In the spirit of Christmas the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association / Te Wehengarua (PPTA) is continuing its commitment to help John Key with his holiday reading and has carefully selected themes he can use to reflect on the past year and the year to come.
Our latest book for the prime minister is 'Nicholas Nickleby' by Charles Dickens, it illustrates the danger in competition between schools.
16 December 2011
Dear Prime Minister - competition between schools diminishes the right of every New Zealand child to a quality public education
Dear Prime Minister
We are well over halfway now and the book today is a long one – with small print to boot. It is 'Nicholas Nickleby' by Charles Dickens and I could well understand if you chose to watch it on DVD rather than read the novel. I only want to comment on one aspect of it: the school, Dotheboys Hall.
At this school the boys were starved, beaten and abused so it has become synonymous with any school where students are brutally treated. Of course one would not expect to find such levels of cruelty in New Zealand schools, but we need to be aware that competition between schools does incline them to place the focus on ‘spinning’ their public profile rather than on addressing the real needs of their students. In the book, Dotheboys Hall is advertised as follows:
“At Mr Wackford Squeers's Academy, Dotheboys Hall, at the delightful village of Dotheboys, near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire, Youth are boarded, clothed, booked, furnished with pocket-money, provided with all necessaries, instructed in all languages living and dead, mathematics, orthography, geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, the use of the globes, algebra…” (page 40).
Of course in reality, children were being exploited and parents ripped off. A similar thing is happening in countries that have charter schools. These have become a goldmine for marketing executives – perhaps explaining why the ACT Party is so keen on them. Rather than getting more information about their children’s schooling options, parents are exposed to hard-sell campaigns that don’t reflect reality. All this is paid for by the taxpayer out of scarce education dollars. According to the Miami Herald, charter schools there have become a $400 million business with the main beneficiaries being real estate developers. The article goes on to list a number of abuses including deliberately charging parents illegal fees.
There is no reason to assume things will be different with charter schools in New Zealand. We have recently had a number of cases of integrated schools charging parents illegally and while the government may have complained, it seems to be powerless to stop the practice. Instead, it is proposing to invite a whole new set of schools to join the gravy train and, further, is promising that they will be subject to minimal scrutiny.
At the end of Nicholas Nickleby, the boys at Dotheboys rebel and escape. Unfortunately, overseas experience suggests that there is no escape for the taxpayer should charter schools be found to be putting profit before pupils.
Yours sincerely
Robin Duff
PRESIDENT
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