MINISTER'S INTRODUCTION
This week, I attended the first ever South Pacific Forum Education Ministers' Meeting. This meeting was supposed to have been held in Niue, but because of a scaling down by Royal Tonga Airlines of flights to Niue, the meeting was transferred at the last minute to Auckland. Frankly, as much as I love Auckland, it was a pity the meeting wasn't on Niue! Not just so we could all enjoy the tropical climate, but more importantly because Niue, with a population of only about 1700, would have received a real boost to its economy by hosting such a meeting.
It was a very useful meeting for the Pacific Island nations. The Ministers from 14 of the 16 South Pacific Forum countries attended this meeting. They had not met as a group before and I think they found it very useful. The theme was based around the provision of basic education inn the pre-school through to secondary school area. Much overseas aid to Pacific countries is in the form of scholarships for tertiary study. As important as this is, that really is only available to a very few. The Ministers agreed that much more emphasis needs to be put on basic and technical education, given that so many of their people live in small villages rather than urban, cosmopolitan areas.
The next issue of Wise Up will be a Budget special next week.
Trevor Mallard
Minister of Education
Trevor Mallard
Minister of Education
ADMINISTRATIVE HELP FOR SMALL SCHOOLS
The Government has signalled a commitment to long term increased administration support for small schools.
Education Minister Trevor Mallard told the rural and teaching principals conference in Nelson today that next week's Budget allowed for specific support for improved administration in small schools.
This year's Budget will allow $1 million to run some more school administration support cluster projects and there is an ongoing commitment of $2.7 million a year to help in administration for small rural schools.
"The experiences of schools that have taken part in the cluster projects will be used to develop how best to use that funding," Trevor Mallard said.
An evaluation report of the cluster projects shows the clusters had made a difference to principal and board workloads.
"Eighty-six percent of principals said that their involvement in a cluster reduced their workload and 77 percent said it also reduced their board members' workload. That in itself indicates a success. What is particularly pleasing is that the willingness of members to share information, resources and personnel was critical to the success of the
projects. It is that kind of co-operation that will also help teaching and learning in our schools," Trevor Mallard said.
The Minister's speech is available on
/Speech.aspx?type=speech&rid=34668
REPORT INTO YEARS 7 AND 8
Education Minister Trevor Mallard today released an Education Review Office report into the effect of different schools on the quality of education received by children in Years 7 and 8.
"There is significant public debate around the ideal shape of schooling for the middle years, The report looks at international comparisons and good practice for educating students around that 11 and 12 year old level. It also analyses the extent to which different models of school are meeting the needs of Year 7 and 8 students.
"It finds that the type of school does not determine how well a school meets the needs of Year 7 and 8 students. It is the quality of the practices rather than the structures that determines outcomes.
"There is also a noticeable link between the quality of education and the size of the school. Small schools and schools with small Year 7 and 8 cohorts appear to find it more difficult to adopt practices which are effective in meeting the needs of these students.
"While there will be no immediate policy changes as a result of the report, further work may impact on clearer policy directions in the future," Trevor Mallard said.
The report will be available on ERO's website www.ero.govt.nz later this week.
DALZIEL LEADS BEIJING DELEGATION
Associate Minister of Education Lianne Dalziel is currently heading a 15-member New Zealand delegation to the APEC High Level Meeting on Human Capacity Building in Beijing.
The meeting will brought together representatives of governments, business and the education and training sector from throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Lianne Dalziel said the Beijing meeting was a valuable opportunity to talk about New Zealand's achievements and learn from the experience of other APEC economies.
NEW EXPORT EDUCATION STRATEGY
Funding is to be provided in next week's Budget to kick start the implementation of a new export education strategy.
Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey said export education currently contributes around $700m annually to New Zealand's GDP ? more than our wine industry ? and has the potential to grow over $1b annually within three to four years. Funding was provided in last year's Budget to develop a strategy with the industry to achieve its potential. Mr Maharey said a further $1.3m will be provided in the coming financial year for development, marketing and quality monitoring activities. It is expected that industry development activities will become self-funding via an industry levy from 2002/03 onwards.
CLARIFICATION OF GST ON FOREIGN STUDENTS
The Government will legislate to clarify the pre-1999 application of gst to services contracted for outside New Zealand by non-New Zealand residents but consumed here.
The change affects schools and tertiary institutions in respect of the fees paid by foreign students.
Revenue Minister Michael Cullen said the move formalised the policy intent that the tax was supposed to apply to foreigners for the goods and services they consumed in New Zealand.
Technical details of the legislative amendment are available in a special report published on the web site of the Policy Advice Division of Inland Revenue at www.taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz
CONTACTS AND SUBSCRIPTION
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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 Marian Hobbs, Associate Minister of Education
Fax: 04 495 8467 e-mail: mhobbs@ministers.govt.nz
Hon Parekura Horomia - Associate Minister of Education (Maori education)
Fax: 04 495 8457 e-mail: phoromia@ministers.govt.nz
