.S. and the U.K. take our lead?
Why do our politicians follow failed overseas ideas? We have enough innovative people here in NZ to lead the world - in everything not just education. Are our "elected" representatives being instructed from elsewhere? Rod

This week's poll asks:

Are you supportive of the Partnership School trial?

*Just read your article. Cannot agree. Moat of you comments cannot be substantiated. I bit like mine suppose. But that`s Education! John

*Surely these are a similar system to the religious run private schools that for decades produced high achievers both academicly and in the arts and sports. Richard

*I think it is critcal to change the educational outcomes of the disadvantaged 15% "tail". Tony

*Another cope out from the government whom would definitely not send their children their. Linda

*Hopefully more emphasis will be put on responsibility and consideration and the fact that our life should be to improve not destroy. Mary

*It seems there may be a place for the Partnership School trial. I looked at where my two Grandaughters were heading, with Mum and Dad both full time working, being in full time day care. When my wife was made redundant from her work, I offered her services as Nana/Mum to the girls as a way to keep them out of day care. Our eldest is now 6, and is excelling at school. With the added influence of Nana she has a reading level of 8 or 9 year old. And Guess how Nana taught her to read? Phonics of course. The latest report from school had the comment that our Granddaughter had "an interesting method or working out how to pronounce words". Changes are needed indeed. Neil

*One M.P. decides it should be put into practice and so be it, it has not worked in many other Countries but cost not only in money but also in loss of learning, Schools should have reputable teachers that have gone through the right system (yes there are teachers that fall through the cracks and should never get into the job) I feel sorry for teachers nowadays, Discipline and respect has gone out the door. MARYLIN

*The teachers' unions have killed effective teaching and cover it all up with constant propaganda. Vincent

*At last an alternative to the Closed Shop teachers' union. More power to Charter Schools. My concern is that they will not be given time to turn around 50 years of educational rot and roll back the socialized tripe served up as education in many schools. Peter

*It seems that the aim of starting Charter Schools is to break away from Union domination of Teaching and Teachers. This would be an improvement but the Charter School Teachers would all have to have qualifications and experience equal to or better than the best of the Teachers we have at present. Peter

*For a trial. Denis

*I would like to see all "TEXT" language banned from written school work. Bring back the teaching of old fashioned grammar. Gretchen

*It's high time the teachers were held accountable for the poor outcomes in NZ education and paid according to their performance. Charter schools are the way to break their stranglehold. John

*The system deserves a trial. Desmond

*A resounding yes and for goodness sake hurry up. And also hurry up to revert to phonics and teaching children to spell and put punctuation in their sentences and to analyse and disect reasonably complex essays and books so that they actually do comprehend the real meaning of what they are reading. Dianna

This week's poll asks:

Are you supportive of the Partnership School trial?

*This is to easily hijacked funding for religious cults/sects. Brainwashing our children with our funding. David

*All good business's need strong composition. Graeme

*The present State education system is very narrow focused and relatively sterile. Teachers are restricted to a narrow curriculum and there is no allowance for initiatives. Wayne

*Anything is better then having unions running the ship. Clark

*Great idea. All power to the scheme. Don't give in to the union heavies!! Ross

*Most of NZ does not realise that it has fallen to voluntary organisations to help the disadvantaged and without these capable, dedicated and willing people the statistics would be even worse. John

*The money spent on charter schools would be better spent on our State schools. What is needed is more resourcing in terms of personnel to help raise the achievement of those at the bottom most of whom come from dysfunctional backgrounds. Stop blaming the system and start blaming the families. Lynne

*How ridiculous that the government is requiring state school teachers to be better qualified and then allowing teachers in partnership schools to be untrained and unqualified.This has to be the height of stupidity but what else can you expect from the Act Party that idiot Key government that supports them. Drongoes all. Bill

*Yes, yes, yes and again YES! Eneka

*If Charter schools are for the "1 in 5" under-achievers, (actually that figure can be disputed - because educationalists argue that the figure is more accurately 10%) then it would be easier for the rest of the students in state schools to achieve as ordinary students would gwet more teacher time. Reasons for underachievement are complex - it includes ESOL children who do not yet speak English, Asperges, children with fetal alcohol syndrome, children who are abused and suffering neglect and not in an emotional state to learn, children with Oppositional Defiance Disorders, etc.
However overseas studies show that charter schools: "cherry pick" students - and the "Underachievers" that these schools are meant to cater for are rejected while the able students are given preference. This ghetoises state schools who are left with the difficult students the charter schools don't want. Cyb_ed

This week's poll asks:

Are you supportive of the Partnership School trial?

*I would like the government to pay more attention to their absolute obligations to educate our population. Everything is in place to achieve a good result, but there are few educators with the vision and will to recognise the new ingredients needed. We are a dumbed down nation. Our expectations in all areas of life are continually numbed by the visual media presented to us on television.
It used to be said that "education begins at home".
So where are the programmes that inspire and educate? Where is the hope of a brighter future? Certainly it is not presented in our living rooms, and yet this is where, with our families, we are presented with pathetic programme content that will be absorbed and talked about next day at work and at school. Regrettably these low standards of thinking are already embedded in our daily lives and habits. It will take a strong, high quality politician who is unafraid of politics to stand up for education for young and old and give New Zealand the chance it deserves on the world stage - someone with along term vision! We certainly don't need corporate schooling to
produce brilliant Kiwis! Russell

*A very good article by Perigo. Barry

*My daughter has had to use Kip Mcgrath? Teachers to help her daughters maintain a reasonable level of achievement and they are average students. Good luck to the Partnership School trial. Sonia

*I am a retired primary school teacher. I personally witnessed the dumbing down of the school curriculum when Tomorrow's Schools came into being. Edicts arrived from Wellington from people who seemed to have little or no understanding of the realities of teaching in the classroom. At the same time the notion that a teacher had to be in control of his class seemed to be abandoned. There seemed to be a reluctance to hold misbehaving and disruptive pupils accountable for their actions.

I say we should go further than the Partnership School Trial. We should allow genuine school choice similar to what is offered in Sweden and the Netherlands.
Funding should follow the child and as far as possible parents should be able to choose a school suitable for their child.

Schools do not have to be absolute clones. Some could specialize in particular subject areas such as foreign languages and music. Some could put in place a fairly structured teaching style while others could offer a less structured system.

At a time when many parents want a school environment which incorporates social and ethical values schools could outline the ones they would be promoting.

Such schools would be able to draw on the best of the curriculum knowledge making their own decisions instead of getting instructions from non teachers in Wellington. For parents of children of primary school age I refer you to the International Primary Curriculum and the Singapore Primary Curriculum.

I say we do need school reform but the only way parents are going to get it is to make support of any political Party conditional on their allowing it.
Any why not? Why shouldn't parents have a significant and actual influence on the type of schooling their child receives? Denis

*Too many children are not being taught the skills they need for life, as I see it teachers are overpaid babysitters. Carolyn

*I think the Partnership School concept is most exciting, and offers a field of endeavour which I hope will be accepted, and applauded by caring parents. Alan

*Sick of being a social experiment country for the world. Would you like your dentist or Doc to be unregistered ??? Do you think the govt could answer your Security case? Beryl

*Uncontrolled TV & computer games with lack of parental input in the home are the main problems, also single parenting is a big contributer. Brian

*Being unregistered does not hinder a qualified person from passing on education in their specialty. Frank

*As long as it is not military style or Maori is taught. Best set at the 3 R`s and starting at 3 1/2 to 4 year old and making it fun and team sports. Robert

*Too many kiwis are afraid of change. It's a trial not a throwing out the bath water event. Wayne

*We have everything to lose if we don't! Many state schools are under-functioning despite all the BS rhetoric from the NZEI/PPTA who desperately want us to believe we have a top Education System. Of course we have kids who will almost always succeed regardless of their school or teachers. Far too many pupils are still coming out of school lacking in basic skills, attitude, and discipline which would make them suitable for employment-training let alone for higher education. It's no surprise Maori and Pacific Islanders contribute disproportionately to the big tail of under-achievers. As always we will try and paper over the big cracks of failure and mediocrity! So let us give these new Partnership Schools encouragement and a fair trial! Frank

This week's poll asks:

Are you supportive of the Partnership School trial?

*The more diversity and choice in education the better. When will a government have the spine to treat all independent schools equally and direct the fair share of tax paid funding to such schools? Willy

*The situation is beyond desparate. Anything is worth a try. Peter

*Anything that lessens the hold that the PPTA has over education in this country gets my vote. Murray

*Yes if this system is going develop a child's individual creativity and as well as their ability to master the ABC's of learning. Kate

*The system that exists badly needs upgrading without the beaucratic nonsensecal interferance from oversized academics and get back to the basic 3r's. Ian

*Any improvement on the current shambles will be greatly welcome. Brent

*If it will make a marked difference to improve education outcomes then it has got to be good. How will we know how good it may be if we don't trial it? Andrew

*John Banks is involved with this one too, right? How that man can sit in Parliament, with all that swirls around his head, convinces me we should have dumped him out out of there when we had the first chance to. That was when he was under a cloud while Minister of Police,charged with the Tender process for flack jackets.He survived that. Now he has survived all that has happened since then, and still this man goes on. Mr. Key how could you??? Wiremu

*Without a doubt, how anyone can call our current crop of non achievers a testament to a good education system is beyond me, but, the same as Arabs do not do democracy, the unions do not do any form of measurement / assessment so expect a fight, they will not want any partnership school showing them up, and as for the registration red herring, I was in contact with quite a few registered Teachers when my kids were at school and believe me, registration does not equate nessecarily to being any good. John

*What is the partnership school trial? Everyone seems to have a different explanation. Malcolm

*Another failed overseas political idea. John

This week's poll asks:

Are you supportive of the Partnership School trial?

*Anything to improve edication that is not controlled by the unions has to be good! Phillip

*Get stuck in. I would love the opportunity to operate a school that actually put kids ahead of teachers. Bill

*Time to break the unions who have destroyed the education of kids for decades. Johnny

*The new school trial sounds very promising. Good on National for focussing on the 20% of underachieving kids. Let's hope the trial works really well and can be expanded across New Zealand for all kids to take part in. Rebecca

*Look what has happened to schools that are under the iron grip of the unions - they have not been able to keep up with the changing nature of their students. Schools should be freed up to keep pace with what's going on and that means breaking the power of the unions. Go for it National! Pat

*Anything that will improve education should be supported. Clive