New Zealand’s National Standards policy: How should we view it a decade on?

Abstract

In this short article, I consider how teachers might judge the National Standards system these days and also how the policy might be understood more generally. These are important questions coming up to the 2017 election because the National Standards system has been such a central feature of the current Government’s approach to education. Teachers will be aware of teacher and principal colleagues who are supportive of National Standards while others are much less so. Conflicting views amongst teachers and principals about the value of the National Standards is also apparent from a recent New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) national survey (Bonne, 2016). School websites indicate diverse views as well. There are some primary school websites that reflect enthusiasm about National Standards and some that barely mention them.