The New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association / Te Wehengarua (PPTA) believes there is no evidence to support importing the United States charter school model or the United Kingdom academy/free school model into the New Zealand education environment.
Charter school links (research and articles)
Government announces intention to introduce charter schools
The New Zealand government announced its intention to implement charter schools in South Auckland and East Christchurch as part of the November 2011 coalition deal with the ACT party. There was no indication prior to the election that this policy was to be introduced.
The reason given for selecting South Auckland was because schools there struggle to lift achievement in an area characterised by poverty and unemployment. In East Christchurch, which is not considered an area of underachievement, the rationale is simply opportunism occasioned by the need for rebuilding as a result of the catastrophic earthquake.
The New Zealand context and what we know about overseas charter school models
• There is no evidence that charter schools are better than state schools. There is some evidence that overall they give slightly worse educational outcomes for the children they teach.
• Provision already exists under the Education Act (s.156) for parents to propose new schools; there is no evidence of demand for new forms of schooling. New Zealand parents want high quality education at their nearest school.
• Charter schools have the negative effect of removing funding from local state schools. Creating charter schools will increase the total number of schools, with the result that all New Zealand schools will get a smaller chunk of the education dollar.
• The United States has had charter schools for a more than a decade and there has been no measurable improvement in that country’s overall performance in literacy, maths and science. The United States lags far behind New Zealand on recent performance tests in all those areas.
• Charter schools in the United States continue to be at the centre of ongoing disputes. Many have been closed for poor performance. There are issues about profit-taking, quality and whose needs are being met.
• Charter schools are said to be able to operate outside regulations and even laws. They will be receiving substantial taxpayer funding but will not be accountable to the New Zealand taxpayer via parliamentary scrutiny.
• Under Tomorrow’s Schools New Zealand schools are responsible to their communities. Charter schools are responsible only to their financial backers.
• The state requires students to attend school by law and as a result has the responsibility to adequately fund schools. This responsibility should not be left to the charitable instincts of business.
• Charter schools will allow private companies to profit from providing what most New Zealander’s consider core government services. The coalition agreement explicitly states for-profit companies could run charters.
• There is little evidence that charter schools produce new innovations in classroom practice, instead many rely heavily on rote learning and standardised testing.
New Zealand has the most autonomous school system in the OECD
New Zealand schools already have many of the ‘freedoms’ that have been sought by the charter school movement in the United States and United Kingdom, with a high level of school autonomy and flexibility..
The system is highly devolved and based on decision-making at the school level, with individual boards of trustees as the lynchpin; hiring and firing decisions are also made at school level.
Each school has to submit a charter for approval by the Ministry of Education, the charter sets out the school's objectives and targets for the year, demonstrating how it will meet the learning needs of its students and the special character of its community1.
Each school is governed by a board of trustees. Trustees are elected by the parent community, staff members and, in the case of schools with students above Year 9, the students. The board is the employer of all staff in the school, is responsible for setting the school's strategic direction, and for providing a safe environment and quality education for all its students. Boards are also responsible for overseeing the management of personnel, curriculum, property, finance and administration2.
Where parents believe schools are not responding to local needs, they have the right to establish their own school – as long as there are at least 21 students to be enrolled every year.
New Zealand schools are accountable to their local communities for providing a high quality education for their children. We have a wide range of state-funded (integrated) faith and philosophy centred schools including Christian, Moslem, Steiner and Montessori.
Successful education change for positive student outcomes requires evidence based decision making
The decision to experiment with charter schools in New Zealand stands in complete contrast to the way educational change is managed in countries that are the most successful globally. Successful education systems like Finland, Singapore and Ontario are characterised by evidence-based decisions made through collaborative and consultative processes and implemented in a managed way.
Importing an experimental charter school model puts the well-being of New Zealand students at risk
Importing ideas, such as charter schools, from countries that do less well than our own, fails to identify and protect the best things about New Zealand schools and puts the well-being of all New Zealand children at risk.
For some time now, PPTA has been calling on politicians to set aside party rivalries and to develop a coherent plan for schools in New Zealand based on best practice from both overseas and within New Zealand.
Political consensus in education – the way of our future
