Brian Hinchco: What's in a name? Quite a bit

The recent announcement by the Minister of Education, Steve Maharey, to build seven new schools in Flat Bush has generally been well received. However, that two of these schools may be called junior high schools has caused some concern in the education community.

New Zealand has a proud history of junior high schools, a number of which were first built in the 1920s. Interestingly, it was the 1932 Labour Government which disestablished them in favour of intermediate schools.

Within the New Zealand education environment there is a close link between two-year intermediate schools and four-year middle schools. Unfortunately, however, junior high schools are tainted with the same name as the discredited American model of the 1980s and 1990s.

As Michael Jackson, principal of Albany Junior High, the first New Zealand purpose-built junior high school, has been at pains to explain, his school tends to have developed as a middle school and therefore has created a uniquely New Zealand character.

So what are the differences between the two types of schools? Junior high schools are run, as the name suggests, as miniature colleges or high schools.

Students as young as 10 may experience as many as five different teachers in a day and have their learning compartmentalised into separate subjects.

Children are taught by teachers who have specialised in their subject area and focus on having students achieve test results.

These test results may well show learning within a particular subject area, but, as has been discovered in America, do not lead to developing understanding and the creation of knowledge that children are then capable of applying to other situations and new problems.

As a result of the methods of instruction used in junior high schools, these American schools became plagued with pastoral care issues.

Students at this important time in their development lacked adequate mentoring and instruction in wider areas such as personal growth and developing citizenship.

Middle schools, however, provide the opportunity for children to be taught by teachers who specialise in the emerging adolescent age group. These home room teachers provide individual tuition and create an environment of holistic learning which encourages deep understanding and problem-solving.

In general, middle schools tend to be better able to attract qualified teachers who enjoy the time they spend with students developing them holistically.

International community evidence, from countries as diverse as Mexico and Australia, has proved that middle schools have much lower non-attendance rates, higher student engagement rates and greater academic and social success than the discredited junior high school model.

So there is a good deal in a name. Educationalists and community members quite rightly need to be wary of any school that takes up the term junior high school.

It is to be hoped that there is still time for the minister to be able to influence the Flat Bush decision-makers to work towards the highly successful middle school model.

They will not have to look very far, as we already have five very successful middle schools operating in New Zealand.

* Dr Brian Hinchco, principal of Papatoetoe Intermediate School, has a PhD in the development and structure of middle schools and junior high schools.