A quick straw poll from NZHerald has shown that the majority of readers agree with the President of the Secondary Principals Association when he poo-pooed the idea of making Te Reo compulsory for all secondary school teachers.

As sad it as it may be but the older one becomes the harder it is to learn and maintain a second language. To make your ability to know and speak Te Reo a reflection of how great a physics teacher you are seems nonsense.

The idea is noble, the implementation complicated and questionable, the cost involved, huge. This would become a massive time commitment for staff with the potential of such damage to educators credibility that some would become further disheartened by the profession. Then it could sway so much with the political climate that it becomes an unreal expectation.

Current teacher training institutions deliver Te Reo and Maori studies as compulsory units toward a teaching degree, ensuring new grads have an awareness of the language at the very least if they have not been able to become fluent.

Asking my 58 year old Chemistry teacher to become fluent goes way beyond reasonable expectations.

Further reading: