May 11, 2017
Charter schools ignore bigger problem
Primary teachers union NZEI Te Riu Roa says charter schools is a distraction from tackling what's needed to improve education for all Maori and Pasifika children throughout the education system.
Labour's plan to end the charter school experiment and bring successful partnership schools or kura hourua into the state system has become an early election flash point.
NZEI matua takawaenga Laures Park says charter schools are an experiment inflicted mainly on a small group of Maori and Pasifika children.
It ignores the long-term political failure to improve education for the 85 percent of Maori tamariki who go to mainstream public schools, which the Government has failed to adequately resource.
It also ignores social conditions.
"We all know the situation where children aren't doing well and all the reasons behind it – not good housing, no regular meals, all the poverty things, but it is a huge picture and a bigger picture than focusing on charter schools," Ms Park says.
She says there is no credible evidence charter schools are better for Maori than kura kaupapa or mainstream public schools, where the majority of Maori children are learning.
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