Secondary Education

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• Ensure that all state schools are fully funded to a level where high quality educational delivery is not dependent on the collection of fees, private donations, fundraising, nor private investment.
• Oppose any moves towards Public-Private Partnerships in the building and operating of schools
• Review the governance structure in Tomorrow's Schools and trial alternative models of school governance amongst volunteer clusters of schools.
• Oppose the publication of league tables which rank schools on academic achievement.
• Support the continued improvement of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), and work with the teaching profession to undergo a review of the current three levels of NCEA assessment. (more here)

• Reduce class sizes by funding 2,000 more teachers, paid for by cancelling National’s flawed and divisive I.E.S. policy.
• Simplify ERO reports so that parents have access to quality, reliable information on their school’s performance.
• Make it easier to establish Schools of Special Character, so that innovative programmes and approaches targeted at students who haven’t been achieving within the existing system can be further expanded and developed.
• Put in place a programme that provides an affordable option, available to all schools, for Year 5-13 students to have access to a portable digital device, in the classroom and at home.
• Continue to roll out ultrafast broadband to every school in the country, whilst also ensuring that they have the technology infrastructure to make the best use of it. (more here)

• Limit class sizes in all state schools, including kura kaupapa and wharekura, to a teacher:student ratio of 1:15.
• Invest in the ongoing training and professional development of teachers and school leaders, supported by research, to ensure the provision of culturally supportive and relevant learning contexts to engage all learners and help them succeed.
• Develop schools as hubs of community development and whānau engagement, with home-school and whanau literacy partnerships, community education, trades training and other tertiary courses available.  Create new community service jobs in schools, kura kaupapa, and wharekura to support them as community hubs.
• Incorporate economic and political literacy (“Civics education”) into the curriculum at all levels to encourage critically conscious citizenship.
• Make te reo Māori a compulsory subject in all English-medium schools alongside English, Maths, and Science, and develop a plan to ensure there are sufficient teachers and learning resources to deliver this policy. (more here)

• Establish ten experiential learning pilots in Māori medium and general education schools, to grow entrepreneurial skills.
• Maintain ongoing investment in Computers in Homes, Reading Together, iPads in Schools, Tataiako (Cultural Competency).
• Ensure Māori histories will be a compulsory component of the curriculum, designed and delivered jointly with mana whenua.
• Introduce civics education as a compulsory area of learning, including the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
• We will promote the concept of self-managing schools which focus on whānau achievement and success. (more here)

•  Invest $359m over four years to recognise excellent teachers and principals by introducing four new roles in schools.
• Keep good teachers in the classroom by giving teachers the opportunity to further their careers while staying in the classroom.
• Invest in modern 21st century schools, with an extra $284 million for more schools, classrooms, and improvements to school property.
• Roll out Ultra-Fast Broadband and faster broadband to all schools by 2016, providing access to the best teachers and resources anywhere in the world.
• Boost digital literacy to get more home computers and digital literacy training for low-income families. (more here, here, here, and here)

• Review the implementation of the operations grant with a view to increasing it to address equity challenges and outside of school factors that impact on student achievement.
• Work in partnership with schools and the Ministry of Social Development to expand the Social Sector Trials (area planning networks) focused on youth well-being with a view to a nationwide roll-out.
• Support the nationwide use of the ‘HEADSS’ holistic assessment of Year 9 students to identify individual areas of concern and trends within these learners within communities, regions and across the country.
•  Ensure that the education sector has the opportunity to elect its own representatives to sit around the new Teachers Council.
• Review the current staffing allocation model and encourage New Zealand based research into the identification and measurement of relative impact, of the factors including actual class size, that impact on the ability of teachers to use the pedagogies and student focus embedded within the New Zealand curriculum and its effect on student outcomes. (more here)

• Introduce a minimum number of standards for each subject that must be externally assessed.
• Investigate initiatives to address the problem of boys continuing to fall behind girls in achievement and completion rates for NCEA.
• Establish nationally consistent policies on internal and external reassessment opportunities.
• Support the raising of the school leaving age from 16 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 universities are prepared to allow students to attain first year university credits in year 13.
• Ensure that senior students have sufficient access to advice and information about career choices and opportunities for further education and training. (more here)