Seventh form U.E. rejected

Press, 26 August 1982, Page 1

Seventh form U.E. rejected

University Entrance would stay in the sixth form, the Minister of Education, Mr Wellington, told delegates at the Post-Primary Teachers’ Association conference yesterday. . During a tense question-and-answer session Mr Wellington said he was against moving University Entrance to the seventh form. “I do not think there should be such a major structural change,” he said.

Mr John Murdoch, a Canterbury delegate, criticised Mr Wellington for ignoring teachers’ opinions.-. 7 ■ The conference has demanded the move to the seventh form. . v : .:Mi?'/ “What we want to know is what advice you receive that would possibly override that which we would give,” Mr Murdoch said.

Mr Wellington said he heeded the combined advice

of teachers, the Education Department,. school boards, and employers’and he would “continue to do so."

Apart from financial reasons his refusal stemmed from employers wanting a clear division between University Entrance and Sixth Form Certificate,

They were against’, the association’s suggestion of moving the University Entrance examination to the seventh form but providing for matriculation based on Sixth Form Certificate.

Mr J. Allen, an Upper Hutt delegate, criticised Mr Wellington’s stance on school computers. Mr Wellington had said he would know within a week how various brands of computer measured up to the department’s specifications. “Then what is best for schools will be clarified,” he said.

It was "proper” for the Customs Department to impose a penalty duty on Apple computers to protect locallymade Polycorp computers from unfair competition. Ms K. Hansen, a Wellington delegate, alleged that many education cuts seemed to be aimed against women. She gave the abolition of the

Women's Education Advisory Committee as an example. Mr Wellington dismissed the allegation as nonsense. He said that the committee’s functions were being taken over by the Advisory Committee on Women’s Affairs.

Asked whether any cuts to work experience and transition from school to work schemes were being planned, Mr Wellington said no such plans existed. ■Earlier, in his address to the conference, he said he would not shelve the secondary staffing working party report.

“The report is the most significant statement on staffing since 1945,” he said. He expected to receive the final version of the report soon, and he invited the P.P.T.A. to join a task force to work out its priorities. The association wants the report's recommendations, adopted because they offer solutions to staffing problems caused by falling rolls. Post-primary teachers have decided against affiliation with the Federation of Labour. After an emotional debate, delegates at the conference accepted an executive report that quashed affiliation. ■