OR: The Root(beer) Cause of the Housing Crisis, the Crime Stats, Oranga Tamariki, Our Lack of Productivity, Growth of Prison Population, oh, and Our Significant Education Decline … Is a Lack of Oat Milk.
Alwyn Poole
Alwyn Founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. MH Academy is now an in person private school for Year 11 – 13. There is now a nationwide online provision called Mt Hobson Academy Connected for Years 1 – 13.
This Labour Government (which includes the Ministry of Education) has been appalling for education. When questioned in parliament on tax cuts, Ardern repeatedly states this would lead to a decrease in “investment in education”. Her implication is that the education spend is well thought through and there is little or no waste. The waste is ubiquitous and starts with the leap in the Ministry of Education from 2,800 to 4,000 seat warmers during this government’s tenure – with a significant net decrease in education outcomes for children. She seems to also equate feeding some children to educating them.
I thought her responses were bad – but Hipkins responding to patsy questions on banning fizzy drinks from former PPTA head Angela Roberts on Thursday 7 April was the worst. Laughing like he knows his performance as minister is a joke, he attempted to say that kids only being allowed water, milk or oat milk would be some kind of panacea. He is fully aware that only 40% of decile one to three children are fully attending, that last year’s NCEA results were a decline and that our students’ standards are declining on international measures. It will also be just another micro-aggression for kids to face every day as they hide a cola or an orange juice in their bag and it gets treated like drugs.
I started teaching in 1991. It is an incredibly frustrating system to be a part of – despite many, many good people being involved and some good intentions. The best analogy I can think of is that the system acts like a human with a pea-sized brain: virtually no nervous system to communicate to the organs and limbs, as well as being addicted to heroin and always looking for the next quick fix for political expediency.
Just one example from the very good website Education Counts shows:
[S]tudents from higher decile schools are more likely to enrol in tertiary education. From the 2018 leaver cohort, 70.0% of school leavers from schools in decile 9 ad 10 enrolled in tertiary education in 2019. This compares with 48.3% of leavers from schools in decile 1 and 2. Students from the higher decile schools are also, generally, enrolled in courses that lead to higher remuneration.
Figure 8: Percentage of school leavers in tertiary education one year after leaving school, by school2 leaving year by school decile (2013-2018)
Students from lower decile schools are more likely to enrol in foundation courses, certificates and diplomas than students from higher decile schools. Based on the 2018 leaver cohort, 33.5% of leavers from schools in quintile 1 enrolled in tertiary education in Levels 1 to 7 (non-degree) and 14.8% enrolled in bachelors and above during 2019. In comparison, 17.3% of school leavers from quintile 5 enrolled in levels one to seven (non-degree) and 52.7% enrolled in bachelors and above during 2019.
www.educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Only 15% of school leavers from decile one and two enrol in degrees, compared with 53% from deciles 9 and 10.
Public education was implemented to help students to overcome their family setting and history. It was invented (among other reasons) to provide upward mobility and equality of opportunity going into adulthood. To have come all this way and find out that schools’ results accurately reflect family background and do a superb job of maintaining status quo is a terrible outcome.
The bottom line: Decile one to three schools have to be significantly better than the rest and the results lines (e.g. for going into tertiary education) should match up – regardless of family background. That IS the PURPOSE of state-funded education and our nation should be desperate to attain it.
To achieve that, the decile one to three schools need massive help. They are trying damn hard already but for the last 20 to 30 years there has been no sign of it. Here are key changes:
– there has to be a huge and well-assisted parents-as-first-teachers programme targeting low socio-economic areas.
– the primary and secondary collective contracts have to be split, with different pay and conditions for teachers working in low-decile schools and an assurance of career-pathway help after three to five years in those roles.
– each decile one to three school needs a business manager and a community liaison manager in support of the principal – who can then focus on academics.
– these schools need significant support around changing truancy, transience and parental engagement patterns.
– the Ministry of Education needs to be split and a highly motivated, highly qualified, innovative and communicative unit set up with its entire focus (and measured results) being effective assistance for decile one to three schools.
– these schools need to be funded in such a way that class size is 15-20 students maximum.
– subject-choice guidance in high schools needs to be concentrated on accredited subjects towards UE and the universities need to get alongside to prevent disasters like this: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/want-to-be-a-doctor-lawyer-or-engineer-dont-grow-up-poor/YLNUCK7L3KLN5EYJBFAEPJHCE4/
– no consideration should be given to the return of Partnership (Charter) Schools. All this does is give unions another excuse to do some bashing. Instead, we need a better designed Designated Character School system to provide differential delivery for those that need it.
– our entire education system must be geared towards ASPIRATION and having the world’s very best education for all, not languishing as the world’s worst English-speaking nation. This requires some genuine inspirational leadership from our minister (and associate ministers) and the Secretary of Education.
All of these changes – and more – are doable with collective political will (i.e. including the teacher unions). We haven’t done it for the last 30 years and the consequences are more than obvious.
Within a decade these changes will support societal changes that can only be positive, and a much larger proportion will be able to plot and walk their own path, keep out of trouble and maybe even buy a house.
