John Key is heading into his promised end of year reshuffle. There is one Minister in an important portfolio that has had a shocking year – Anne Tolley. Don’t think she has done anything positive and her gaffes are legendary. The chopper ride was just stupid. Night class cuts have annoyed Nats as well as others. Not reading the budget papers she signed cutting teacher numbers. Cutting and narrowing teacher professional development in conjunction with the introduction of the new curriculum.
Her end of year reports put her in the very worst group in Cabinet – and way below what any front bench Minister should be getting. The Dompost has her as one of the weakest links, Matthew Hooten on RNZ had her as an underperformer and she only scored 3.5/10 in the Herald on Sunday. Those sort of ratings would cause worry if she ran Customs or Statistics – but Education in a major portfolio and she just lacks the credibility to do the job.
But just about the worst thing a Minister can do is to put a lie in the mouth of the Prime Minister. At the standards launch John Key said:
“We have a strong mandate from parents and we are delivering for them”
Well actually they didn’t. This is what the NZCER report commissioned by the Ministry of Education actually said.
“In response to a broad open-ended question asking for any further comments, around 14 percent made a positive comment on National Standards, either the general idea of comparing their child’s performance with national benchmarks, or the specific examples given. Around 38 percent voiced some concerns about the introduction of the National Standards. These included valuing their school’s current way of reporting and discussing student progress with them and not wanting to lose it, concerns that the National Standards ignored differences in individual patterns of growth, would narrow teaching, ignore the development of the whole child, demotivate low-achieving students who never made the standard or lead to unfair comparisons of schools. “
Well John hardly a “strong mandate.” I can’t imagine what Helen would have said if one of her Ministers dropped her in it like that.
But more importantly it shows that either Anne Tolley didn’t read the report or she did and didn’t understand. Because otherwise she had an obligation to brief the PM which would almost certainly have resulted in him not launching the standards.
Of course if she tried to read it on the Ministry site then she might have had trouble. People tried. But couldn’t for sometime. This email sums it up.
Trevor – I meant to send this report to you in case you have as much trouble finding it as I had – I believe the Min of Ed had removed it from their website. Wouldn’t be surprised, given that it does not support what the Minister has been saying. When I looked, I got a page saying that site was unavailable. Then I emailed their web administrator who replied he couldn’t find it either but soon after that it seemed to be back and several people have told me they can now access it. Seems suspicious!
I do understand why they wouldn’t want it to be available.
But it is not good enough and it is time for Tolley to go. Looking at the Nats I think they need a strong Minister to do the job. Power or Joyce appeal as people who could do it.
“John Key is heading into his promised end of year reshuffle.” LOL
The reshuffle should involve Chopper Tolley, Bill English, Rodney Hide and any other wasters.
Addition to that list. Kate Wilkinson, she is a complete waste of space.
Talking of the Chop, when will Labour chop Mr 6% Goff time for a barbecue at your place Trev.
I would suggest both the Nats and Labour will have some …. changes!!!! in the next few months. Interesting times for some.
@ Doug I remember when Labour was on 14% and if NZ First did what it promised then five months later we would have been in government. Phil will lead the Labour Party for years after Chopper has lost her job.
Key’s restructure should be a lot of fun! Who will he keep if he has to use skill and ability in the job??
Phil will lead the Labour Party for years.
Hold you to that Trevor, will be great for Labours chances.
Could Ryall handle both Health and Education..? Pretty big ask but he’s making it look easy and owning Dyson regularly in the house…
Getting close to Shonky’s love goggles wearing out with his cabinet. Some extremely poor performances highlighted by Bill (double talk) English explanation on how NZ will be in this recession for years to come, Tony (I will leave that to the medical professionals to answer)Ryall hopeless handling on H1N1 pandemic. Nick Smith’s getting ACC reforms so wrong plus Anne Tolley’s lack of vision for education and how to motivate educators to apply necessary changes to create the skilled workforce we will require in the future. As for Gerry Brownlee, has he been posted missing? Didn’t the lights go out North of Auckland last week and with them his future. How sharp will the chopper be or another slap with a wet bus ticket on the cards?
Can national reshuffle itself out of parliment?? I don’t think Key can get rid of Hide the NACT govt. wouldn’t hold together if he did. I think Key sees Hide as a useful tool. Hide says stupid and extreme things so Key can come along and act like the smart moderate one…
Once again my comment is removed. I wasn’t banned for life Trev.no but are moderated for trolling Trevor
@ Doug – Aw I’m sick of all this Goff bashing, he’d make a great prime minister – it’s not like he’s inherited great circumstances to come into leadership with. I think he’ll do it!
It will be fun watching the reshuffle, this circus is fun, it’s just spinning the audience around
We agree again Spud, Goff would be a good PM… Twice in a week, scary…
What? You think Goff would be a good PM? This surprises me, pleasantly so
Remind me of the other time, I’m drunk.
Joyce to become Education Minister… hmmm… interesting idea Trevor.
As long as he loses transport to someone else (anyone else, I don’t care who) that would be a good outcome.
@jarbury – not Tolley, anyone but Tolley, oh the road toll
nice kite flying trevor, didn’t you see the article a few days ago in which Mr Key said that he didn’t envisage a reshuffle between now and the election?
and a self-selecting sample of parents responding to a survey, probably spurred on by PPTA and NZEI hardly represents the opinion of parents on this matter? National won the election and national standards was a key part of their manifesto.
Will he go for competence or votes, I guess that’s the question?
Joyce deserves a promotion.
Smith is doing the best he can with a hospital pass (climate change).
As for Tolley and Bennett, send them off to make glue.
Collins is the big question, shes the coal face in terms of trading off competence for popularity. I suspect she draws too many votes for key to kick out someone who’s clearly not up to the job (and there’s plenty of lawyery types among National who have the basic understanding of the justice system, political theory and justice who could easily replace her.)
“Joyce deserves a promotion.” Huh? “As for Tolley and Bennett, send them off to make glue” LOL
Judith would be crushed if Key placed her
Who’s this Sandra Goudie? Let’s give her something, just for fun
What a load of cobbles, Mr Mallard. Mr Key’s government is more popular than any in recorded New Zealand history. There’s no need for a reshuffle. Mr Goff’s party however seems its constant slide into irrelevance and this post I’m afraid shows why.
What good is a reshuffle when every other alternative is just as incompetent and hopeless as the current ones?
Trevor said…
Looking at the Nats I think they need a strong Minister to do the job
I agree there Trev. National needs someone who would go further than Anne Tolley and not hesitate to cut more useless courses, chopped many useless departments at certain tertiary institutions, etc,… That’s what National needs, ie, a person who has the guts to go further than Anne Tolley.
My money’s on big Jezza. He is a former woodwork teacher, and I hear can knock up a killer pencil case. Maybe the idea to put pies back onto the tuck shop menu was part of his cunning plan?
Sam makes a good point, any cabinet that contains Gerry Brownlee as both Minister of Energy and Resources, and Minister of Economic Development is demonstratively short on talent. The best of the National party ministers are already busy, where are the replacements going to come from?
Tim and bunny – I didn’t see the article. Hard to believe that he wouldn’t make changes even if minor. Can you refer me to it please.
Sean I will post on that issue over the next couple of days.
But there is some talent there who are not currently in Cabinet or who are underutilised.
Tolley will stay. Cant see the fuss as being enough to make her go. In fact the more fuss is made the more likely to keep her on. Being a ex whip means she has more caucus influence than most
spud, I’d like to put my hand up for your job when you retire. As I understand it you simply have to post cheerleading comments to every article on red alert, and it seems you can do it while drunk
Hey, Spud is a great pomposity puncturer and hubris remover.
But there is some talent there who are not currently in Cabinet or who are underutilised.
Thats a great point Trevor. So where is the talent in the Labour Caucus?
@Labrat – I’ve had plenty of practice, sometimes I think better while drunk – which is one reason why the PC brigade shouldn’t be upping the price of liquor. Did anyone else see the news clip where that guy is talking about changing the liquor laws while he himself was enjoying a beer?
@Tiger Mountain –
I need panadol…
Hangover..?
Yes.
Doug There is more talent in our new intake than the entire Nat backbench which is frankly not that much weaker than the Cabinet – in fact stronger than the Cabinet minus Key Power Ryall and Joyce.
She comes across really poorly on television which is where the majority of people see her..She cannot hold a discussion. It is a scarey thing when a Min of Education is incapable of discussing anything. All she does , is endlessly repeat previously remembered bullet points. I saw Joyce some time later..he spoke fluently and confidently on his topic and was able to enter into a discussion.
How did she ever get the job? Was she a”token” Nat woman?
As long as she’s not replaced by Peachey. Crikey listening to that guy give a speech is like listening to someone scrape their fingernails down a blackboard.
@jarbury – agreed! Imagine him as your principal – Yawn!
Interesting article in the herald about Tolley – I have made this point before, but I do wonder if much of the media are right wingers – I thought the article was kinder on her than she deserved – iron fist in a velvet glove was a bit accurate – more like iron fist wrapped in a pin cushion.
The article went on to say that she was likely bought in to ‘deal with the unions’. HMMM – well, my thinking on this is that if she upsets the unions enough – across the whole sector – ECE to Tertiary – and they all walk out – mass chaos. It would be a very very foolish minister to underestimate the power the sector has – and a very very foolish 2IC and top boss who would place a minister into a portfolio to shake things up and try to squash them. Far smarter to find appropriate ways to work with them – not against. There are more ’sleeper activists’ in education than you can imagine – and if there are enough rumblings, I can imagine they will finally wake up. Front row seats anyone?
@theresaj I think their dire shortage of talented woman helped her get on the front bench. So I suppose there was some tokenism there.
And I went to a centre opening at Auck Uni earlier this evening. Tolley made a speech launching a Best Evidence Synthesis on educational leadership. She delivered a prepared speech with no deviation or personal comment, showing no sign of having actually read the document she was launching. Pity because in my opinion it is an insightful, useful piece of secondary research.
What was good was catching up with dozens of leading principals and academics and knowing they are working together so much better than a decade ago.
And some of them remember my name.
An interesting observation Mr Mallard. For an untalented bunch, it seems curious that so many of National’s new intake managed to win the trust of the public against such a stronger Labour team.
I expect it must irritate a superstar such as you Mr Mallard to be regularly beaten to a pulp by such a bunch of amateurs who pale into insignificance in the presence of your greatness.
2011
It seems she has more in common with Obama than you’d think:
Declaring there should be “no excuse for mediocrity” in public schools, President Obama on Wednesday pledged to push for recruitment of better teachers, better pay for those who succeed and dismissal of those who let their students down.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-schools5-2009nov05,0,3477080.story