Fed: Govt won't be intimidated by teacher threats: Rudd

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-2010
Fed: Govt won't be intimidated by teacher threats: Rudd

By Jessica Marszalek

BRISBANE, April 12 AAP - The federal government will not be intimidated by teacher
threats to boycott national tests linked to the federal government's My School website,
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) is meeting in Melbourne on Monday and is ready
to ban teachers from holding next month's National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy
(NAPLAN) tests.

The union has released independent polling, which shows most public school parents
believe the move would be justified.

Mr Rudd said the union was trying to undermine the government's attempts to better
the school system.

"The Australian government is on the side of parents and we're on the side of My School
because we want to lift the standards of all Australian schools," he told reporters in
Brisbane.

"Therefore the government won't be intimidated by any industrial tactics by anybody
because we believe this reform is necessary for the future.

"Mums and dads across the country want to see how their schools are performing and
how we lift the performance of those schools in the future."

He said no one should fear transparency, which was necessary to decide whether special
investments in certain schools needed to be made.

Mr Rudd also called on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to make clear his position on the issue.

AEU president Angelo Gavrielatos said the union had been trying for months to meet
Education Minister Julia Gillard to put to her a plan that would protect students from
being stigmatised by "league table" results.

"The choice for the AEU federal executive will be whether to sit back and allow schools
and students to be inappropriately labelled as failures in league tables or to take action
to protect students," he said.

AAP jmm/pjo/maur

KEYWORD: SCHOOLS RUDD

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