October 02, 2014
School battles worth fighting
NZEI Te Riu Roa president Judith Nowotarski says she's proud of the way the union has stood up for the interests of children in both Maori immersion and mainstream schools.
Her two year-term, which ends in December, has been marked by sustained opposition by primary school teachers to national standards and charter schools.
She says the partnership or charter school model has failed overseas, and teachers know they could get better results if they got the same resources.
Publicly-funded private schools are not the solution for under-achievement by Maori in mainstream schools, nor are national standards.
"In the bigger scheme of things (national standards) is harming our children. It's creating judgments or measures that we know with our own tamariki, their successes and their interests are beyond just literacy, maths and numeracy. That's really important, of course it is, but our kids are great communicators and really innovative in their own context. That's what the harm is," she says.
Ms Nowotarski, from Ngati Ruanui, Nga Ruahine, Ngai Tahu and Nga Puhi, was a Taranaki early childhood education teacher before becoming president.
Her successor is Khandallah Primary School principal Louise Green, with the deputy position filled by Fiona Matepo from Otago, a facilitator for professional learning development in Literacy Maori Medium.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH JUDITH NOWOTARSKI CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjI3MzM=
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