Editorial: Performance of schools doesn't add up, time to change the equation

The Ministry of Education has intervened in 34 per cent of schools in the poorest decile since January 2009. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Editorial

EDITORIAL:

Revelations this week that the Government has stepped into one out of every seven schools to support struggling boards and principals over the past decade would seem, on the surface, to show a system with problems but working for the majority.

The flipside of the one-in-seven figure is that six out of seven schools have worked more or less autonomously and well for the past 10 years. However, as is so often the case, the one figure alone doesn't tell the whole story.

The issue of "failing schools" is on the books after a Government-appointed taskforce, led by former principal Bali Haque, proposed setting up about 20 regional "hubs" to support schools, taking over all legal powers now held by each school's board of trustees.

The Herald sought more detailed figures after a lobby group fighting proposed changes claimed more than 90 per cent of our schools were operating well and did not need change.

A Community Schools Alliance says 94 per cent of schools are "operating successfully", and only 6 per cent are under commissioners or limited statutory managers.

The alliance - representing 46 schools including Auckland Grammar, Westlake Boys High and Sancta Maria College - says the plan does more than meddle with a system which works for the majority, it threatens the distinctive identities of schools.

It may well be that those in the Community Schools Alliance have no desire, or even need, to be part of a proposed overhaul. It is no surprise that those which have thrived would resist change.

Those for the proposal point out the apparent low level of interventions doesn't reflect the reality for many schools, some of which scrape by and narrowly avoid impositions.

It also doesn't represent the reality for low-decile and Māori language schools, which enrol mainly children from low income families.

And that's where the Bali Haque review is aimed - to close the divide between rich and poor schools which has developed under the 30-year-old "Tomorrow's Schools" model by giving the hubs powers to use principals, teachers and resources where most needed.

Tomorrows Schools has failed to deliver for our communities which most need our public education system. It's clear, from the figures obtained by Herald journalist Simon Collins, that lower-decile schools have struggled under the status quo.

The Ministry of Education has intervened in 34 per cent of schools in the poorest decile, and at 20 per cent of schools in the next-poorest two deciles, since January 2009.

Intervention rates were lower at higher deciles, but the ministry still intervened in 7 per cent of schools even in the richest decile. Overall it has stepped into 367, or 14.5 per cent, of the country's 2531 schools.

It may well be that those in the Community Schools Alliance have no desire, or even need, to be part of the Bali Haque-proposed overhaul. It is no surprise that those which have thrived would resist change. But it's clear something needs to, even if it must be a compromise.

Certainly, there's value in keeping some parental control over schools - as being exercised in the triennial board elections for which most schools will send out ballot papers this week - but we also clearly need more support for the schools which struggle.