A reader asks: 'How will charter schools deliver quantifiable improved education outcomes?' Photo / Paul Estcourt
How will charter schools help?
Reported problems with New Zealand’s education system include poor attendance, dropping Pisa [Programme for International Student Assessment] results, graduate teachers not having necessary skills, issues with the curriculum and teacher salaries not being sufficient.
The major investments proposed to address these issues are a national attendance system and $153 million over four years to establish up to 50 charter schools. These investments, together with no/low-cost changes such as mandating students are taught maths and literacy for an hour a day and the use of structured language, are proposed as the best solutions to address these issues.
The key influence on attendance is parental attitudes. Making school attendance visible will undoubtedly encourage attendance. Increased attendance will contribute to improved outcomes.
The frequently quoted NZIER report on teacher skills analysed the engagement of students starting their training. Maths and literacy are compulsory for each of the three years of an education degree. That level of study should ensure graduates have the necessary knowledge.
OECD studies show average teacher remuneration is competitive and remuneration for our more senior and highly-skilled teachers who deliver exceptional outcomes lags other countries. Perhaps that is an area for investment if teacher retention is a significant problem?
New Zealand’s Pisa results have fallen, as have those of most countries. Our top-performing students’ results are better than equivalent cohorts and we have a disproportionately high number of students performing below expectations. Clearly many schools are delivering very acceptable results, so it is not the whole sector that is having issues.
My question regarding investing $153m over four years, presumably to lift education outcomes, is will the country get the quickest and biggest improvements in education outcomes by providing free education similar to that delivered in private schools to 1 per cent of the student cohort or by enabling the proven initiatives being delivered in our schools that are performing very well to be delivered in, say, the 10 per cent of schools with the poorest performance?
The Government campaigned on making data-driven decisions, therefore I’d appreciate proponents arguing both for and against charter schools to state what quantifiable improved education outcomes will be delivered when taxpayers make this investment.
Jon Eriksen, Parnell.
Lacking vision
I thought Bruce Cotterill’s article was brilliant, pointing out that government department policies suffer from chopping and changing from one policy direction to another every three years (Weekend Herald, June 8).
These include health, education, policing, housing, water quality and environmental management, energy and transport infrastructure and climate change. Not to mention stripping those departments of their staff who manage them, and all the intellectual property they brought to their jobs.
How is that going to increase efficiency when the remaining staff get loaded up with the jobs of the departed staff, as well as their own? District councils have to produce 10-year plans to show their ratepayers what the “vision” is regardless of who the elected members may be over time.
The Government should have to do the same, so regardless of which political parties are in power, the various departments have agreed visions to follow.
All political parties should have to meet every 10 years to renegotiate and agree on the long-term vision - maybe with five-year checkups on progress.
I am looking forward to Bruce Cotterill’s next article about how to get the different parties around the table.
Ruary Laidlaw, Waipa.
Judging justice
Here we go again. Two young hoons stop at the lights and then on the green decide to race, with an undeniably tragic result in that two elderly people were killed (Weekend Herald, June 8).
Next we learn the driver escapes with only a fine and a disqualification and who gets the blame for that? The police. The judge presiding at the court hearing handed down the sentence so surely that’s where the blame lies for a manifestly inadequate sentence as so often happens.
Yet these judges are not accountable at all and it’s just so easy to point the finger at the police. It’s high time that is reversed and the blame correctly levelled at the real problem, namely the courts.
Paul Beck, West Harbour.
London calling
Shayne Currie’s Media Insider, particularly concerning Maiki Sherman’s 1News bulletin and the string of complaints, deserves comment (Weekend Herald, June 8).
Regretfully, Sherman’s political leanings regularly surface in her presentation style through her use of language and line of questioning.
Perhaps it’s time for TVNZ senior management and the board to ask themselves the question: who is best in class when it comes to interviewing technique? Hint, try the BBC. Benchmarking is a tried-and-true method for raising standards in any organisation.
A month’s stint in London might do wonders for Sherman in an effort to hone her interviewing technique. Such new-found knowledge could then be leveraged on her return, by sharing it to the benefit of others.
Malcolm Johnson, Cambridge.
Political impartiality
Shayne Currie’s article concerning TV1′s coverage by its political editor, Maiki Sherman, of a 1News/Verian poll, was unsettling reading.
The article revealed TVNZ received 309 complaints about Sherman’s presentation; rejected them all; and initially refused to reveal any details of the number of complaints received. TVNZ was only compelled to clarify what happened when the Herald made an Official Information Act request.
The media claims to support an open and transparent society, yet TVNZ’s actions fly in the face of this principle. If a politician had tried to sweep significant events under the carpet, the media would have been very critical. But TVNZ did not apply a similar standard to its own actions.
A recent study showed public trust in the media has declined significantly in recent years. If the media genuinely wants to lift the public confidence in which it is held, openness, transparency and political impartiality are essential.
The media have to earn that trust. Unfortunately, the actions of TVNZ shows, there is a long way to go – if, indeed, they have even started on the journey.
Patricia Schnauer, Milford.
Boot camps
The comment by four psychology staff from Victoria University missed a couple of important points concerning responding to youth offenders (NZ Herald, June 13).
Firstly, what can be done for them is dependent on what society will support and allow, and right now we are witnessing a serious rebalancing of the considerations in sentencing.
The second matter arises from my own career experiences as a child psychologist, probation officer, police constable, and teacher. It is just so important to prevent complex behaviour problems (like juvenile offending) because it can be so challenging trying to remediate them later.
It is probable that ram-raiders, and other serious youth offending, reflects a failure by NZ police and by our schools to connect with their communities and to respond proactively to children and families who are at risk of entering the criminal justice system.
However, the crux of the matter (as with so many other issues for children and youth) is assisting and supporting parents to raise kids who can cope with themselves and relate well to others. In this regard, we are fortunate to have in our country the Incredible Years parenting programmes, which are offered by the Ministry of Education and other providers; and which would now benefit from significant additional Government investment.
These particular interventions have been repetitively proven to work in over 30 years of rigorous evaluations.
Peter Stanley, Tauranga.
Many of the world’s cities have populations much greater than all of NZ. They are not carved up into dozens of healthcare fiefdoms, operated as corporations and managed by highly-paid CEOs and board members. We also have expensive private clinics, medical imaging services and labs which are not available to everyone. If our healthcare system was centrally managed in a responsible and ethical way there could be much more money available to cover the cost of drugs and treatment for those who these bloated administrations pretend to serve.
Barb Callaghan, Kohimarama.
When Auckland gets forecasts of high rainfall on its way, does anyone from the council check the drains? So much flooding is later blamed on “blocked drains”, so it would make sense to make sure the drains are unblocked before the rains arrive.
Roger Hall, Takapuna.
Many Auckland streets have gutters full of leaves, some up to a foot deep in Auckland Domain. There was a heavy rain watch in place this week. Has the council learnt nothing about cleaning gutters after the past few heavy rain events including Cyclone Gabrielle? Much better to clean the gutters than pay millions cleaning up slips and paying out for flooded houses. Just last Sunday the Southwestern Motorway was completely blocked after a slip sent a tree down.
Robert Howell, Onehunga.
I heartily agree with Bruce Cotterill (Weekend Herald, June 8) when he says that we cannot afford to keep chopping and changing long-term policy initiatives as governments change. It should not be difficult to decide on future plans for the core issues of health, education, infrastructure and crime. A cross-party group of parliamentarians, with advice from experts in their respective fields, should be able to come up with and agree on the very best way forward. It can be done - our Zero Carbon Act is an example. Our local councils have a long-term plan, why not also central government?
Linda McGrogan, Taupō.
Bruce Cotterill hit the nail on the head in regard to our needing to develop a long-term vision for New Zealand. The problem though is that politically we have no visionary candidates - the current mob are only functionaries.
Garry Wycherley, Awakino.
Potholes used to be rare on sealed roads but now there are hundreds of them. The timing seems to coincide with the increase of electric cars. They are heavier than petrol cars. Could this be the cause of potholes?
Brian Homan, Pakuranga.
Our education model is far too rigid. Not all students aspire to a degree. Those that don’t, become expert tradespeople, who fix stuff academics know nothing about. The sooner schools adapt to a broader curriculum, attendance at school may not become punitive by nature. Rather, schools will recognise that all students learn in different ways, and until the school system understand that, students are going to gap it, because they are not learning the way they need, and want to learn.
John Ford, Taradale.
TVNZ advertises that viewers are able to submit grievances if they believe it has breached Broadcasting standards. Yet they reject 309 complaints about one news report. Time they listened to the viewers while they still have some.
Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell.
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