Welcome to the blog of the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association / Te Wehengarua (PPTA), .... A blog that's not afraid to ruffle some feathers
What are we to make of the two multi-millionaire politicians - the two Johns - signing an agreement whereby the state abandons any responsibility for education in poor communities and instead hands it over to various churches, charities, American multinational franchises and any fly-by-night concern that sniffs a buck to be made. Apparently, the two Johns think poor communities are disadvantaged by having to learn what everyone else learns, do the same qualifications and have trained and qualified teachers so they are giving poor kids that chance to miss out on all the the things that wee Keys and the little Bankses take as their birthright.
Amazingly, lowering standards like this is apparently going to lift achievement even though that's not what has happened in the US which invented charter schools. The studies don't show any educational benefits for the model, once you control for the tendency to manipulate the school's roll to keep out the more challenging kids.
Associate education minister and trainee space cadet, Hon Heather Roy, has stumbled on the shambles that passes for an education policy in England and is advocating it here. Now anyone who has had the sad experience of teaching in a state school in England knows that it is not a system to emulate. Basically, the English system runs for the benefit of the elite private schools Eton and Harrow etc (though they call them public) and state schools are treated as either whipping boys or political footballs or both.
MP Roger Douglas is trumpeting the fact that his private members’ bill aiming to bring in bulk funding and site contracts has been drawn from the parliamentary ballot. According to Douglas, his “Education (Board of Trustee Freedom) Amendment Bill would, if passed, enable Boards of Trustees to manage their own affairs by having full control over the employment of teachers at their school." He is seems to be under the illusion that currently teachers' pay is set by “Ministry of Education bureaucrats dictating salaries from their offices in Wellington." Even though he was once a Minster of Finance, he appears to have forgotten that salaries are in fact dictated by the amount of money the government sets aside for that purpose. A zero pay offer made by boards not the government is still a zero offer.
The Labour Party, the Greens and the Maori party oppose bulk funding and before the election the National Government indicated that it would not re-introduce bulk funding. It will be very important to keep the politicians honest when this bill makes its way into the House. A final thought: Will the ACT Party also be proposing that MPs salaries be set by a panel of taxpayers rather than being “dictated by the bureaucrats on the Higher Salaries Commission?"
If you want to know how destructive and divisive bulk funding was - watch A Civilised Society.
