Mr Marshall attacks views on education

Press, 22 May 1987, Page 6

Mr Marshall attacks views on education

The Minister of Education, Mr Marshall, yesterday criticised the Opposition spokesman on education, Miss Ruth Richardson, saying she was either ignorant of the real situation in schools or was being deliberately misleading. “The sharp increase in secondary school enrolments and in the number of university and polytechnic students this year clearly show that people are seeking the new opportunities the Government is providing in education and training,” said Mr Marshall. Mr Marshall was commenting on Miss Richardson’s latest attacks on Labour’s education policies, in which she accuses the Government of elitism and reducing educational

standards to the lowest common denominator. Mr Marshall said he had resisted direct criticism of Miss Richardson on education for some time.

“However, the issues are too important and her outrageous accusations and attempts to poormouth our education system are too widely publicised for me to ignore any longer,” he said. “It is quite outrageous to attack the Labour Government for an education system which suffered nearly 30 years .of National Party neglect. “The biggest problem in education today, particularly at a senior level, is the residue left by the attitude of the National Party’s last Minister of Education.”

People who criticised Labour’s education policies were clinging to a past in which advanced education was available only to a few, said Mr Marshall.

“We can no longer afford to settle for that,” he said.

“We need an education system which provides access and lifts the education achievement of all our young people. Our policies are doing just that.”

Mr Marshall also said he believed that the latest criticisms by Miss Richardson were a direct attack on teachers. The. vast majority of teachers were highly competent, fully committed to their work, and generally supportive of the Government’s policies, Mr Marshall said.