Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Steve McCracken: Secondary Principals' Council Chair on Labour's plan to axe the mandatory hour of reading, writing, and maths despite parent approval

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Steve McCracken: Secondary Principals' Council Chair on Labour's plan to axe the mandatory hour of reading, writing, and maths despite parent approval · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A new poll shows just how popular the hour of reading,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: writing and maths has become. According to Courier, 75% of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: those polled support the mandate, while amongst Labour voters, the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: party who promised to repeal the policy, nearly two-thirds like
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the idea. Steve McCracken is the chair of the Secondary
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  Speaker 1: Principals Association. Hello, Steve.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Andrew. How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Good. Do you like the idea?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I do. I'm in a secondary school. However, we
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: have year seven and eight as well, and we're seeing
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  Speaker 2: a significant increase in literacy and numeracy results already, and
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  Speaker 2: that's what we're hearing around the country as well.
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  Speaker 1: So it's popular with the parents, it's popular with you,
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  Speaker 1: and you're the head of the Principals Association. Why is
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: it so unpopular with the teachers, particularly their unions?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really interesting question, right? And I think
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  Speaker 2: there's probably previously we've had full autonomy and able to
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  Speaker 2: do things independently of each school. However, having a national
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  Speaker 2: school kind of understanding of where literacy and numeracy really sit,
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  Speaker 2: and the need for having it taught in classes regularly
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: is ensuring consistency across our country. So, yeah, not really
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  Speaker 2: too sure where the pushback is coming from.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I saw Chris Hipkins the other day talking about
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  Speaker 1: this whole thing, and he says, you know, schools should
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  Speaker 1: be left to do what they think is right. And
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  Speaker 1: when my kids were going to school, they sure as
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  Speaker 1: hell had basic facts and and they sure as hell
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  Speaker 1: had one hour of this, then suddenly it went. So,
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  Speaker 1: you know, what can you say to Labour when this
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  Speaker 1: is obviously a hugely popular policy amongst parents? It obviously works.
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  Speaker 1: So when are they going to see the light?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question. I can't answer that on
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  Speaker 2: behalf of the current opposition. However, the research and everything
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  Speaker 2: says that, particularly from a report done in 2021, I
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  Speaker 2: believe that recommends an hour of mathematics a day. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that's really important for our young people to have those
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  Speaker 2: basic skills.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Very quickly, do we need questions answered about how the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: teaching council let Timothy Fisher keep his job?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do.
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  Speaker 1: That's very cool.
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  Speaker 2: Short and simple. Yes, we do.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, shocking story. Hey, Steve, thank you. Have yourself a
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  Speaker 1: great day. That is Steve McCracken, who is the Secondary
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  Speaker 1: Principals Association Chair.
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  Speaker 3: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 2:18
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• 2:21
  Speaker 3: the podcast on iHeartRadio.