Hon Minister Erica Stanford's address at our Goal Setters Awards Presentation was both encouraging and future focussed. She acknowledged the Award recipients for their efforts to overcome the adversities they faced, to find the fortitude to fight for themselves and advocate for others and to give back to their communities.
Minister Stanford began her presentation by acknowledging the support she has experienced from Rotary. In particular, when requested on behalf of her own constituents. She also acknowledged the Award recipients for their efforts to overcome the adversities they faced, to find the fortitude to fight for themselves and advocate for others and to give back to their communities.
When Ms Stanford became Minister of Education her primary objective was to raise student achievement and close the equity gap. Her approach to achieving these objectives has been to draw on the international research on how the brain learns and what raises achievement. She also visited schools that were already closing the gap by embracing the science of learning and introducing structured teaching for reading and mathematics. Encouragingly, the Minister acknowledged the value of our teachers and how important good teachers are to student learning.
Minister Stanford demonstrated her passion for improving education outcomes for our tamariki. She took questions from the floor where she outlined a multi-pronged approached to addressing the teacher shortage and strengthening the work undertaken by the Ministry of Education. We look forward to seeing the positive outcomes of these initiatives over the coming years.