Our education system is our antidote to unequal wealth. We expect our tax-funded schools to iron out the disadvantages of children from low-income households and give every child a chance to leave school well equipped for life and earn a good living.
For most of our poorest children, the systemsucceeds, but for nearly a quarter of those in low-decile schools, it does not. They leave with no qualifications. They are the "long tail" on charts of the population's educational achievements.
Policy-makers have agonised over the long tail for 25 years or more, and improvement has been minimal. The gap between low and high-decile schools' pass rates at NCEA level 2 has reduced from 30 per cent to 25 since 2009. The gap remains 30 per cent at level 3. Just 17 per cent of those in low-decile schools received University Entrance, compared with 60 per cent from the high deciles.
The long tail persists despite more than 80 policy initiatives aimed at these pupils since the millennium. Current Education Minister Hekia Parata says she takes heart from research that suggests only 18 per cent of the differences in student achievement are socio-economic.
She quotes an OECD study that found differences mainly result from quality of teaching, pupils' expectations, school leadership and the relationship between parents and teachers.
The Government is promoting an idea to improve the quality of teaching and school leadership by encouraging clusters, or communities, of schools to share skills and the influence of good leaders. Fine, dedicated teachers and principals in schools of all deciles and those in the areas of lowest incomes will have to work harder than those in wealthier places.
Teachers' pay should contain a decile element to encourage them to stay where they are most needed. Decile funding, too, should be more heavily weighted to compensate for the private fundraising that makes high-decile schools better off.
Nobody should deny the children of the poor all the help they deserve.
