School computer promise made

Press, 16 July 1987, Page 33

School computer promise made

PA Auckland A National Government would spend $9O million in three years equipping schools with computers, said the Opposition’s spokesman on education, Miss Ruth Richardson. She told secondary principals at an Auckland conference that educators were timid of technology and, as a result, New Zealand was “the dunce of the class” in international terms. Miss Richardson defended National’s policy of abolishing zoning, saying parents should be trusted to “vote with their feet” when choosing their children’s education. In reply to a comment by a member of the audience that the abolition of zoning would provoke “white flight” and widen social gaps between schools, Ms Richardson said “white flight” was probably the result of parents abandoning schools that were not performing adequately.

Parents should also have more say in how

education money was spent and on the curriculum, she said. More information should be available to parents as the "customers” of the education system to make it more accountable, she said. The Minister of Education, Mr Marshall, said on Monday that mathematics and science teacher numbers would be boosted by a special training programme starting early next year, The idea was for a 10week full-time study course for 20 teachers, with relieving staff being appointed to fill in for them. Teachers expected to use the programme were those already teaching mathematics or science, who after more study could teach more confidently and perhaps teach more senior classes. Others were teachers with some mathematics or science units in their degrees, who had mainly taught other subjects, he said.