And today: amen…

National Standards fly in the face of social justice say Catholics

The New Zealand Catholic Primary Principals’ executive, resolved today that the government’s National Standards policy flies in the face of basic principles of social justice, fairness and equality. 

President of the Association, John Coulam, of Marian Catholic School in Hamilton East said, “The National Standards do not recognise the dignity and sacredness of every student.  Further, they have the potential to negatively label students who are already marginalised through socio-economic, health or family circumstances.”

The controversial government policy has been raising alarm bells throughout the education sector since its hasty introduction in 2009.

“The standards were ill-conceived, untested and assume that every child arrives at school with the same background knowledge, family resources and experiences,” said Coulam today.

 “As Catholic Principals, we have grave concerns that children from as young as six years old could be unnecessarily labelled as failures, just because they might take longer to progress than some of their peers who started way ahead of them,” he said.

“This is neither fair nor just, and in their current form the government’s National Standards are out of step with the special character of Catholic schools where equality and social justice are highly valued principles.”