Govt proposes big school changes

The Government is considering giving schools discretionary power to decide their opening hours, and putting one principal in charge of several schools.

The proposals were contained in a document given to unions, principals and education sector representatives at a ministerial cross-sector forum on raising levels of student achievement held in May.

It was also proposed at the forum that schools could own and operate early childhood centres and out-of-school care services.

This followed on from last year’s Taskforce on Regulation as Affecting School Performance, and said education legislation was not clear about what the education system was trying to achieve.

The document distributed at the consultation forum suggested:

Giving schools greater flexibility to provide early childhood education.

Giving schools greater flexi- bility to set their minimum opening hours.

Letting principals be in charge of more than one school.

Extending the National Student Number to support student participation in digital environments.

Schools must be open for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, which cannot be changed without permission from Education Minister Hekia Parata.

Under the Education Act, schools sharing a board were allowed to share a principal, but the law was unclear in the case of schools having separate boards.

Secondary Principals Association president Sandy Pasley told RNZ’s Morning Report while the proposals would give schools more flexibility, she doubted many secondary schools would want to share a principal. She said she could see the benefit for country areas that had small schools and could share administration.