February 20, 2018
Fix not replace system say teachers
FULL INTERVIEW WITH LAURES PARK
A senior Maori education sector leader says charter schools were a diversion from the bigger task of fixing the education system for Maori.
Laures Parkes, the Matua Takawaenga Primary Teachers' Union NZEI Te Riu Roa, says there are many schools in the state system which are transforming education for Maori and Pacific children.
She says while the majority of charter school students were Maori, the concentration of resources on what was a relatively small number of children meant the wider lessons and challenges in the public system was missed.
"Kura kaupapa and kura a iwi were showing results so why aren't we looking towards some form of that across they system. Then we got charter schools and told that is the answer. So similarly every time somebody pushes back against the Government another option is put in front of us and we are thinking let's look clearly at what we have got in fnt of us and work with that and try to make some changes there," Ms Park says.
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