Government education plan gets thumbs down

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-885" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;06&sol;SN25-News-Education&lowbar;300x224&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SN25-News-Education 300x224" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"224" &sol;>Primary school leaders overwhelmingly expressed a lack of confidence in the Government&&num;8217&semi;s &dollar;359m Investing in Educational Success policy at a forum held in Wellington on June 10&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>NZEI Te Riu Roa National President Judith Nowotarski said leaders from national and regional principal and teacher groups have sent a clear message that the Government&&num;8217&semi;s policy&comma; as it currently stands&comma; is unacceptable and unworkable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The group identified the lack of direct benefit for children in this policy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The IES policy&comma; announced by the Prime Minister in January&comma; would create four new roles &lpar;executive principal&comma; change principal&comma; expert teacher&comma; and lead teacher&rpar; working across up to ten schools&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>NZ Principals&&num;8217&semi; Federation President Philip Harding said school leaders were not convinced that this policy was flexible enough to work effectively in schools&comma; which often sit in vastly different contexts&comma; both geographically and socially&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>School leaders were concerned that the policy would remove great teachers and principals from their schools for two days a week&comma; which would impact on children&&num;8217&semi;s learning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Forum members agreed to go back to their school communities and Boards of Trustees to raise awareness about their concerns with the policy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;