Our 2011 election manifesto - Labour Party

Labour believes that quality education is a basic human right that must be accessible and
affordable for all New Zealanders. That includes early childhood education, schooling,
tertiary education and adult and community education.
Labour is committed to adequately resourcing education opportunities for rural communities,
including transport options and supporting providers to operate in rural areas.
Labour will continue to support the provision of safe transport options for all school
children.
School buses must operate in a manner that guarantees the safety of children who use the
service, however currently there is no requirement for all school buses to be fitted with
seatbelts. There is also no requirement for students to be seated on a bus. Labour believes
the safety of our school children is of paramount importance.
Labour will require the Ministry of Education to specify in its contracts with bus
operators that all buses must be fitted with seatbelts, starting with those buses that
use the open road. Further, we will require the Ministry to ensure enough buses are
provided that all students can be seated if they are travelling on the open road.
Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics play a key role in ensuring that labour market
needs are met at a regional and national level. In the recent past not enough attention has
been paid to supporting the development of trade and skill training. We need to actively
encourage young New Zealanders, including those in rural areas, into trades training.
Labour will ensure that there is a network of regional institutions dedicated to meeting
the labour market and skill needs of our regions. In some cases this may require
additional support to enable institutions to operate where there are not the student
numbers to support them.
Labour believes that Adult and Community Education (ACE) provides important
opportunities for learning and training. The 2008 PricewaterhouseCoopers study into Adult
Education revealed that the return on investment of ACE courses exceeded $50 to every
one dollar spent. Benefits were identified not just in re-skilling, but community cohesion as
well as health and social benefits.
Rural communities were some of the major losers from National‟s cuts to ACE, as it had
been through ACE providers that many rural New Zealanders were able to access tertiary
education opportunities closer to home.
Labour will immediately restore $13 million cut from ACE funding to improve access
to adult and community education. Further funding will be restored over time as
resources permit.
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