First Impressions By Brendan Horan

The hardest task for a new MP to learn is how to react rationally to irrational policies - like training hundreds of school teachers to work overseas. This is hard to believe, but primary teaching students were advised by an Education Ministry official to head overseas as there would be vacancies for only one in five graduates in New Zealand.

Now, if that doesn't hurt your head, the ministry official went on to advise the young graduates to return in 10 years when a mass teacher retirement may happen. So, the government spends millions attracting new teachers to train and then does not have vacancies for them – at least for a decade or so.

That's a long time to wait, and there are only so many coffee bars and fast food outlets to employ these young people who have paid thousands in course fees. It happens as the public education system is under threat from a privatised system to be introduced called ‘charter schools', which, by the way, would not need registered teachers.

For the past few years there appears to have been a campaign to discredit state schools and teachers who work in them. There are strong feelings within this government and its backers that ‘private is better', and in addition- there's money to be made.

Teachers should be highly-valued members of the community. We entrust the education of our children to them and we rely on them to prepare the next generations of New Zealanders.

For reasons we cannot fathom, trainee teachers are to be thrown to the winds of market forces. Five will apply for each job available. The rest will either tough it out here, or head overseas.

This is an appalling waste of talent when many of our most vulnerable children are failing to make it through the system with qualifications. Perhaps these trainee teachers could stay here and help make a big difference. It's a better investment than telling them to go away for ten years.

It would benefit the country more to export the ministers and officials who created this mess.