Speech to the NZEI Hui a Tau – Ngaruawahia

E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga karangatanga maha o nga hau e wha, tenei te mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.

It's a pleasure to be here today.

Earlier this week I sat at a computer screen at E-vision and took part in a preview of Te Kete Ipurangi Online Learning Centre. It's a major aspect of the Government's ICT for schools strategy and we're putting a significant amount of money into developing and adjusting material for the site.

There were plenty of oohs and aahs around the room as people who are not computer geeks, but educationalists got a first hand glance at what it will offer when it becomes fully functional in a few weeks time.

It is impressive.

It is impressive because it is not a site for computer wizards, it is a service using information technology for the people who deliver the Government's core responsibility of providing education to young New Zealanders.

Teachers will be able to use the site to enhance their class planning and lessons and to ensure that their students have access to up to date and relevant resource material.

I'm particularly excited about the potential it offers for Maori language learning. It has already more Maori language material than any other website and it has only just begun. I think the material, and the way it can be easily accessed will make a significant difference for teachers in te reo Maori. It will certainly ease the burden of having to constantly translate resources and it provides some good lesson plans that are not adapted from English language lesson plans but written for Maori in Maori.

The next six months - as more and more resources are placed in the kete – has the potential to be one of those defining periods in education and in learning.

I have real confidence that TKI will contribute to easing some of the workload issues for all teachers.

There is certainly ample evidence to suggest that the workload issue for Maori teachers is more severe than for non-Maori.

I remember from when I was a teacher that the extra pressures of any Maori members of staff were quite enormous. The expectations on you are high both from your colleagues and from your students. Maori staff members were often used by students for guidance counselling and for careers counselling and a lot of this work is intangible. Many schools would expect Maori teachers to play a major role in liaising with Maori families – particularly when there was trouble at school.

While there are more Maori teachers than when I was working in schools, I think some of the problems that your Maori students bring to school have also intensified and I don't believe the work issues specific to Maori teachers have improved.

I'm sure that during question and answers you will no doubt talk about this further.

But first I want to run over some of the initiatives in the Budget. We did a count after Budget day and worked out there were 75 initiatives in the education Budget. I'm not going to talk about all of them so if you think I've missed something out, please ask.

I'll talk briefly about school funding because, no matter how innovative a school and its staff are, a bit of money always helps with the extra support you might like to try and provide your students with.

There will be significantly more money in schools, to run schools, next year.

The Budget allowed for $60 million dollars more. That is money that is made up of an increase in the base operational funding as well as the money that was never taken up through bulk funding. It is on top of the bulk funding money that has been in schools this year.

On average it is about a 7.4 per cent increase in school operational funding. Next year, we will again keep our commitment to adjust it further in line with inflation.

A number of other initiatives which may be of interest to you

$20.4 million over the next four years for 121 resource teachers of literacy.

$3 million over the next four years on developing literacy and numeracy materials in English and Mäori.

$7.5 million over four years for homework centres based in primary and intermediate schools.

About $10 million extra next year for early childhood education. Can I say here that I hope that the benefits of the Government's commitment to increasing participation in quality early childhood education in about a decade will start filtering into schools fairly quickly.

Specific Maori Education initiatives amount to about $50 million over the next four years.

One of the main items, in my view is the funding for a hui taumata in October. We will use the outcome of that as a guide to developing future Maori education policy.

In the meantime though the Budget included.

 $20 million for Maori language education including $6.2 million on new teaching and learning material and $4.2 million specifically to help curriculum development at Wharekura level.
 $12.8 million to improve Maori teacher supply both in mainstream and kura kaupapa schools.
 $11.2 million on ways to help young Maori participate more fully in the school system including a mentoring programme.
 $10.4 million for Maori responsiveness initiatives including expanding the number of iwi education schooling improvement projects and piloting new approaches for professional development for teachers working with Maori students.

I'd like to finish the formal part of my speech with a few comments about the Government's gaps objective.

The economic and social policy changes which have taken place in New Zealand through the 1980s and 1990s have seen the position of both Maori and Pacific peoples deteriorate relative to the others.

While previous administration might express an interest in alleviating some of the appalling Maori statistics, we are working really hard to put those words into action.

The Prime Minister announced in January that she would chair a committee into closing the gaps. She has a very real determination to instigate change and she has instructed all Ministers to make policy work in this area a priority within their portfolio areas.

Some of that was reflected in yesterday's Budget and there is another $50 million set aside to fund further initiatives in this financial year once policy work is completed.

Our aim is to see higher employment levels for Maori, better health status, better housing, and higher educational achievement. We also want to build the capacity of Maori communities to reach these objectives. I hope this work will contribute to making your jobs easier.