DENIALS INDICATE TRUTH IN RUMOUR OF PALACE COUP IN NATIONAL PARTY

 "I've told you three times- it must be true."

Since the posting of the rumoured letter, allegedly written by the Slater-Lusk group on behalf of the Collins-Tolley group, being circulated through the National Party Caucus by a low ranked MP my informant within the National Party, Charles Dodgson, has passed on angry denials from the conspiracy group.

Each of the alleged conspirators has issued three denials which must, said Mr Dodgson, make the initial allegation true.... that there is an orchestrated campaign to unseat John Pinnochio Key as leader of the National-ACT party before the end of the year.

Whale-Oil, one of the more noisy and visible members of the group, attempted to remove himself from writing anything involved with the coup by declaring 'When I use a word,' Whale-Oil said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.' So if I say I didn't or wasn't involved it all depends on whether I use the word to mean what you think it means or, more likely, what I declare it to mean. In my use of English Yes will always mean No and No will always mean Yes at all my blogs....."

This, said Mr Dodgson, can only indicate that the rumour will have some credibility among the NZ reporter fraternity, especially Mr Garner and others of his ilk.

RUMOURS OF LETTER CIRCULATING IN NATIONAL CAUCUS RIFE!!!

Following on the beat up by Duncan Garner last night in which he promoted a malicious rumour circulated by the well known rumour tosser Whale Oil ( http://thestandard.org.nz/much-a-coup-about-nothing/) a new and more credible rumour of a letter being circulated among the National Caucus to unseat John Pinnochio Key has surfaced in the local electorate.

Apparently the letter, written by Slater and Lusk and circulated by the local MP, is designed to hasten the elevation of Judith Collins and Anne Tolley (known in local National-ACT circles as the ABC {All Behind Collins } group) as National Party Leader and deputy Leader after top secret internal National Party polling revealed that Key and English were perceived as being weak on dealings with Gambling bosses and had caved in on funding Auckland transport schemes supported by the arch enemy of the National-ACT party- Len Brown.

Watch out for and listen to Patrick Gower and Duncan Garner on TV3 tonight as they breathlessly uncover the truth about this dastardly plot to unseat the "beloved leader". (PS: the transcript of the interview follows. )
We are expecting Garner to interview the mischief makers at the centre of the coup plot - known as the ABKs- and extract details behind this exercise in self preservation among members on the right of the National-ACT party.

EDUCATION UNDER TOLLEY

How do these people survive?

ONE

Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets.
I asked for a half dozen nuggets.
'We don't have half dozen nuggets,' said the teenager at the counter.
'You don't?' I replied.
'We only have six, nine, or twelve,' was the reply.
'So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?'
'That's right.'
So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets


TWO

I was checking out at the local Countdown with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those 'dividers' that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed.
After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the 'divider', looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it.
Not finding the bar code, she said to me, 'Do you know how much this is?'
I said to her 'I've changed my mind; I don't think I'll buy that today.'
She said 'OK,' and I paid her for the things and left.
She had no clue to what had just happened.

THREE
A woman at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly.
When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM 'thingy.'

FOUR
Last month we hired a Typist who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, 'I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?' 'Just use paper from the photocopier', the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five 'blank' copies.

FIVE
The NACT Education Minister was told she would be given a "helicopter overview"of tertiary education in N.Z. and wondered why she was given a set of briefing papers rather than a real helicopter ride over the city.

SIX
The same cabinet minister was given her meeting schedule that included a meeting with the Vice-Chancellors of the NZ Universities. She refused the meeting as she thought she was being insulted as she wasn't scheduled to meet the Chancellors.

Perhaps she want's the public to join her... judging by the earlier examples she's succeeding.

Undervalued profession

This story gives the lie to Tolley's idea that graduates with MA's will rush to be fast tracked into teaching in New Zealand schools. It also demonstrates that the attacks on teachers, with the insistence that they are over paid and underworked by this NACT government is nothing more than shallow political rhetoric from those without a sustainable education policy.

Teachers earn below OECD levels

Thursday Sep 10, 2009

Primary and secondary teachers in New Zealand earn well below the OECD average, and thousands of dollars less than their Australian counterparts, a report says.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Education at a Glance 2009 report compared the salaries of teachers in primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education, at a starting salary and after 15 years of experience.

The salary figures, in US dollars, were based on buying power parity, which eliminates price differences among countries.

New Zealand teachers at each level of education started on about US$19,236 ($28,044) - significantly less than the OECD average starting salary of US$28,687 at primary level, US$31,000 at lower secondary level and US$32,183 at upper secondary level.

After 15 years, New Zealand teachers reached about US$37,213 at all three levels of teaching, compared with OECD averages of US$39,007 at primary, US$41,993 at lower secondary and US$44,782 at upper secondary levels.

Australian teachers, on the other hand, consistently earned hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars more than the OECD average.

They began on about US$32,259 at primary level and US$32,406 at both secondary levels, and reached up to US$44,245 at primary level and US$44,942 at secondary level after 15 years.

In New Zealand, female teachers comprise 98.8 per cent of pre-primary education teachers, 83.3 per cent of primary teachers and 65.7 per cent of lower secondary education teachers.

The number of female teachers dropped to 57.8 per cent at upper secondary education level and to 49.9 per cent at tertiary level.

Teacher-student ratios were slightly smaller than OECD averages, while the net time spent teaching was above the OECD average.

Teachers' unions said the figures confirmed teachers were underpaid and undervalued, the Dominion Post reported.

PPTA president Kate Gainsford and Educational Institute president Frances Nelson both said change was needed to make the industry more attractive and to retain teachers.

NACT import failed programmes from failed Bush policies

Let be said that Ann Tolley knows failure when she sees it and that she is prepared to follow the tried and true NACT philosophy that if it failed in the US it must be good and NZ will be able to tweak it with No 8 wire & baling twine. Here she is ready to screw up the NZ education system with a discredited US scheme. These two stories illustrate her lack of wisdom and knowledge.

Minister explores 'fast-track' teachers
By NATHAN BEAUMONT - The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 07/09/2009
Prospective teachers could skip specialist university training and be fast-tracked into the classroom under a plan to cope with an ageing workforce.
Under the scheme, anyone who already has a master's degree could bypass teacher's college and learn on the job.
The suggestion follows a high-level meeting between Education Minister Anne Tolley and controversial United States schools leader Michelle Rhee.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/2839264/Minister-explores-fast
-track-teachers
<http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/2839264/Minister-explores-fas
t-track-teachers>
And here is the research and argument to prove both Tolley and Rhee wrong.
(Previous daily news had comment from Australia - US expert condemns Teach for Australia 17 August 2009
http://www.nswtf.org.au/media/latest_2009/20090817_berliner.html
<http://www.nswtf.org.au/media/latest_2009/20090817_berliner.html> )