MINISTER'S INTRODUCTION - REPORT INTO SPORT, FITNESS AND LEISURE
Welcome back to the start of another school year. This week, I released a report as Minister of Sport, Fitness and Leisure that proposes widespread changes aimed at helping New Zealanders get more active. It's a report I commissioned last year and the Government has not yet considered its response.
By now, many of you will have heard that it proposes a large number of recommendations for the education sector. Most media attention has been given to an idea to extend the primary and intermediate school day by half an hour, but the recommendation goes much wider than that. It advocates that teacher education programmes should include 40 hours a year of direct teaching of the health and physical education curriculum, and more Resource Teachers of Physical Education.
The recreation programme that Christchurch secondary schools run impressed the taskforce and they believe all secondary schools should be involved in such programmes by 2008.
The taskforce believes the role of the secondary school regional sports directors should be expanded to encompass primary and intermediate schools and that we should fund a full-time person in every secondary school with a roll of more than 300.
In short, the taskforce believes that the education sector has a major role to play in achieving their vision for sport, fitness and leisure. As such they included teachers in every focus group they held around the country and believe there is a high level of support for many of their proposals.
As Minister of Education, I will be discussing the report with education sector groups over the coming months. My initial response is that the report is thought provoking and comprehensive and I will be considering its recommendations seriously. I certainly support the conclusion that increased participation by New Zealanders in sport and physical activity will have flow on effects for the health, social and economic well-being of the nation.
Over the next few months, I will be discussing the education aspects of the report with sector groups before the Government response is released. If you're interested in the recommendations, please take the time to read the report on the Government's website www.executive.govt.nz . I look forward to hearing your responses.
Trevor Mallard
Minister of Education
TARGETS TO OVERCOME DISPARITY
The government has set specific targets for reducing inequality in
education, to guide government policy development, highlight priority areas
and work out whether interventions are making a difference.
The targets span from increasing early childhood participation through to
the increasing the proportion of tertiary students emerging with
post-graduate degrees.
Education Minister Trevor Mallard says the timeframes set for achieving the
targets reflect the 'building block' nature of education.
Trevor Mallard says work to improve outcomes throughout the system has
already begun, for example by extensions to the alternative education
programme, but he says it will be the next generation where we see the
benefits of early and sustained intervention at every level.
Budget funding has been put aside to start work on achieving the targets.
For example, increased funding is available for the discretionary grants
scheme to provide buildings for early childhood education, study support
centres have been launched in low-decile primary schools, a $54 million
funding boost for TFEA, and the modern apprenticeships programme has begun.
While tackling disadvantage across the board, the government also
recognises that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work. The government
acknowledges that Maori and Pacific peoples fared worst as the rich-poor
gap widened. Many of the new initiatives are capacity building programmes
that will enable Maori and Pacific communities to raise the aspirations of
their people by 'doing it their way'.
In January, Trevor Mallard released a report containing the education
targets and a report on initiatives implemented to date to help meet those
targets.
SCHOOL GLAZING PROGRAMME
A hundred thousand square metres of safety film will be applied to the
windows of schools throughout the country over the next year. The $7.5
million programme is being undertaken at all state and integrated schools
as a protection measure for both students and staff.
The advisability of providing greater protection was confirmed by a
nationwide survey of school glazing which was undertaken after a schoolgirl
died in an accident during school sports.
"What we are doing with this safety programme is to lower the risk of glass
being broken either through student physical contact or school activities,"
Education Minister Trevor Mallard said.
"It provides an opportunity to upgrade the glazing at all schools in one
hit, and the use of safety film is the most practical and cost-effective
safety measure we can take."
SECONDARY STUDENTS' ESSAY COMPETITION
Prime Minister Helen Clark has announced an essay competition for year 12 & 13 students to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Battle of Crete. The winners will travel as part of an official party to commemorations on the Mediterranean island in May 2001. Helen Clark said the Battle of Crete was a searing experience for New Zealand.
"Its conduct and outcome have been vigorously debated by historians of the Second World War. New Zealand casualties in the battle were considerable - 671 killed, 967 wounded and 2,180 taken prisoner of war.
"What is indisputable is that the Battle of Crete forged a powerful bond between New Zealanders and the people of Greece. The two countries are very good friends, and it is in this spirit that New Zealand will be sending its delegation to the sixtieth anniversary commemorations in May 2001.
"As with the commemoration of the eighty-fifth anniversary of the Anzac landings in Gallipoli, the government is again sponsoring a student essay competition. Senior high school students are being asked to write from the viewpoint of a New Zealand soldier or sailor who has survived the Battle of Crete, writing a letter home describing their experiences. An alternative second topic invites them to discuss why New Zealanders were fighting Germans in Crete," Helen Clark said.
Entries should be about 500 words and be sent to Alec McLean, Office of the Prime Minister, Parliament Buildings, Wellington, by March 21. A resource pack about the Battle of Crete was sent to schools before Christmas to help students wishing to enter the competition.
START LEARNING
Associate Education Minister Steve Maharey is encouraging New Zealanders to begin tertiary study this year as the Government's policies to lower the cost of education begin to bite.
Steve Maharey said the Government has invested an additional $670 million over four years to develop a stronger and fairer tertiary education system. Key initiatives include freezing fees at all public institutions and most private providers this year; cancelling interest on student loans held by full-time and low-income part-time students; and the restoration of the value of the Training Incentive Allowance which assists domestic purposes, widows and invalids beneficiaries to undertake tertiary study.
CONTACTS AND SUBSCRIPTION
Receive Wise Up by e-mail
Hon Trevor Mallard - Minister of Education
Fax: 04 495 8448 e-mail: tmallard@ministers.govt.nz
Hon Steve Maharey - Associate Minister of Education (tertiary)
Fax: 04 495 8443 e-mail: smaharey@ministers.govt.nz
Hon Lianne Dalziel - Associate Minister of Education (special education; transport)
Fax: 04 495 8463 e-mail: ldalziel@ministers.govt.nz
Hon Parekura Horomia - Associate Minister of Education (Maori education)
Fax: 04 495 8457 e-mail: phoromia@ministers.govt.nz
