The Government appears to have chalked up the first election year winner, with the announcement of a major education initiative focusing on pupil achievement.
Prime Minister John Key says the Government plans to spend an extra $359 million over the next four years to lift pupil achievement by rewarding excellent teachers and principals and sharing their expertise across schools. In a major change to the management structure of schools, which some education experts believe might help fill the gap left from the days of school inspectors, four new roles will be introduced from 2015: executive principal, expert teacher, lead teacher and change principal.
These staff would be expected to provide mentoring to other principals and teachers and to improve pupil achievement across schools. The positions come with additional pay ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.
Although the devil will be in the detail and there is much of the development yet to do (a working group of education sector and union representatives is being established to help with this), on paper, the proposals appear to add up.
And they have been greeted with enthusiasm by education experts and cautious optimism by teach- ers, who are pleased with the investment in the sector. Certainly, the words ''excellent'', ''revolutionary'', ''a winner'' and ''really positive'' are not ones that have been heard from the education sector in this country for some time.
The Government has hit the mark as it clearly aimed to do. There will be some who view the announcement as a cynical election year ploy, but there is no doubt it is a canny one. The Government knows it has an enormous amount of work to do to win back confidence - and, it hopes, votes - from parents, teachers, administrators and boards, who are still recovering from some of the controversial, unpopular and disastrous policies and roll-outs in the sector during its past term in office.
National Standards, Novopay, charter schools, school closures and mergers, an embarrassing backdown on class sizes and high-profile Ministry of Education resignations have put embattled Education Minister Hekia Parata almost permanently in the firing line for many months. Pupil achievement has also been under the microscope, with a recent report showing year 8 children are falling behind in writing and science, and a drop in New Zealand's standing on international education league tables. For a country which has prided itself on education, and has traditionally been a world leader in the field, it has been clear for some time the Government needed to make a major impact.
But given the recent history, it is not surprising teachers are cautious about the proposals, while welcoming the investment in the sector. The changes will mean a very different way of working for schools, which have been notoriously self-oriented, protective and competitive. Will they be open to a collaborative approach?
Willing to share their top teachers? Could there be problems if principals and teachers sought to persuade pupils to follow them to their transitional posts at other schools? Could parents pull their children out of school to follow their top teachers or principal? Could stability be undermined? Are the changes enough? Would it be better to invest more on child poverty and heath issues to raise educational achievement as the Opposition insists? Give more towards teachers' professional development or operational funding as some teachers suggest?
Experts say the proposals are based on sound New Zealand and overseas experience and research which shows one of the most important factors in a child's educational success is the quality of the teacher. Good leadership is certainly vital in any organisation and education research shows it is one of the most important factors that affects pupil learning.
Rewarding top leadership with increased pay is bound to be popular. It is a great incentive for professional development, opens advanced teaching career paths and will benefit other teachers and pupils. And if the results are there in black and white for pupils, it will resonate well with parents.
There is still much to learn about the finer points until the initiative gets the tick from teachers and parents. For now though, the Government has hit a home run. The ball is well in truly in the Opposition's court.
