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The innovation and productivity of New Zealanders are perhaps the most important contributors to sustained economic growth, more jobs and higher wages. Education and training are the key to both.
New Zealand has a world-class education system. Nevertheless, we must seek to constantly improve, as knowledge and technology advance ever-more rapidly and as other countries try to lift their game.
Recognising this, the Government is spending more money than ever before on education. We invest over $16 million a day on education. By 1996/97, spending through Vote Education will break the $6 billion barrier.
More people are involved in education than at any time in the nations history:
We must build on this success to provide an education system which guarantees the best possible opportunities in the early years, which demands high standards through the school years, and which allows everyone the chance to continue their education and training right throughout their lives.
The key to this is a system which meets the needs of an increasingly diverse society.
The early years determine a child's future chance of success. Children with support from parents and high quality early childhood education services are better equipped to make the most of life's opportunities.
Since 1992, the Government has piloted the Parents As First Teachers programme which supports parents in the first three years of their children's lives.
Researchers from Auckland and Otago universities have been comparing children involved against a comparison group not in the programme. Early results from South Auckland suggest that the children in the Parents As First Teachers programme are ahead in almost every area of child development.
Enhancing parental support will continue to be a priority for the Government because we see it as one of the best possible investments we can make in the long-term future of the country.
Early childhood enrolments increased by 35 per cent between 1990 and 1995. Enrolment growth far outstrips population growth.
Between 1990 and 1995, participation rates for early childhood education increased from 43.2 to 54.3 per cent, an increase of 25.7 per cent over that period. The most rapid growth occurred for children under three years - up to 50 per cent.
One of the positive aspects of early childhood education in New Zealand is the diverse range of services parents have to choose from. Along with kindergartens, childcare and playcentres, there are also Te Kohanga Reo, Pacific Islands early childhood centres and home-based services.
Over the past five years the early childhood sector has been involved in the development of a curriculum for early childhood education. Te Whariki: Draft Guidelines for Developmentally Appropriate Programmes in Early Childhood Services was published in October 1993. It has received acclaim both nationally and internationally and has succeeded in providing a curriculum that encompasses the diverse services in the early childhood sector. The final form of this document is due for publication in June 1996.
Te Whariki will form the basis of programmes offered by the wide range of early childhood services in New Zealand. Trial programmes have already demonstrated that implementation of Te Whariki improves the quality of programmes offered and enhances children's learning and development.
School is the heart of the education system. It is where every New Zealander learns the basics and the mindset to continue learning throughout their lives. New Zealand has a high quality school system and the Government is working to make it even better.
In 1995, the Government endorsed the recommendations of the Ministerial Reference Group which has reduced class sizes by putting 1,000 new teachers in schools.
To house the smaller classes, as well as cater for growth in rolls, 1,800 new classrooms are being built. In addition, 50 new schools will be built over the next decade. This is the biggest school construction programme since the post-World War II baby boom.
The Government is considering the contribution independent schools might be able to make in helping us reach our goal of a highly educated country. We welcome the contribution they have made to date.
Having reduced class sizes, and built new classrooms and new schools, the Government needs to focus on achieving higher standards in our school system.
To this end, the school curriculum is being redesigned. Already students are working towards a new English curriculum which puts greater emphasis on grammar and spelling, a new maths curriculum which emphasises arithmetic, and a new science curriculum which introduces the basics of physics and chemistry in the junior primary school.
The new technology curriculum has been released and is ready for implementation in 1997, and final curriculum statements for social studies and languages are on their way. Teachers are being provided with professional development to help them adjust their programmes to the new objectives of the redesigned curriculum.
At the same time, work continues on the new Qualifications Framework, the implementation of which will be complete in 1998. Already, more than 100 schools are offering courses leading towards the new system, involving more than 33,000 students. The standards students must reach are being clearly spelt out. Schools must assess students and report whether they have met the standards required.
The Qualifications Framework is vital to providing more opportunities for students, especially for the majority of school leavers who do not go on to university.
The Government wants to work with teachers to help ensure that we deliver top quality education. To encourage highly-skilled teachers we need to pay top teachers more - just as top performers are paid more in every other professional field. The Government is prepared to bring in such a system, just as soon as we can get the agreement of the teacher unions.
The Government also has an obligation to ensure the school system caters for students with special needs.
Between 1990 and 1996 the Government increased special education funding by $8.6 million per annum. However, demand has grown faster as more parents have exercised their right to mainstream their children. As yet we have not had a good system for ensuring that extra funding goes to the children who need it most.
The Government will provide more money for special education and, from the beginning of 1997, introduce a new system of funding to ensure that we meet our obligations to our most vulnerable young New Zealanders.
Education can no longer end when the school gates are left behind. More people need further education and training. In an ever-changing world, everyone must have the opportunity to up-skill and re-skill as needs change.
Furthermore people are more likely to become dependent on the State if they have no educational qualifications. Fifty percent of people who are reliant on benefits have no educational qualifications.
There have never been more opportunities for school leavers and other New Zealanders to pursue a tertiary education at university or elsewhere. The number of equivalent full time students in tertiary institutions has increased from under 109,000 in 1990 to 143,000 in 1996. Places will be provided for at least 17,000 more New Zealanders by 1999.
Qualifications and skills derived from on-the-job experience equip students and trainees to make the best use of the opportunities that a growing economy offers. Industry needs a skilled workforce.
Students have become more qualified. School-leavers with seventh form qualifications increased from 33.4 per cent in 1990 to 37.5 per cent in 1994. Tertiary students with post-graduate qualifications increased from 24.8 per cent in 1990 to 29.8 per cent in 1994.
Through the Government's Skill New Zealand strategy more New Zealanders are being provided with opportunities to develop their skills through structured training.
By the end of 1995 there were almost 20,000 employees undergoing structured training. Based on the estimates of industry training organisations, who arrange the training, this number is projected to exceed the previous high of 30,000 experienced in the early 1970s.
Quality training opportunities are being extended in most industries and introduced in other industries which have had little or no structured training to date.
The groundwork is in place for education's contribution to New Zealand's future as a high-skilled, high-growth economy.
The Government's strong financial position gives us the means to improve our system further, and achieve the goals published in Education for the 21st Century.