2 November 2012

The government is so short of cash it can’t afford to keep special schools open or provide extra staffing for low decile schools – yet it seems to have a spare $3 million to prop up ailing private school Wanganui Collegiate.

The education minister - whose constant mantra has been the importance of raising achievement for Maori, Pasifika, special needs and low socio-economic students - today announced millions of dollars would be spent integrating a school that does not serve those most at risk into the state system, PPTA president Robin Duff said.

Wanganui Collegiate is a decile 10 school that, according to its 2011 ERO report, has no Pasifika students and only 11% Maori.

“That Hekia Parata could possibly think she is helping our most vulnerable by pouring millions into a school that serves society’s privileged defies belief. One would have to question whether she has actually lost the plot,” he said.

2 November 2012

Schools crying out for help after the botched Novopay payroll system created a massive workload increase have been given just a days’ notice of a ministry training roadshow.

Schools were sent notice of the “end of year/start of year Novopay roadshows” yesterday. Wellington’s sessions – at Porirua College and Hutt Intermediate – are being run today. Venues and times for the rest of the country were only confirmed this morning.

PPTA general secretary Kevin Bunker said the union had been repeatedly approached by schools already at their wits end because of the huge and complex additional workload staff had been ill prepared for. “School staff and deputy principals are having to put the rest of their jobs aside and simply deal with Novopay,” he said.

Bunker criticised the ministry and Talent 2 (the company behind Novopay) for “an appalling lack of notice.”

“It shows very little understanding of how schools work and smacks of last minute planning. Schools need to organise for teachers to be freed from the classroom to attend these sessions and that is no small thing. This is an extraordinarily busy time of year for everyone in schools and to simply drop other priorities for this activity is thoughtless and inconsiderate,” he said.

29 October 2012

Secretary for education Lesley Longstone obviously needs to share her concerns about fairness and equity for all New Zealand students with her ministry’s bargaining team, says PPTA general secretary Kevin Bunker.

Initial bargaining for the Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement began two weeks ago, with PPTA’s claim focussing on excellence and equity for all students, but nothing the ministry has put on the table addresses those issues, he said.

“The secretary wants teachers to do better for all students and that is exactly what we have taken to the table. But all the ministry seems to be interested in is an accounting exercise and taking away long-existing provisions. None of their claims focus on student learning at all,” he said.

“PPTA has lodged what we believe is a fair and reasonable claim for these times, which has been restricted to the few crucial areas of class size, quality teaching and fairness and equity for all students, teachers and schools.”

Part of PPTA’s claim is for staffing in poorly resourced low decile schools, Bunker said.

“This one of the things the government should clearly have in its sights if it is at all serious about educational inequity in New Zealand – yet it is the teachers who are pushing for it as part of their own claim.”

It was also inconsistent of Longstone to talk about the importance of addressing the disparity in educational achievement for disadvantaged groups in New Zealand while at the same time driving policies – such as league tables, quarterly funding and charter schools – that are all about increasing that disparity.

16 October 2012

The government appears to be ashamed of its latest attack on public education, shunting out its education amendment bill at 5pm yesterday.

Unregistered teachers, double-bunking and the usual spin were all characteristics of the bill which PPTA president Robin Duff said favoured privateers over pupils.

“It appears the government is not proud of the steps it is taking towards privatising New Zealand’s education sector. Why else introduce the bill the night before parliament actually sits?”

The bill was yet another step towards the privatisation of New Zealand’s education sector, Duff said.

“It claims to introduce a different type of school – a ‘partnership’ school - which is just a private school with 100% public money. It might be more accurate to describe these as ‘parasitic schools’,” he said.

Parents, teachers and students in Christchurch should also be very worried, Duff said.

“Not only will they have to contend with unwanted charter schools but the bill’s reference to ‘multiple timetables’ seems to open the door to more ‘double bunking’.”