School on tenterhooks

It is now a waiting game for Hamilton’s only charter school, Te Ko¯ puku High.

The school had a visit from the Ministry of Education last week after recent mixed messages over the future of all charter schools around the country.

And while it’s currently business as usual for students and teachers, it’s an uncertain time for charter schools.

‘‘I’m worried that the students will be asked to go back to the very system that didn’t cater for them in the first place,’’ Te Ko¯ puku High chief operations officer Hemi Rau said.

‘‘Everyone’s worried. ‘‘We’re worried about the impact that it’s going to have on our students.’’

The Government introduced a bill to scrap charter schools and national standards.

However, in early February, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said charter school operators wanting to be involved in education could apply to establish another form of school, such as a designated character school.

The bill includes provision for existing charter schools to operate under their contracts while the ministry discusses options, including in the state system, on a caseby-case basis.

Hipkins said the Government went into the last election saying it would remove the charter school model.

‘‘We have been opposed to it from the beginning.

‘‘Charter schools have fewer checks and balances than other schools. They do not have to employ registered teachers, so there is no monitoring of the quality of teaching, and they do not have to teach the NZ curriculum, which means students can be disadvantaged.

‘‘But for those schools already operating, such as Te Ko¯puku High, we are, in the interests of the students and their families, very keen for them to work with the Ministry of Education and transition to a new type of school within the state system or as a private school.’’

Rau believes it comes down to the partnership model.

The concept of the model is an opportunity for communities, iwi, philanthropists and business organisations to partner with educators to raise achievement for disadvantaged students.

Charter schools have more freedom with regard to school organisation, employment arrangements, curriculum and teaching methods and practices.

Rau said when the ministry visited last week, he asked: ‘‘What is it about the partnership model you don’t like?

‘‘And they couldn’t answer the question,’’ he said.

Some of the criticisms are that charter schools have unqualified teachers, don’t follow the national curriculum and get more money than public schools, Rau explained.

‘‘All of our teachers are qualified, we follow a national curriculum with both our schools – bilingual, English and Ma¯ ori – and we’re actually underfunded on a per-capita base.’’

The school opened in 2017 with a roll of 110 students between Years 7 and 9, and this year has Years 7 to 10 – with plans to increase year by year to Year 13.

There is one teacher – they are called learning facilitators and learning coaches – for every 11 students.

At the start of last year, the students were tested under national standards and found 70 per cent were underperforming.

Rau said within two terms, the students’ results had improved by 20 percentage points.