Principal expresses sympathy for National Standards’ supporters

<h2 class&equals;"story-top" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>The President of Te Tai Tokerau Principals&&num;8217&semi; Association has expressed sympathy to those employed in the Ministry of Education&comma; who he says have spent the past few years &&num;8220&semi;zealously enforcing&&num;8221&semi; National Standards&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Pat Newman&comma; president of Te Tai Tokerau Principals&&num;8217&semi; Association&comma; says it must be &&num;8220&semi;a really hard time for all of those who believed so strongly in National Standards that they went out of their way to enforce them on schools&&num;8221&semi;&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I am aware&comma;” he said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;that whilst all Ministry staff  were required to push National Standards&comma; some believed so much in them&comma; that they approached their implementation with more than just lip service&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Many principals and boards were put under extreme pressure to toe the line&period; In fact in the past&comma; a large number of boards of trustees were even threatened by some Ministry staff&comma; with formal intervention&excl;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Mr Newman also said that many in the Education Review Office showed the same enthusiasm for enforcing National Standards even though experienced educators often disagreed&period; In fact in many cases&comma; the nebulous results of National Standards were what constituted a successful review or not&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I feel quite sorry for those in the Ministry and ERO who strongly believed in National Standards and used all their ability to force them on schools&comma;” said Mr Newman&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I suppose for those who so fervently believed in National Standards&comma; their integrity will mean they will have to be looking at resigning&period; This is not new&period; Many principals when faced with the decision to introduce the standards resigned&comma; and many others had to endure the immense pressure to conform&excl;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;