Alwyn Poole
Began teaching in 1991. TBC, HBHS, St Cuths. Founded/led Mt Hobson MS–18 years. Co-founded SAMS and MSWA. Econs degree, Masters in Edn, tchg dip, post grad dip – sport.
I have a son who is a professional fire fighter. I would imagine that the most basic advice they receive is to point the hose at the fire.
Education Minister Erica Stanford has done almost nothing on what all data and research show to be the most important aspects for the education of our children and young people. There is barely any water going on the flames.
These are the absolute key areas for the contribution of education towards our future.
- How to support parenting so that the vast majority of five-year-olds arrive at school ready to fully engage and with the basics of a love of learning, good behaviours, as well as numeracy and literacy in place. This includes parents reading to their children and being fully informed of key aspects of development from conception until five-years-old (at least).
- Massively improving school attendance. She has allocated just 0.7 of one per cent of VOTE education to improving this aspect – that remains in deep crisis.
- How to significantly close the gaps between those who achieve – and those who don’t (concentrated among poorer families, Māori and Pasifika). The 2024 school-leavers data shows that the proportion of school leavers with no qualifications has risen to 16 per cent for all ethnicities. This is the worst in a decade and well and truly under her watch. It is now 28 per cent for Māori youth. Appalling – but I do not see a single ounce of effort from Stanford on this. Let this statistic land… 28 per cent of Māori youth are leaving school with no qualification. Will the proposed qualifications changes improve this? What are the future consequences?
- Improving the quality of outcomes of every high school. There is actually some low hanging fruit here with an easy to implement programme. NZ only has 460 high schools. To have every one of them create a five-year-improvement plan for outcomes – aims and how to achieve them – is easy and can be highly effective. I have already been working with some schools on this in a private capacity.
- Improving the quality of teachers. While there has been some emphasis on this: the impact of poorly consulted curriculum changes, and barely consulted qualifications changes will have massive work conditions implications for teachers (i.e., chaos). While teachers remain in a collective contract that restricts the ability to reward high contributors, the prospect for true change remains low.
- The huge handbrake of a massive and inept Ministry of Education has barely been challenged by Stanford. National/ACT promised to reduce the employment numbers in the ministry to 2,700 (pre-Hipkins), but it remains near 4,000. Even one of Stanford’s best friends, Tim O’Connor of Auckland Grammar, recently stated that the ministry serves little purpose and should be disestablished. Stanford has not even been able to appoint a new secretary for education – nearly a year after the previous one left.
As someone who fully evaluates the outcomes of our education system each year, the current changes with do nothing to halt the decline – except that students from high performing schools and privileged demographics will have a better qualification to get themselves into international study.
This article was originally published by Education... the Absolute Best Ways.
