Wellington, June 15 NZPA - Eight schools have "flat out" refused to implement national standards and their boards of trustees could be sacked if they do not back down by 2011, the New Zealand School Trustees Association says.

NZSTA president Lorraine Kerr said the boards of the eight schools would face consequences if they continued to rebel against the standards "in much the same way there are consequences if we break any law".

Boards were, however, unlikely to be sacked and replaced by appointed commissioners until at least next year when schools would be required to report data to the Ministry of Education, she said.

Schools were currently only required to report a child's progress, in relation to national standards, to parents.

By far the majority of schools would be implementing the standards this year, Ms Kerr said.

"The majority of schools are just going to get on with it, they know they are required to report to parents twice this year," she said

Survey results released by the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) yesterday which suggested that up to 119 schools were not implementing national standards were "a bit misleading" because only principals and not their boards participated, she said.

She said it would be unfair to name the schools which have categorically refused to implement the standards, but there was a "couple up North, a couple in Canterbury, a couple down South and couple in Nelson".