Rebel schools: We won't set standards

Photo / APN

More than 200 schools are refusing to introduce part of the Government's mandatory national standards next year after voting "no confidence" in the system.

Boards of trustees of at least 225 schools - out of a national total of 2018 - say it is time to take action against the standards, which they say are "flawed, confusing and unworkable" and need to be completely reviewed.

Schools have received a letter from the Secretary for Education, Karen Sewell, outlining their requirements to incorporate national standards into their charters for next year.

One of those requirements is to set student achievement targets - an estimate of how many students a school thinks will meet the standards in reading, writing and maths by the end of the year.

They would then report to the ministry the following year on whether they met those targets.

But, in a show of protest, the 225 boards have decided to defer setting those targets - which are meant to be sent to the Ministry in February - until the system is completely revised.

The chairwoman of Wellington's Island Bay School board of trustees, Jane Forrest, said the boards were taking a stand because it was the right thing for the children.

"As representatives of our parent communities, we are joining our principals and teachers to say that national standards are fundamentally flawed, confusing and unworkable and we have no confidence in them.

"We will defer setting achievement targets based on national standards until these concerns are addressed."

The schools would instead continue setting targets using the "reliable, trusted, standardised assessment tools" they have been using for many years.

Some of the boards plan to take their protest a step further by refusing to implement any part of the national standards system.

This stance has brought official warnings that boards which refuse to follow the national standard requirements are breaking the law and could be sacked and replaced by a commissioner.

Balmoral School, in Auckland, is one of the schools which says it will not implement any part of the standards.

Board chairman Simon Mitchell said the issue was not about having standards, as most schools already did, but that national standards would not help underachievers and would instead result in children who did not meet the required level being labelled failures.

He said the threat of being replaced by a commissioner was concerning, but it was a risk the board was willing to take.

"We will just have to work through anything that arises in relation to that."

Acting Education Minister Tony Ryall said schools were legally required to implement the national standards policy, which included setting targets.

It was disappointing that some children's education might suffer because of action being taken by some boards of trustees.

"This is a political action by what appears to be less than ten per cent of schools, which will upset parents and communities," he said.

"Children should not be used in a political argument with the Government."

Education Minister Anne Tolley, who is overseas, has said the Government had a range of statutory interventions it could take if boards did not comply, but they were "very much a last resort".

School Trustees Association president Lorraine Kerr said she was "sad and disappointed" at the actions of the boards, some of which were members of the association.

She said boards were crown entities and therefore public servants who were expected to comply with Government legislation - which meant they had to implement national standards whether they liked it or not.

Those that did not would be in breach of their responsibilities.

"There is every possibility that they could be replaced by a commissioner for not delivering on student achievement targets," she said. "It's really sad.

"If there are 225 school boards who are going to do this ... then you would wonder why they stood to be on boards."

Frances Nelson, the president of the NZ Educational Institute which has campaigned against national standards saying it should have been trialled first, said the group's actions added weight to the opposition that was already there.

"We keep hearing that principals should just be quiet and get on with it and teachers should be quiet and get on with it," she said.

"Now we have got boards who are saying, 'we are not convinced'."

She believed the rebel boards were "just the tip of the iceberg" and that other boards that would soon join in the protest.

NATIONAL STANDARDS

For

"This Government is determined to lift achievement for all children, and we can't continue to allow up to one in five children to leave school without the basic reading, writing and maths skills that they need."

- Acting Education Minister Tony Ryall

Against

"National standards are fundamentally flawed, confusing and unworkable and we have no confidence in them."

- Island Bay School board of trustees chairwoman Jane Forrest