The Path To Success For Our Next Generation

Today – in my capacity as ACT Deputy Leader and Chair of the Inter-Party Working Group (IPWG) on School Choice – I held a media conference with the members of the IPWG to launch a report titled 'Step Change: Success The Only Option.'

The Group grew from a provision in the National-ACT Confidence & Supply Agreement and is part of our Parties' wider initiative to broaden school choice and educational options for students and families. The IPWG consisted of representatives from ACT, National and the Maori Party – Sir Roger Douglas, myself (Chair), Hekia Parata, Chester Borrows, Jonathan Young, and Te Ururoa Flavell. Our task was to report on policy options relating to the funding and regulation of schools in order to increase parental choice and school autonomy.

The report released today is the culmination of that work and is supported by all IPWG members. It focuses on students who are failing in the current education system and those whom the system is currently not serving effectively – the 20 percent who leaving school inadequately equipped to succeed in the community, the five percent who are gifted and talented. The report recommends an initiative directed at improving outcomes for these students that, in time, could be applied to the entire system.

The report can be found at www.roy.org.nz/Files/STEP_CHANGE.pdf and my speech to the media conference is available at http://www.roy.org.nz/speechs/step-change-success-the-only-option.