Question No. 8—Education
8. CHRIS BAILLIE (ACT) to the Minister of Education: Does he agree with the New Zealand Initiative that "The Ministry conducted no research on the effects of these 'Modern Learning Environments' on students' learning prior to compelling schools to adopt them. Neither did they conduct any evaluation of their effects after they were established"; if not, what evidence has the ministry provided the Minister to show that modern learning environments improve literacy and numeracy skills?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): The Ministry of Education does not compel schools to adopt modern learning environments.
Chris Baillie: Does the Minister agree with the previous Minister of Education, Hekia Parata, who said in 2014: "Every new school building must meet the Modern Learning Environment standard and every existing school must prioritise the property funding they receive from the Ministry of Education to upgrade their buildings to the Modern Learning Environment standards"; and, are these open-plan classrooms still being built?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: In answer to the first part of the question, no. On this side of the House, in this Government, we believe that schools should have choice.
Chris Baillie: Will the Minister commit that no future learning or teaching initiatives be undertaken by the Ministry of Education without quantitative evidence that it works and a framework for ongoing monitoring and evaluation is in place; and, if so, why didn't that apply to innovative learning environments?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I refer the member to my previous answer. On this side of the House, we believe that schools should have choice around how they structure their learning environments.
Chris Baillie: Will the Minister commit to funding resources for teachers in open-plan classrooms to support students with learning disabilities, such as auditory processing disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, without financial cost to the schools; and, if not, why not?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I thank the member for the opportunity to highlight the fact that this Government has put more additional funding into learning support in the five years that we've been in Government than the last Government, supported by the ACT Party, did in the nine years that they were in Government.
Chris Baillie: Will the Minister ensure that the Ministry of Education either provides schools and teachers evidence that innovative learning environments improve numeracy and literacy skills for students, or stop insisting that schools use their property funding to build more?
Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member clearly hasn't listened to any of the answers that I've previously given. The Ministry of Education does not require schools to do that.