Radical education shakeup proposed

WELLINGTON: A task force is proposing the biggest shakeup in the education system for 30 years, removing most of the powers held by school boards of trustees.

The task force, led by former principal Bali Haque, proposes about 20 new regional education boards, or ‘‘hubs’’, to ‘‘assume all the legal responsibilities and liabilities currently held by school boards of trustees’’.

It says competition between schools under the freemarket system known since 1989 as Tomorrow’s Schools has led to a flight of pupils from poorer schools. To fix this, the proposed hubs would manage school zoning and funding, employ teachers and principals and take over the process when any student is suspended, removing a principal’s power to expel students.

The role of boards of trustees would be reduced to ‘‘providing advice to the principal’’ on the school’s curriculum and other issues, working with the education hub on the school’s strategic and annual plans and having a role in appointing the principal.

Other recommendations include:

Abolishing intermediate schools, creating either junior colleges (years 710) and senior colleges (years 1113) or full prim ary schools (years 18) and secondary schools (years 913).

Replacing the decilebased funding system with a new system based on the numbers of students with recognised learning disadvantages in each school and doubling the disadvantagebased funding from 3% to 6% of total funding.

Putting an upper limit on school ‘‘donations’’.

Doubling management funding for primary schools so that they are funded on the same basis as secondary schools. Abolishing the Education Review Office and the NZ Qualifications Authority, allocating their functions to the hubs, the Ministry of Education and a proposed new Education Evaluation Office.

The task force says the current system has one of the world’s widest gaps between high and lowachieving students and ‘‘does not work for too many students’’. It sees competition as the root of the problem and proposes the hubs to create ‘‘a system that supports interdependence and collective responsibility between all of its parts’’. Each hub would take control of an average of 125 schools. The hubs would replace the Ministry of Education’s regional offices and their boards of directors would be appointed by the education minister.

They would appoint school principalsand ‘‘be the legal employer of teachers/kaiako, but principals/tumuaki would appoint and performance manage all their staff within national guidelines with advice and guidance from the education hub if required’’.

The task force says spending six years in primary school, two years in intermediate and five years in high school is unnecessarily disruptive. All intermediate school principals it spoke to agreed ‘‘that a longer period of ‘middle schooling’ would provide greater stability for their students’’.

Creating junior colleges for years 710 would leave senior colleges for the last three years of schooling, which could have more ‘‘relaxed’’ rules.

However, some regions would be too small to make junior and senior colleges viable, so some hubs might choose to keep full primary and secondary schools or area schools.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the proposals would be open for public submissions until April 7.

An online survey will be launched in January and regional hui will take place in February and March. The task force will report back on April 30. — NZME