| National standards for excellent teachers, reporting of student progress and the NCEA Paul Henderson & Steve Thomas | 1 July 2008 |
Currently, in New Zealand's education system, there are significant problems with student underachievement, with 20 percent of students falling behind expectations for achievement. Another major issue confronting our education system is the difficulty in attracting and retaining excellent teachers.
Introducing standards will help to improve the performance of students at school and will assist in identifying, rewarding and retaining excellent teachers. Standards are vital for setting expectations of achievement and performance in education. Standards will also provide better information about teachers' and students' performance and this information can be used to address problems with students' under-achievement and identify and reward excellent teachers.
