Promising to tackle unfinished business

Lorraine Kerr.

Taupo’s Lorraine Kerr is welcoming the chance to tackle unfinished business, following her re-election to president of the New Zealand School Trustees Association.

Ms Kerr, who will serve her second two-year term as president from this October, says a lot of progress has been made in the past two years, but there are still a host of items on the trusteeship agenda.

“This is a huge time for education and I am grateful to be given the opportunity to help provide trustees around the country with a strong voice,” she says.

“We are heading in the right direction but NZSTA has unfinished business with the minister and government in the area of operational funding.

“We have been very vocal in our view that the government funding of our schools, while slightly improved in the 2008 budget, remains inadequate. I will make it my continuing business to make sure this is to the fore no matter which government is in place.”

Ms Kerr says the lack of nationally consistent rigorous entry requirements to gain entry into teacher training also remains an issue.

“We will continue to be focused on entry criteria for teacher training as we know that teacher quality is the single most important factor in student achievement.”

Ms Kerr says student achievement will remain at the core of “board business”, and NZSTA will be focussing on ensuring all boards are supported in exercising effective governance that will lead to high student achievement.

“Reputable and ground breaking research shows that student achievement is very much board business. This shows that boards of trustees can make a positive difference to student achievement through creating a school culture where all students can achieve to a high level.”

Of particular interest to NZSTA is to encourage boards to establish a “no excuses” culture in respect of student achievement, she says.

“It is an exciting time to be involved with education, with many opportunities to improve the lot for our students. From an NZSTA­ perspective, any failing student should be a matter of concern, and this is the driving force behind ensuring students and student achievement is always the top priority.

“Trustees are there to make a difference for students – and before any decision is made we all need to ask ourselves whether or not this will benefit student achievement.”

She says NZSTA will also be working on promoting work to ensure ongoing retention and recruitment of high quality principals, while there will be a strong focus on the government’s School Plus policy.

Ms Kerr currently serves on Taupo-nui-a-Tia College and Wairakei Primary School Board of Trustees and in the past has been a trustee on three boards at the same time. She has also served on NZSTA’s national executive/board for the past 11 years.

Of Ngati Awa and Tuwharetoa descent, Ms Kerr is also the association’s first Maori woman president.

The NZSTA national board was also elected, with the successful candidates being Tony Coffin (Palmerston North), Tom Scollard (Christchurch), Chris Haines (Riverton) and Richard Orzecki (Otaki).