In New Zealand we pretend to address this situation through providing an Equity Index Number (it used to be “deciles”) to our school system. The schools with more “at risk” students through the issues mentioned above are, theoretically, provided with more funding to address that situation and bring about fairness and a ladder to success and social transformation.
I am always prepared to challenge people who I think are doing a poor job but … highlighting Wellington Girls College and Flaxmere College – below – has NONE of that aspect.
Wellington Girls College has an EQI of 374. What that means is that they have few students that the Ministry of Education would consider “at risk”. It also means that they get no marginal funding for that aspect. In terms of academics – WGC is NZ’s top achieving purely State School.
Flaxmere College has an EQI of 564. This is the highest in New Zealand and means that they have the most “at risk” students. They receive $262,720 of marginal funding for that aspect.
If that funding was genuinely effective – in a public school system that aims to lift all students – you would expect to see very similar results between the two schools.
Here is a comparison:
To be clear:
– To overcome situations for their students that are fully acknowledged as being deeply disadvantageous for their future outcomes – Flaxmere College receives a marginal funding boost of $262,720 (confirmed through an OIA).
– This is a 2.14% addition to the funding level any high school in NZ receives. A pittance!
– It works out at less that $5 per student per day.
– Schools such as WGC can ask for donations (e.g. $805) – which completely counters any extra funding for the Flaxmere’s of NZ. Auckland Grammar School has a donation of $1775 per year.
It is no wonder that New Zealand’s gaps for those that achieve and those who do not are the highest in the OECD.
The Minister of Education has no plan on this hugely important aspect of the present and future of our nation.
The Ministry of Education has as their purpose statement:
”To shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners.”
Has there ever been an entity in the Western World further from achieving their purpose? And yet they have – by and large – the same people in leadership as they had under the last government – and the same number of bureaucrats. The Minister has not even brought in a new Secretary of Education despite being 2 years into her term.
Schools are asked to be accountable. Teachers are asked to be accountable. The Minster and the Ministry … not so much.
Do we just sit back and accept this?
Alwyn Poole, a well-known figure in the New Zealand education system, he founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. This article was published HERE
I am always prepared to challenge people who I think are doing a poor job but … highlighting Wellington Girls College and Flaxmere College – below – has NONE of that aspect.
Wellington Girls College has an EQI of 374. What that means is that they have few students that the Ministry of Education would consider “at risk”. It also means that they get no marginal funding for that aspect. In terms of academics – WGC is NZ’s top achieving purely State School.
Flaxmere College has an EQI of 564. This is the highest in New Zealand and means that they have the most “at risk” students. They receive $262,720 of marginal funding for that aspect.
If that funding was genuinely effective – in a public school system that aims to lift all students – you would expect to see very similar results between the two schools.
Here is a comparison:
To be clear:
– To overcome situations for their students that are fully acknowledged as being deeply disadvantageous for their future outcomes – Flaxmere College receives a marginal funding boost of $262,720 (confirmed through an OIA).
– This is a 2.14% addition to the funding level any high school in NZ receives. A pittance!
– It works out at less that $5 per student per day.
– Schools such as WGC can ask for donations (e.g. $805) – which completely counters any extra funding for the Flaxmere’s of NZ. Auckland Grammar School has a donation of $1775 per year.
It is no wonder that New Zealand’s gaps for those that achieve and those who do not are the highest in the OECD.
The Minister of Education has no plan on this hugely important aspect of the present and future of our nation.
The Ministry of Education has as their purpose statement:
”To shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners.”
Has there ever been an entity in the Western World further from achieving their purpose? And yet they have – by and large – the same people in leadership as they had under the last government – and the same number of bureaucrats. The Minister has not even brought in a new Secretary of Education despite being 2 years into her term.
Schools are asked to be accountable. Teachers are asked to be accountable. The Minster and the Ministry … not so much.
Do we just sit back and accept this?
Alwyn Poole, a well-known figure in the New Zealand education system, he founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. This article was published HERE
3 comments:
Actually that’s $928 of extra govt (taxpayer) funding per student per year at flaxmere - which exceeds the “donation” amount requested of people already paying taxes by WGC.
Lucky that the WGC parents can handle the double dip into their wallets.
>"If that funding was genuinely effective – in a public school system that aims to lift all students – you would expect to see very similar results between the two schools."
The question is being begged here that the gap can be closed by throwing more money at it.
More important is the career-oriented pathways that the schools offer at the upper secondary level. So what that only 5% of Flaxmere leavers go to varsity? An emphasis on vocational pathways has been shown in numerous studies to incentivise lower-SES high school students, particularly those 'problem boys' who tend to drop out at a disproportionate rate. Gosh, they might even end up doing something useful, unlike so many varsity graduates!
Where vocational programmes involve transferring to techs after Year 12, the retention rate at school obviously drops - again, so what? - providing, of course, that those who left are continuing on a career track.
Vocational and technical education are the key to achieving positive outcomes for all in the education system. These need to be presented as viable alternatives to the academic track and not as consolation prizes. Germany showed the way starting way back in the 19thC. Quite a few have followed suit since.
If the Maori leaders were forward looking like their forebears a hundred years ago, they would be trying to encourage students to learn useful modern subjects to improve the chances of students like those at Flaxmere College. Instead they demand only excellence in things like kapa haka, Te reo and a Maori world view. Whether they like it or not, time marches on and one either accepts it and moves forward or gets left behind. As has been said, 'you can live IN the past OR live WITH the past' We have a choice to help the new generations, not to hinder them
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