Erica Stanford: Labour’s Education Plan Is “Terrifying”

Duncan Garner sits down with Education Minister Erica Stanford to talk new classrooms, the future of NCEA, and why she says Labour’s position on education reform should worry parents. Stanford says the Government has found major savings in school property by ditching expensive bespoke classroom designs and moving to faster, repeatable builds. She also takes aim at years of Ministry of Education delays, saying hundreds of promised projects could not be delivered because the money was not there. Then the conversation turns to curriculum, literacy, numeracy and NCEA. Stanford argues New Zealand has spent too long “tweaking around the edges” of a system that was failing too many kids, and says Labour’s mixed messages on assessment and curriculum reform risk dragging schools backwards. Watch the full interview and tell us what you think: are the education reforms overdue, or is the Government moving too fast? Subscribe for more Duncan Garner: Editor-in-Chief.