Union urges scrutiny of scholarships

Angela Roberts, president of the PPTA. Photo / Supplied

Students’ results show that Act’s Aspire scheme should be scrapped, says PPTA

A scheme in which millions of taxpayer dollars are spent on sending students to private schools needs to be assessed to see if it is delivering results, an education union says.

The Ministry of Education funds 250 Aspire Scholarships to send students from low-income families to private schools.

Each year these students get up to $16,500 towards their school fees and costs. Students in the public system are funded at about $7000 a year.

The Aspire Scholarships were introduced five years ago as a policy of the Act Party.

Achievement data for the 25 scholarship students who left school last year show five did not achieve the equivalent of NCEA Level 2 or higher.

The Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA), which obtained the data under the Official Information Act, said it showed the scheme should be scrapped. President Angela Roberts said the students' results were not significantly better than their publicly educated peers'.

Last year 74 per cent of all New Zealand school leavers attained at least NCEA Level 2 or above.

Ms Roberts said an extensive evaluation of the scholarships was needed, comparing the achievement results of students with those who applied but missed out.

But Act education spokesman David Seymour said the information sent to the PPTA confirmed the success and value of the scheme.

"We are taking students who we know are disadvantaged and put them into independent schools and they have dramatically outperformed the New Zealand average."

Katrina Casey, the ministry's head of sector enablement and support, said: "By 2016 there will be a large enough cohort of students who have completed an Aspire scholarship for us to consider an evaluation."

Ticket to private school

• Aspire Scholarships assist students from low-income families to attend private and integrated schools.
• The 250 scholarships give up to $16,500 a year towards school fees and costs.
• The PPTA wants a comprehensive evaluation of the programme.