Norman LaRocque: More red tape threatens diversity of education

COMMENT

Catholic schools attracting non-Catholics, Anglican schools turning away potential pupils, increasing popularity for schools associated with the Presbyterians and Seventh Day Adventists - it's all part of the rise and rise of integrated schools around New Zealand.

Despite their apparent success in meeting the needs of thousands of families, the future shape of the integrated school sector is far from certain. A Ministry of Education discussion paper released last September raised the spectre of much greater control of integrated schools from education central command in Wellington.

The paper, An Education with a Special Character: A Public Discussion Paper on the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975, canvassed a range of possible changes to the rules governing integrated schools.

A number of these would involve placing further restrictions on integrated schools' ability to manage themselves. For example, the paper raises the possibility of giving the Minister of Education the power to manage integrated schools as part of the school network - little more than a euphemism for the power to close schools.

If this is part of the Government's agenda, those concerned about education in New Zealand should put pressure on the minister to back off.

There are several reasons why integrated schools are popular and growing. Australian Prime Minister John Howard sparked a debate when he argued that the flight to private schools was because of the state system's political correctness and lack of values.

In Australia, private schools (independent and Catholic) now represent more than 30 per cent of all enrolments (40 per cent at years 11 and 12 in Victoria).

Whatever the reason, it is clear that both forms of non-state schooling in New Zealand - integrated schools and independent schools - are growing in popularity.

In the past decade, for example, enrolment at Catholic schools has risen 15 per cent. In the Auckland archdiocese, the figure is 34 per cent.

Enrolments at independent schools have been rising faster than those at state schools, despite increasing fees, because of the cap on subsidies.

One of the big attractions of integrated schools, and indeed one of their main strengths, is the fact that they have more freedom than state schools to organise themselves in the most effective way they can to meet the needs of students, families and communities.

This freedom to get results for students - on a personal as well as an educational level - is increasing their popularity as more and more families seek to get out of the state system.

Changes that aim to pile even more regulations on integrated schools - such as subjecting them to enrolment scheme legislation, tightening enrolment limits on non-preference students, or giving the minister the power to close integrated schools - will only limit their ability to be different and detract from their educational mission.

Other countries are taking bold steps in providing increased diversity within a publicly funded school system. In the United States, there are 2700 Charter schools, which often have an area of specialisation and also face tighter accountability standards in exchange for greater managerial freedom.

Specialist schools, which have an area of excellence such as science, sport or the arts, now represent more than half of all secondary schools in England.

One of the strengths of the integrated-schools model is that despite being privately owned, the schools are funded at about the same level as state schools. This means they offer real educational choice for many families. They also provide effective competition for state and independent schools, thereby driving improvements throughout the school system.

Competition in education, as in other sectors, is a good thing. One US survey showed that students who had attended a private school in the eighth grade were twice as likely as those who had attended a government school to have completed a bachelor's or higher degree by their mid-20s.

The difference was even larger among students from low socio-economic groups.

Although integrated schools do have more freedom than state schools to organise their affairs in the best way possible, they are hardly free to do as they please. They remain encumbered by too much bad regulation and too much red tape.

Increasing such regulation on integrated schools would be the wrong way to go. Any reform of the act should aim to lessen the degree of regulation, not increase it.

Parental demand - supported by appropriate funding and school performance information - would provide a better mechanism for determining the appropriate network of schools than would a central planner.

School funding should be tied to each student, so all schools - whether public, private, not-for-profit, for-profit, community or church - would receive the same funding for similar students.

The false and arbitrary distinctions between different types of school - for example, designated character, kura kaupapa Maori, state schools, independent schools, special character schools - should be removed. They make no sense.

The nature of regulation of all schools, including integrated ones, should shift from controlling inputs to outcomes - with a greater emphasis on educational outcomes, rather than telling schools what they can and cannot do.

Integrated schools are an essential part of the educational landscape. The last thing the sector needs is more Government interference and micromanagement from Wellington.

There has been comparatively little public discussion of this issue; much of the consultation appears to be happening behind the scenes.

And much of the focus of discussion has been on the least important point - whether there should be separate legislation.

The key issues are the rules that will govern integrated schools. Stupid rules are stupid rules, whether buried in the Education Act or in a separate piece of legislation.

* Norman LaRocque is a policy adviser with the Business Roundtable and an adviser to the Education Forum.