Hipkins flip-flops on Labour’s education flip-flop
In yet another embarrassing display of confusion, Labour doesn’t appear to know what its own education policy is, National’s Education Spokesperson Erica Stanford says.
“Does Labour want to scrap National’s requirement for an hour a day of reading, writing and maths?
“Nobody seems to know.
“Chris Hipkins says yes. Barbara Edmonds says no. Then Chris Hipkins says yes again.
“Last week, Chris Hipkins was asked at TVNZ’s Leaders’ Debate why Labour would scrap the requirement, saying, ‘because I want education to be engaging for kids. I don’t want them to be rote learning.’
“Tonight, Barbara Edmonds tried to walk that back, telling Newstalk ZB ‘my understanding is we’re not going to change it as it currently stands’.
“But barely an hour later, Chris Hipkins contradicted her at the Herald’s Leaders’ Debate, reconfirming that the requirement shouldn’t be mandated and should instead be left to individual schools.
“Labour is asking New Zealanders to put them back in charge of education, but they can’t even agree among themselves what their education policy is.
“That chaos will be deeply concerning for parents who deserve a straight answer about what Labour would do to their children’s education.
“Just yesterday, the latest Progressive Achievement Test data showed National’s education reforms are working, with students making the equivalent of four months’ additional progress in mathematics between 2024 and 2026.
“Mr Hipkins was the Education Minister when the 2021 Royal Society expert report on mathematics and statistics was commissioned. That report made clear that New Zealand needed significant changes to improve maths achievement.
“One of its recommendations was crystal clear. Every child from Years 0 to 10 should have the opportunity to learn maths and statistics for at least an hour every day. Chris Hipkins had that report and did not implement that recommendation or any of the 14 other recommendations.
“He has now reconfirmed he wants to unwind a policy that is helping drive that improvement.
“Chris Hipkins spent years as Education Minister while achievement went backwards. Now that National’s back-to-basics reforms are starting to turn things around, his answer is to go backwards again.
“National won’t. We will keep an hour a day of reading, writing and maths. We will keep driving greater consistency and best practice across New Zealand, because every child deserves to master the basics and have the best opportunity to succeed.”
