New Zealand needs to reaffirm its commitment to public education says TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan.

“While the majority of New Zealanders support public education they often forget some of the important reasons why. Public education is a crucial pillar of our egalitarian democracy. It gives citizens opportunities. It helps bring social justice to our communities. It gives our economy real, sustainable economic strength. Through research and learning it expands our horizons and it connects our history to our future.”

“Private education might do these things incidentally, but not consistently and on purpose.”

Dr Ryan says that New Zealanders need to be aware that individual policy decisions like cutting adult and community education or limiting students’ access to polytechnics through an EFTS cap or allowing numerous low quality private providers to proliferate all have an impact on the ability of our public education system to meet its egalitarian goal of giving opportunities to New Zealanders.

“New Zealand has an excellent tertiary education system. It produces world class graduates and is highly respected. All the people involved deserve credit for that.”

“Public education has always had to negotiate compromises – it took a long time to evolve, and it won’t disappear overnight,” says Dr Ryan. “But we do need to work to ensure that it evolves in ways that are democratic, and inclusive of all New Zealanders.”