ASHBURTON GUARDIAN, Friday, July 5, 2013
NEWS
Schools’ role not just to turn out workers By Myles Hume The job of secondary schools is not just to prepare teens for the workforce, a local principal says after a report found more needed to be done so pupils were ready for life after school. A national report from the Education Review Office (ERO) released yesterday found 10 schools in a sample of 74 were considered to be responsive to the future plans of individual students, 38 partially responsive, 23 had limited responsiveness while three were considered poor. Those who headed the report said having a variety of subjects on offer was “not enough”, and schools needed to be more innovative when constructing their curriculum to support pupils when leaping into the real world. Mount Hutt College principal John Schreurs said schools played an important part in providing opportunities for school leavers, but it was only part of a school’s overall role. “Schools can’t just be providing for industries ... the role is to get them ready to be an active member of the New Zealand society and work is only part of that,” he said. Mr Schreurs said schools “are in a better place” compared with years gone by, and there were a raft of opportunities the college provided including agricultural training courses, gateway programmes amid a host of other opportunities for pupils of all abilities.
“Every year we are doing a little bit better, but I still don’t think we are doing enough,” he said. Looking at some of the barriers, Mr Schreurs pointed to his own college’s situation that was isolated from polytechnics and institutions “which took students out for whole days instead of half a day”. He also highlighted training organisations who, in the past, rejected pupils who were at risk of failing because their funding was based on the number of successful students. “It’s (also) about getting students to recognise, and parents to recognise the steps that need to be taken and work together to do that,” Mr Schreurs said. Ashburton College has work experience and trades courses which offer a range of careers for pupils to experience before seeing where their future may lie. The report found secondary schools also needed to put more emphasis into helping Maori and Pacific pupils, some who are put on vocational pathway courses to obtain easy credits. ERO acting national manager of evaluation services Stephanie Greaney said the report’s key finding was students needed options that would suit their ability, interests and future plans, and they needed help with making choices. “This innovation needs to apply more widely than the traditional academic pathways students might take. Sometimes this will mean connecting with local businesses or agencies to find the right pathway for a student,” she said.
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Policies ‘hinder the food gold rush’ By Linda Clarke Food is the new gold rush, says Federated Farmers dairy chairperson Willy Leferink, but New Zealand policies around food production could stop the country from getting rich. Mr Leferink said people around the world were scared of going short on food and were willing to pay for it. “Food is the new gold rush but like any gold mine, it is just dirt
unless you get a shovel out and start digging.” The Mid Canterbury dairy farmer was speaking at the Federated Farmers’ national conference in Ashburton this week. He said Government expected farmers to double their primary exports from $32 billion to $64 billion by 2025, but regulations like the National Policy Statement were impediments. He said dairy farmers were publically blamed for degrading water quality, yet councils could
dump litres of treated effluent into water ways without creating a headline. “How can councils on daily basis breach their resource consent conditions and get away with it if justice is meant to be even-handed? “Farmers cannot use systems failure as a get out of jail free card, but councils do with almost no critical comment from the media or high profile academics. They just put up a sign saying please do not swim in the river.
“Regional councils are rushing to control our industry and all the while forget we are farming on less land than ever before, while having to meet tougher and tougher resource conditions.” He said policy-makers had an unhealthy obsession with nitrates, lawyers and the Environment Court but science and technology could avert “farmergeddon”. Progress could be best achieved when councils, farmers and the community were all on the same page, he said.
Ashburton mayor Angus McKay says the relationship between a mayor and his chief executive is identical to any employer-employee relationship. And while he refused to comment on the widening gap
between Christchurch mayor Bob Parker and his chief executive Tony Marryatt, Mr McKay said differences of opinion were as normal between a mayor and chief executive as they were in any working relationship. “You can disagree on particular issues yet on other issues you have to work closely with
ON WHAT’S
Some tips for the weekend
Saturday: • Dame Malvina Major and the Rising Stars concert The concert features emerging artists supported by the Dame Malvina Major Foundation, and Dame Malvina Major. Local artists include Liam Kennedy-Clark, Joy Sun, Luke Glendining and Julia Bell, The Phoenix Chorus, Ocean Waitokia, and Olivia Pike, Zoe Dietricks. Ex-Ashburtonian Bridget King and Byron “Buzz” Newton will also perform. The concert is at the Ashburton Event Centre at 6pm. • Watters Cup rugby
Round three of the local senior rugby competition has Celtic host Rakaia and Hampstead make the trek out to Mayfield, both kickoff at 2.45pm.
• Wakanui derby They couldn’t be separated first time around so there should be plenty to play for in round two of the Wakanui senior men’s hockey at the Ashburton Hockey Turf at 3.30pm.
Sunday: • Poker competition Texas Hold ’em Poker for the experienced player and the novice. Hotel Ashburton, 1pm to 5pm. Photo kirsty clay 030713-KC-069
Jayanna Paratene and Chantal Culshaw (both 14) are all smiles as they prepare for the Manu Korero speech competition in Christchurch today.
Speech competition weighs heavily By Brayden Lindsay Two Ashburton College pupils will have heavy expectations on their shoulders when they head to Christchurch to compete in the Manu Korero speech competition today. Schools from throughout the Canterbury region are eligible to enter the competition and it is held in conjunction with Maori Language Week. The competition has some unique rules, with pupils of any ethnicity allowed to present a speech in Maori, however the person performing the eng-
lish speech must have Maori Whakapapa. Ashburton College Maori teacher Tiipene Philip said he was confident the students would do the school proud. “They have only been practising for about a month, because that is when we found out when the competition was on, but they should be fine.” The College is yet to have anyone win the competition, but according to Mr Philip it was more about participation than winning. “They have designed the competition so that you can only participate in the competition if you
have a person speaking in the Maori side of the competition,” he said. Mr Philip expects tough opposition for the girls, with Te Kura Kaupapa O Te Whanau Tahi from Christchurch expected to be the biggest competition. Ashburton College pupil Jayanna Paratene (14) said she was looking forward to presenting her speech in English to a large crowd. “I am really looking forward to getting up there and speaking to a large crowd, this is what I enjoy,” she said. Miss Paratene will be competing in the Junior English section
along with many other representatives from schools across the region for the Sir Tiri Carroll trophy. Meanwhile, classmate Chantal Culshaw will be the school’s representative in the Junior Maori Section, where the winner takes home the Rawhiti Ihaka trophy. Miss Culshaw said she was looking forward to speaking in fluent Maori. “I should be fine, I speak Maori at home, stopping my nerves will be the biggest problem,” the 14-year-old said. There is a limit of five minutes to speak, which both girls intend to make the most of.
Mayors, CEOs ‘need a good, open relationship’ By Sue Newman
3
one another. Our chief executive (Brian Lester) has an open invitation into my office as I have into his. Yes, we’ve had our differences over issues but we’ve always worked in a harmonious way.” A mayor and chief executive needed to have a good, open relationship, keeping in mind
their two separate roles, governance and management, Mr McKay said. “If the relationship is good, which ours is, I appraise Brian of how I see things that I think may be problems in the community in different sectors and he appraises me of issues he thinks might have consequences
at a later date.” A healthy relationship between the two roles allowed for a difference of opinion, he said. “But it’s important that it is a ‘no surprises’ relationship.” While the Christchurch City Council has run into strife over finding out from a third party rather than Mr Marryatt that all
was not well with its building consent processes, Mr McKay said the Ashburton council received in-depth information on a wide range of issues from staff. “In some ways we possibly have information overload in our agenda, but this does assist us and it assists the public to know what’s happening.”
Out of town: • Mud, sweat and tears Motukarara mud, sweat and tears event. You don’t have to take part to have fun. Do it yourself or watch others slog their way through a challenging mud run. Motukarara Racecourse, Fiddlers Road, Motukarara, Banks Peninsula, 11am.
On the couch: • Warriors’ six-pack The Warriors are on a roll, winning five-in-a-row and line up for their sixth against the table-topping Rabbitohs at NIB Stadium in Perth live on Sky Sport 2 on Sunday at 8.30pm.
TOP 5 ONLINE Yesterday’s top five stories on: www.
ONLINE.co.nz
1. Fatal end to fishing trip 2. Ashburton man dies in Timaru crash 3. Winds take out power 4. Federated Farmers’ conference under way 5. Teachers’ IT funding extended
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