Costly changes in education approved

Press, 30 August 1986, Page 8

Costly changes in education approved

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

Sweeping and expensive education reforms, many of them opposed by the Minister of Education, Mr Marshall, were approved by the Labour Party conference last evening. Mr Marshall commented afterwards that he bad no idea who was going to pay for them. "Delegates want too much money spent on every aspect of education at the same time,” he said. “There is simply not enough money to do all the things the delegates want”

It was particularly in the fields of pre-school and tertiary education that delegates endorsed a long series of specific and costly proposals. In a lighter moment at the end, they were unable to agree on whether-to introduce a milk or a nutritious food programme to schools in selected areas on a pilot basis, and so rejected both.

However, in spite of a personal plea by Mr Mar-

shall, a remit was passed, “That sex education and human development become an integral and compulsory part of the syllabus of all primary and secondary schools, with information about contraception to be given in conjunction with sex education from the third form upwards, regardless of the consent of parents."

An even more controversial remit on homosexuality was lost; there was a lot of opposition to it from provincial and southern electorates.

It would have required “that images of lesbian and ‘gay’ men as Individuals with a valid lifestyle be portrayed in schools alongside images of heterosexuals, and that greater efforts be made to eliminate sex stereotyping both in the structure of schools and the contents of lessons.”

Mr Marshall said jocularly afterwards that he would pass the hat around to pay for what had been decided. On a more sombre note he said that what the delegates wanted was not possible.