Open letter to the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand

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Education-Is-A-Right-Banner-FINAL

Barbara Ala’alatoa

Chair

Education Council of New Zealand

 

Kia ora Ms Ala’alatoa,

Re Education Council

I received your brochure in the mail introducing me to the “new members of the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand” and the flash new logo for the organisation.

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I have a few questions in response.

  1. Can you explain why the new body you are leading has no-one who is a current practicing teacher included on it? Did you raise this as an issue with the government before you accepted the role of chair?
  2. Was the reason this new organisation was renamed from the Teacher’s Council to the Education Council to try and avoid the unfortunate truth that the new body does not represent teachers but instead represents the interests of the National Party’s education policies?
  3. Can you explain why I should pay my teacher registration fee to fund this new body when I have had no say in the makeup of the council?
  4. Given that the huge majority of educationalists in New Zealand are strongly opposed to government policies such as charter schools why is there no-one included on your council who has been a vocal public critic of these policies?
  5. Do you agree with the Minister of Education Hekia Parata’s view that poverty has nothing to do with educational success?
  6. Do you agree with the government that there is no need for ‘feed the kids’ legislation along the lines promoted before the last election?
  7. Given it is my money being used to fund you and your council can you let me know how much it cost to produce the flash new logo?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

 

John Minto

 

10 COMMENTS

  1. ‘Is there anybody there?’ said the traveller.
    Don’t be daft,’ snorted the horse. ‘they all went years ago. This old ruin’s been crumbling ever since Abraham.’

    • “Never the least stir made the listeners,
      Though every word he spake
      Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
      From the one man left awake: ”

      It seems to fit.

  2. Thank you John

    I feel the same. I feel bad having to pay for an organisation that doesn’t represent or value me. But if I don’t pay up I am not allowed to do my job. I have no faith in this body. I saw little point in the Teachers Council either but St least it had a smattering of teachers on it.

    • I agree. When the original Registration Board etc were introduced, we were suddenly asked to pay for our own registration, but we were assured that improved code of ethics, improved vetting of who should be able to teach, etc, would vastly improve things for our ‘profession’. Since then we have paid on and on every 3 years, only to find that there have been just as many sexual predators and fraudsters in the profession as there ever were.
      A silly plastic card and platitudinous glossies is about all we have gained from all this nonsense. Because of the lack of representation, I hope that practising teachers will uniformly reject this new body.

  3. Wasn’t that whole “paying-fees-to-an-organisation-when-you-have-no-say-or-representation” argument the one these turkeys used to disestablish (kill) trade unions?

    They really are a shonky crowd of gangsters aren’t they?

    Be sure to let us know if you get a reply. This is most interesting (and important).

  4. To Archonblatter:

    Of course there’s nobody there!

    This is a Humpty Dumpty Council: a platform for clever eggs who follow Humpty’s rule – “’When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

    This is a place for the concoction of well-intended meanings, of endless plasticity, wherein everyone’s point of view is as good as everyone else’s. Appeals to logical argument and reasoned deduction are not allowed; they would obstruct the projection of rank opinion and that would never do. The aim is to create a soup of vague intentions in which indigestible chunks of political ideology may float around until the great unwashed have got used to them. This is called ‘floating new ideas’, a disease of the education system that has proved incurable since the days of Rome.

    It is very important to keep teachers out of this process as they tend to have valid ideas based on real experience, about which they have rationally deduced ideas and intelligent methodological notions. As such things are not part of the syntax of the doggerel of The Notional Party, which is made up of picturesque notions from times past that have no functional connection with present day reality, they must be kept off the Council’s agenda. The easiest way to do this is to ban teachers, as anything not discussed on any such council, does not exist, as any latter-day Notional Humpty Dumpty will tell you.

  5. John,
    There is a pattern to this. The Government has announced a complete review of Child Youth and Family services and “despite Māori making up 56% of children in CYFS care, not one Māori expert has been included on the panel”. How outrageous is that?

  6. John, I think you’re great, but I fear your letter will remain unanswered.
    Said it before – With National in power things will only get worse.

  7. The Chair is excited about developing a code of conduct. Says it all. I kind of hoped working to provide an holistic education for fed kids might have featured somewhere.

  8. I have come to conclusion that there is a deliberate attempt to dumb-down our children – and this is being said by many in the U.S. as well. Teachers will teach whatever they are bullied into teaching – nothing relevant to today’s technological and scientific discoveries which our bright young brains can pick up and run with to even greater heights. Our children are conceptual but are forced to suffer stifled teaching methods. Hekia Parata will smile and nod her way to her next salary payment and follow orders.

    CYFS should be of concern to all of us as pedophilia is rife within the judiciary, governments, law enforcement, churches and on and on.

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