LIST MP HEKIA PARATA based in Mana - Blog

Budget 2013 Announcement at Porirua College

nospam@example.com (admin) — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:33:26 +1200

Budget 2013 Announcement at Porirua College - $80.5 million over four years for parents and communities to help support parents and communities play their role in lifting the educational achievement of young people.

Top Scholars - Prime Minister’s Award for Academic Excellence

nospam@example.com (admin) — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:29:01 +1200

Question 11: Simon O'Connor to the Minister of Education

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:56:00 +1200

Q. What recent announcement has she made about the Government's commitment to support parents and communities to raise educational achievement?

Government Notice of Motion (No.2) - Pacific Parliamentary Forum - Part 1

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:41:00 +1200

General Debate - 17th April, 2013 - Part 3

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:49:00 +1200

Board of Trustees Election

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:22:38 +1200

I think every parent believes education is the best investment they can make in their child’s future.

That’s why National is working hard to ensure all our kids get a better education.

Four out of five kids are successfully getting the qualifications they need from school but this Government’s plan is about getting five out of five.

We want all our kids to leave school with the skills they need to reach their potential in the modern economy. That means lifting up those who are being left behind, and encouraging those who are doing well to do even better.

I want to thank parents, students, principals, teachers, and board of trustee members for the great work they continually do to support our quest to raise achievement for all children.

This week the campaign for school board of trustee elections begins.

I encourage people with a mix of skills and experience to come forward and become a board member at their local school.

If you’re creative, can crunch numbers, like to work as part of a team, and are eager to put students at the heart of every decision you make, then your school needs you to step up.

We need our parents and wider community to know they have a say in education. You don’t need to be a parent, or have children at the school. We want to reflect the community – parents, families, whānau, aiga, caregivers, hapū, and local iwi. We want to encourage people with a genuine interest to go ahead and join a board.

School boards hold overall responsibility for the governance of a school, setting goals, determining strategic direction, monitoring their school’s performance, and raising the achievement of each and every student.

The school trustee elections are the largest democratic event in the country, involving the election of a board of trustees for almost 2,500 state and state-integrated schools every three years. More than 15,000 people are needed to form these boards.

Elections will be held around 30 May 2013. So I encourage people to consider participating, whether you’re a parent voting, or a community member stepping forward for a board role. We want communities committed to success for all our kids.

You can find more information at: http://bit.ly/XLS33B

Also check out the website for NZ School Trustees Association: http://bit.ly/10bYlLd

Question 11: Chris Hipkins to the Minister of Education

nospam@example.com (admin) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:21:00 +1200

Q. Does she stand by all of her answers to Oral Question No 11 on 26 March 2013; if not, why not?

Ministers Speech

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:21:00 +1200

Question 12: Tim Macindoe to the Minister of Education

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:04:00 +1200

Q. "What progress has she made against the Government's early childhood education priorities?"

International Summit affirms NZ's commitment to quality teaching

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:29:26 +1300

The recent International Summit on the Teaching Profession in Amsterdam affirmed the Government is taking the right steps to improve teaching quality and leadership.

New Zealand is one of the top 25 countries succeeding in education who attended the third summit focused on teaching quality and professional standards and teacher appraisal.

I led a New Zealand delegation comprising NZEI President Judith Nowotarski, PPTA President Angela Roberts, NZPF President and Paparoa Street School Principal Phil Harding and Manurewa Intermediate Principal Iain Taylor.

The summit showed that New Zealand is highly regarded for our teaching and school system, which is a great credit to the nearly 100,000 professionals who work in it.

But while our system performs well for many students, it serves certain groups of students less well, in particular, Māori and Pasifika students and students from low socio-economic backgrounds. So while our system is world class it is not, yet, world leading.

Research shows the single most important thing we can do to raise student achievement is improve teaching quality and a strong teacher evaluation system is important to achieving this.

Teacher appraisal is already mandatory in New Zealand. It is carried out by those in leadership roles in schools and teachers must participate in the appraisal process at least once a year.

Schools are expected to include self-evaluation, classroom observation and interviews as part of the appraisal process, and some schools also use student and parent surveys.

We also have strong emphasis on supporting new teachers, who are required to take part in an induction and mentoring programme for two years before becoming fully registered.

But while the summit showed New Zealand is well advanced in teacher appraisal, it also showed we have one of the most highly devolved teacher appraisal systems in the world and that we need more consistency in teacher appraisal.

We have a strong system and foundation to build on. However, our immediate focus must be on building the capability of the people – the Boards of Trustees and professional leaders.

We are keen to increase the focus of teacher appraisal on student achievement, provide opportunities for professional leaders to build their expertise in teacher appraisal, and develop tools to show exemplary practice and help appraisers in their role.

The New Zealand Teachers Council is also taking a lead role implementing the Appraisal of Teachers professional learning programme, which is designed to increase consistency in appraising teachers for attaining full registration and renewing their practising certificates against Registered Teacher Criteria and Tātaiako, the cultural competencies.

My delegation and I agreed at the end of the summit that we would work together to raise the status of the New Zealand teaching profession by nationally recognising, celebrating and sharing quality teaching and leading people and practices and ensuring we have professional leadership for the 21st century.

The Government is already taking a number of steps to improve teaching quality and leadership including reviewing the Teacher’s Council, and strengthening professional pathways including initial teacher education, professional development and professional development for aspiring principals.

During my time in Europe I attended the reception for Commonwealth Day where I met Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

I also met with Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills, Ofsted; Graham Stuart, Chair Parliamentary Committee on Education; Professor Chris Husbands, Director of the Institute of Education, and; French Associate Education Minister, Mrs George Pau-Langevin.

Some of the common themes throughout those meetings were to see what New Zealand is doing in teaching quality and raising achievement for priority students.

Nga mihi.

Speech: International Education Summit in Amsterdam

nospam@example.com (admin) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:53:21 +1300

Hon Hekia Parata - Speech: International Education Summit in Amsterdam

Video Update

nospam@example.com (admin) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:35:00 +1300

Here is a video update I recorded just before leaving for Amsterdam.

National is creating opportunities to help our young people thrive and succeed

nospam@example.com (admin) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:14:53 +1300

We are making changes in health, education, social welfare, and justice to build these opportunities – and deliver better public services, one of our four priorities in this term.
Part of this means supporting young people into work.

Giving our young people the opportunity to learn the skills they need is one of the ways we plan to achieve this. We funded 12,000 more tertiary education places and 13,000 more young people are in work because of the 90-day trial we introduced in our first term. We plan to introduce a new Starting Out Wage to incentivise employers to help young people on the first rung of the employment ladder.

Another youth employment initiative is our Job Streams package. This provides a wage subsidy enabling employers to give young people on a benefit a go, targeting young people most at risk of remaining on welfare long-term. Already more than 9,000 young people have started a Job Streams position.

Prior to this was National’s successful Job Opportunities and Community Max programmes, where more than 19,500 young people benefitted from Job Opportunities and Community Max despite a tough labour market.

In addition, the wider reforms National has made to the welfare system are focusing on supporting young people, with $148 million invested in wrap-around support services for young people.

Last year Prime Minister John Key launched a $62 million Youth Mental Health package designed to better support young people struggling with, or at risk of, mental illness. We will be consulting with young people about our initiatives and will review the package after two years to test whether it is working, and if not, we’ll make changes to ensure support is reaching the young people who need it most.

While in Government, Labour abandoned thousands of young New Zealanders to a life on welfare while pricing an estimated 9000 young people out of work when they axed the youth minimum wage. Labour and the Greens would destroy job opportunities for young people by abolishing the 90-day trial and the Starting Out Wage.

National is transforming lives so our young people can feel confident in the country they grow up in, a country where they have real opportunities, and can succeed.

Finally, we are promoting the engagement of young New Zealanders in the parliamentary decision-making process.

We’ve announced the selection process for Youth Parliament 2013.Held every parliamentary term, Youth Parliament will take place on 16 and 17 July and gives 121 young people the opportunity to debate legislation, sit on select committees and ask oral questions of cabinet ministers.

More information on becoming a Youth MP or Youth Press Gallery member is available on the Youth Parliament website www.youthparliament.govt.nz

Message from Hon Hekia Parata

nospam@example.com (admin) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:11:03 +1300

Message for the P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A Incorporate 2013 National Conference in Invercargill.

A message from Hon Hekia Parata

nospam@example.com (admin) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:19:00 +1300

A special message from Hon Hekia Parata for the community celebration of the 2012 Pacific Trades Scholarships graduates.