Inspectors slam West Coast schooling

By MONIQUE DEVEREUX south island correspondent



Jo Newton has served as principal of Haast School for only a matter of weeks.

Before that, she was one of its three teachers, and two years before that, was still a student herself in teacher training.

That kind of fast-track to management is not uncommon on the South Island's West Coast, where teachers and new resources can be hard to come by.

This is one of many concerns highlighted in a damning Education Review Office report.

Education Ministry representatives presented the report to principals at a meeting in Harihari, 80km south of Hokitika, yesterday afternoon - and were met with a mixed response.

The report slams the overall education standard on the West Coast, rating it "average to unsatisfactory".

It highlights weaknesses in curriculum management, assessment planning and behaviour management.

The area has the lowest level of school-leaving qualifications of any New Zealand region, says the ERO.

But West Coast principals were last night finding ways to "turn it into a positive".

Joan Letufuga, acting principal of Westland Area School, said not all the criticisms applied to every school.

"Once that was explained [by ERO] it was easier for us to understand where their criticisms were coming from.

"This is now an opportunity for us to bring issues to the attention of the ministry and ERO, particularly regarding isolation and access.

"For some areas it is very, very difficult to access specialist teaching services. For a reading expert to come down here ... they have to travel all day just to be here for an hour," she said.

"The ministry has got to get better at delivering those kind of services to us."

Ms Letufuga said her school, which has a roll of 104, was performing exceptionally well and had done so for several years. Staffing was stable and students were doing well.

A satellite class set up this year at Franz Josef, 100km away, teaching year 9 and 10 students two days a week, was "a successful innovation".

The remote location means many secondary school-aged children learn by correspondence, rather than leaving home to go to boarding school.

The new class provides a teacher for two days, covering technology, the arts, physical education and health studies.

Haast School has also been making changes since its own damning ERO report three years ago. Ms Newton said earlier communication problems between the board of trustees and staff seemed to have been ironed out and the 33 pupils were "as positive as ever".

She has yet to see the latest report as a lack of relieving teachers meant neither she nor her two staff could make the three-hour trip to Harihari.

"Isolation, which can be a wonderful thing, can also be the root of a lot of the problems."


CLASSROOM CRUNCH

The West Coast has 46 schools and their rolls range from seven to 597. The ERO report says:

Students have a relatively low academic achievement rate.

High rates of student suspension.

High staff turnover.

The region needs professional development support in several areas, including development of literacy and numeracy teaching.