PLATO Media Release 3 July 2006 - for immediate release

"OBE is now about politics, not education"

According to PLATO founder Mr Greg Williams, the current OBE crisis is about political point-scoring and face-saving, not children's education.

Speaking about the planned implementation of 17 new Year 11 OBE courses next year, Mr Williams said: "We are only 6 months away from the start of 2007. Teachers have no syllabi, zero resources, no sample examination papers, no sample assessment items, no solutions and marking keys, no texts, no network of colleagues experienced in this, and worse still, no confidence that things will be delivered."

Mr Williams added that "no one with a shred of intelligence could suggest that things will be ready to roll for 2007."

While the Curriculum Council has advised that the new courses will use the current syllabi, Williams said: "Currently the TEE syllabi have no mention of levels, aspects, outcomes, rubrics, or similar jargon. Currently, marks earned in TEE courses retain primacy in the calculation of a TER, but the new courses use Levels for that purpose. The current TEE syllabi cover a year, but the new courses are on a semester structure."

He noted that the inquiry's preliminary report said courses should not go ahead unless they were ready by April. "Clearly they are still not ready, as the Curriculum Council is frantically rewriting them right now. That all the Government members of the parliamentary inquiry could endorse implementation under these conditions clearly shows that that the decision was political and not based on the best interests of students and teachers."