South Auckland principals have hit back at suggestions the schools calling for a halt to proposed NCEA changes are unpopular or not interested in quality education.
Papakura High School, Aorere College, and Manurewa High School all say they have a severe shortage of classrooms and are battling to find room for their students.
Aorere College and Manurewa High each have 100 students over capacity, showing how their local communities support them, they said.
The principals were among 122 school leaders from varying socio-economic areas who signed a public letter calling for proposed Year 11-13 curriculum changes to be halted until they were better planned.
By contrast, about 65 principals from largely wealthier areas signed an opposing letter calling for NCEA to be scrapped immediately.
Some of the latter principals appeared last week to suggest that scrapping NCEA was a sign of support for rigorous teaching standards.
They said this stance could be among possible reasons why their schools were popular with out-of-zone students at a time when other colleges had “empty rooms”.
However, Papakura High principal Simon Craggs called it a “fallacy” to suggest only schools wanting to scrap NCEA were full of students.
His school had grown about 30% in two years.
“Southside schools are just as chocker as central schools, but we aren’t getting any new classrooms to cope with the growth,” he said.
The NCEA spat has highlighted a split in New Zealand’s education sector about what is considered fair and equitable.
Many schools from wealthier areas have backed government proposals to scrap NCEA and replace it with a curriculum focused on mathematics, English and standardised grading.
They argued that creating more detailed instructions on how subjects must be taught would ensure students learned the same lessons and were consequently treated more evenly.
But schools calling for greater planning ahead of change said rushing could create a system overly tailored to students wanting to get into university.
It could also create rigid teaching that didn’t get the best from individual students, especially those with different needs or backgrounds, they argued.
Craggs said principals had different views on NCEA reform because they were representing the interests of their local communities.
This was not linked to which schools were full or not, given both his school and Manurewa High had more than 2000 students, he said.
Aorere College principal Leanne Webb said her school was so full it couldn’t accept out-of-zone students this year.
“We’re at 1800 students, we’re over capacity, we’ve got 100 on the waiting list, and we’ve turned away 200,” she said.
There was a “huge amount of kids” wanting to attend Aorere, she said.
“That could be because their parents came here or because they’ve got connections in the community, or it could be because the school is seen as being desirable – but we have to turn them away.”
Despite the squeeze, all three schools said they’d either had masterplan rebuilds or upgrades put on hold.
That happened after the new Government paused school builds across the country last year, while it launched an inquiry into costs.
The Government did give out $120 million in funding in July for new classrooms, but none was allocated to the three South Auckland schools.
It’s unclear if they’ll qualify for a further $100m over five years that was announced this week for “urgent and essential” infrastructure.
Manurewa High’s Pete Jones said his school was now about 11 classrooms short.
Webb said the longer her school waited for new buildings, the more pressure built.
“The fuller the school gets, the less flexibility you have to offer programmes, like technology or art – anything that requires a specialist room.”
She said Aorere had financial support from its local community and alumni.
But that was likely small compared with big inner-city schools, some of which have had decades of deep-pocketed alumni support and international student income.
That had generated income likely used to help build premier sports, arts and other facilities, she said.
Craggs suggested one way to address this imbalance was to put a special focus on big public schools.
In the same way that Auckland Council might centrally locate a community centre so residents could easily access it, big schools could become art and sport hubs, he said.
Papakura High – being next to a train station and in a zone earmarked for high-rise development and intensification – made sense as a potential hub for nearby smaller schools, he said.
That could allow elite cricket or rugby academies, swimming pools or theatres to be strategically built across the city in big schools.
It would not only create more elite opportunities in the suburbs but it would also boost community pride, he said.
Craggs did, however, caution that hubs needed to be thoughtfully planned and matched to communities.
Communities shouldn’t be unduly pigeon-holed, for instance, assuming a South Auckland school should be a vocational hub for the trades.
Webb also said a hub model would only work if the costs of travel for students from smaller schools were budgeted in.
“If you are just expecting kids to travel there on their own, then there’s difficulties with [the model],” she said.
The Government has proposed axing NCEA Level 1, with Year 11 students instead focusing on literacy and numeracy in a “Foundational Skills Award”.
Year 12s would then seek to obtain the New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) and Year 13s the NZ Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE).
The changes would kick in for Year 11s in 2028, with the same students then moving into the new senior qualifications in 2029 and 2030 as the first cohort.
Ben Leahy is a reporter for the New Zealand Herald.