New charter schools demonstrate a scourge of ideology

New charter schools demonstrate a scourge of ideology over evidence

The announcement of four new charter schools has New Zealand’s secondary teachers shaking their heads in bewilderment.

PPTA president, Jack Boyle says, “The evidence is crystal clear, charter schools are failing our children. How on earth can the government justify allowing more of them? There’s a name for doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result…”

These new charter schools in central and south Auckland, Gisborne and Christchurch will affect all the school communities around them by taking money, teachers and children away from local schools.

“Opening charter schools is not going to raise the achievement of our children. It’s not going to close any gaps. It’s not going to level any playing fields. The only thing charter schools do successfully is reward mediocrity by using scarce education money to prop up private owners.”

Figures recently released by the Ministry of Education show that only 59.7 percent of charter school leavers left with NCEA level 2 or above in 2016. This compares to a system-wide figure of 80.3 percent across all schools within the system in 2016.

“Some might ask what an out-of-touch under-secretary from Epsom might stand to gain from an announcement like this so close to a general election. We couldn’t possibly comment.” Boyle says.

ENDS

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