a 'slap in the face' - principal
A primary school principal has labelled the government's class size policy a "slap in the face", saying the education minister must be "crazy" if she thinks it will help existing teachers or attract new ones.
Jan Tinetti earlier on Monday announced $106 million to put more 320 teachers into classes teaching years four to eight, dropping the average class size for those years from 29 pupils per teacher, to 28.
The goal was not expected to be met until 2025, Tinetti saying she was "not happy with the downward trends we are seeing in maths, reading and writing".
The election-year promise was met with incredulousness by the principal of one lower-decile school, who said it should have been a reduction of five - not one.
"I just think it's ludicrous," Finlayson Park School principal Shirley Maihi told Checkpoint. "I think it's a slap in the face. And it certainly won't entice people to come into the teaching profession."
Link to video and article: Class sizes ratio announcement a 'slap in the face' - principal | RNZ
