KEY POINTS:
The Correspondence School's fourth restructure in 10 years has destroyed its teaching fabric, the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) says.
The school announced its new organisational structure yesterday after the proposal was announced a couple of months ago.
It sees 23 positions - including 11 heads of department - cut and 42 new positions created.
The move comes with more than half the full-time students studying through the school this year having so far failed to achieve any NCEA or industry unit standards.
Chief executive Mike Hollings said the school needed to find new ways of engaging with its students.
But PPTA spokesman Derek Bunting said the people axed were the ones leading the school at the "digital chalk face" and the move left it in a precarious position.
"Together they represent hundreds of years of experience and they are the people who have held the school together in recent years," he said.
Mr Hollings said of the disestablished positions, four were occupied by staff in acting roles, effectively leaving 19 staff affected.
Mr Bunting said there was no evidence the shift to regionally focused teams would improve educational outcomes.
He said branch members were "devastated, angry and have come out fighting".
"At the meeting where the announcement was made, some teachers walked out in frustration before the CEO had completed his presentation," Mr Bunting said.
He said the restructure was a response to the students at risk of failing within the school, but it would affect all students.
Mr Hollings said affected staff had the opportunity to apply for the new positions, but many of them were significantly different from existing roles.
There are 13,500 students enrolled at the school.
The students fall into three main groups - those enrolled in another school but studying papers through correspondence, those who live too far from a school, and those who have been expelled or alienated from mainstream schools.
The final category makes up 50 per cent of the roll.
Mr Hollings said the new regional focus would allow staff to engage with students and their communities and research had shown that approach led to educational benefits.
- NZPA
