National’s thoughts
I emailed my local MP this past week, with a whole load of typos included (doh!). And I had a response, the exchange went like this:
Dear Craig,
It is great to see so many MPs engaging directly with the Public through blogs and websites etc. Haven’t seen you on Twitter though! I write an education based blog and have been working around the Hawkes Bay for 5 years now. I am currently considering the direction, politically, that education could go under the next government. I would appreciate thoughts and consideration on the topic of education and how it needs to address the shifting needs of the 21st Century.
Hi Simon,
Thanks for your e-mail.
One of the planks of National’s five point economic plan is to have an unwavering focus on lifting education standards. Our economic future depends on a more skilled workforce. Today’s school children are that workforce. We simply cannot afford to tolerate the long tail of underachievement in our schools.
Some of our main education policies are:
- Launching a Crusade on Literacy and Numeracy to ensure that every child from every background can read, write, and do maths at a level that allows them to participate in a modern economy.
- Putting Trades Training back into schools to ensure that Secondary school are exposed to the hands-on industries that can fire up their appetite for learning – industries that play a crucial role in our economy such as building, horticulture, automotive repair, farming and plumbing. Trades and industry training can inspire students who struggle in more academic subjects. It can encourage them to stay in school. It can motivate them to obtain the skills they need to make the most of their talents.
- A Youth Guarantee that will allow every young person under the age of 18 to access, free of charge, a programme of educational study towards school-level qualifications. This new entitlement will be on top of, not instead of, the education entitlements they have now. Many 16- and 17-year olds will continue to choose school as their preferred option, but others might prefer to continue their education through, for example, a polytechnic, a wananga, a private training establishment, an industry training organisation, or a combination of these options.
- Investing up to $1.5 billion to drive the roll-out of a fibre-to-the-home, ultra-fast broadband network. Schools will be in the first tranche of this investment. Fibre to schools and children’s homes could hugely enhance teaching and learning.
- Sports in Schools. We will, over time, give schools additional resources to ensure more students take part in sport. We believe playing sport is an important part of growing up in New Zealand and we will ensure that more of the Government’s sport spending makes it to the front line.
In addition National has just announced that we will inject an additional $500 million into school property funding over the next three years to allow for a 21st Century School Building Programme.
