A big education announcement from the Government- they’re reducing class sizes for primary and intermediate schools.

Classes will drop from 29 to 28. You cannot make this stuff up.

They slipped the news to media so they could start previewing it this morning.

They wheeled out the Education Minister, they flew the Prime Minister to Auckland, and they hauled out the reporters who got the live streams going.

All to announce they’re dropping class sizes by one student 

Not a joke- one student. Come on.

Let’s be realistic about what that’s going to do, it’s going to give the 28 remaining kids in the class an extra 6 seconds an hour with the teacher.

No parent believes that’s enough to, as the Education Minister reckons, turn around our decline in reading writing and maths. 

Really the saddest thing about today’s announcement, apart from the lack of ambition is that this is a recycled promise from Labour. 

Back in 2014, 9 years ago- they promised that they would reduce class sizes to 26 by 2018.

• NZEI President explains the importance of reducing class sizes for year 4 to 8 students
• Reduced class sizes for Year 4-8 students, 320 extra teachers needed

2018 came and went, and five years on, not only have they not delivered on that promise of dropping class sizes to 26, but now they’re not even promising as much. 

This is not even an announcement worth making. You have to question the political wisdom of hauling the PM out to announce this.

This just opens Labour up to ridicule for thinking it’s worth announcing class size reduction of one student, and it reminds voters that previous promises were more ambitious- and never delivered on.

Few should be impressed by this and few should expect it to happen. 

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