Last week Hekia Parata tied herself up in knots trying to explain why neither she, nor any Minister in Cabinet, studied the actual list of schools that were going to lose teachers as a result of her change to teacher:pupil ratios. Despite a week of questioning in the House from my colleague Nanaia Mahuta and I, by the end of the week we were still none the wiser as to how many schools stood to lose more than 2 teachers, how many stood to gain teachers and so forth.
Today I pulled up a spreadsheet of every school in the country from the education counts website. A quick calculation of teacher numbers at each school based on the current teacher:pupil ratio and the new teacher:pupil ratio allowed me to get a very rough idea of the scale of the gains and loses schools might experience. I say rough because there are a few very important caveats:
- Enrolments will be different next year, so any analysis applying the old and new formulas to existing student numbers will naturally be indicative only
- There are currently some extra staffing entitlements for schools with less than 175 students in order to guarantee a maximum average class size of no more than 25 students. It’s unclear whether this ‘top-up’ teaching will continue. Expect more questions on this…
- Technology teaching for Years 7&8 is complicated because it presently goes directly to the technology provider (usually an intermediate school) whereas under the new formula it goes to the student’s actual school. This means a crude calculation like the one I’ve done can understate the loses for intermediate schools and overstate the loses for the schools who don’t directly deliver technology programmes.
With all of those caveats in place, there are still some pretty obvious conclusions that leap out:
- When ranking schools according to the number of teachers they stand to lose, almost all of the top 100 are intermediate schools
- Around 300 schools stand to lose more than one teacher as a result of the new ratios
- Fewer than 20 schools will gain more than 1 teacher, and those that do gain are more likely to be in wealthier areas (deciles 8-10)
It defies belief that the Minister of Education took this proposal to Cabinet, it was signed-off and made it all the way through the Budget process without the school-by-school impact being adequately considered. It didn’t take me long to do a very rough analysis, and I’m sure that with all their information and expertise the Minister’s officials could’ve produced her a far more accurate picture in no time.
This doesn’t just reflect poorly on Hekia Parata either. Where were all of the other Ministers when this went through Cabinet? Where was John Key? This was a big decision and it clearly didn’t get the level of scrutiny it should have.
Yay for you and Nanaia for going after her!
!!!!!!!!!!
These guys are whinging it.
I think the standard of education and discipline in schools was better 100 years ago.
How come Key never told voters about their plan for bigger classes and fewer teachers during the election? Turns out, according to Parata, they perfected the plan before the election but made the actual decision after the election. So no voter fraud there. Now the lazy MSM can move on to real news, like what Kate said to John and what John said to Harry.
Kate & William are coming to New Zealand Whoopee!!!
Now that is real news.
Note this sentence “Fewer than 20 schools will gain more than 1 teacher, and those that do gain are more likely to be in wealthier areas (deciles 8-10)”
Accidental or deliberate scratching of rich backs?
This article is just another of Labour’s side shows
Chris, I haven’t got time to look all through the website; what is the link to the spreadsheet?
I remember Goffs education policy last election. If teachers wanted to continue to go down the path of reform that the Nats had set out they were welcome to, and if they did not like them they could stop. In other words Labor had no policy except to allow Teacher Unions to do as they wish.
I do not think I have ever heard or seen such cowardice before and for this reason I beleive his thrashing was deserved. So come on Shearer show us yer policy
@ Jack, yep, it turns out she mentioned to Key in a private conversation that she would like to come here sometime, so Key ran from the room looking for his publicist Tracy, who did her job beautifully. Word has it she wants to visit a school when down here, but somehow John didn’t mention that to Tracy.
@waynewhatever
There are a lot of attempted side shows on this post and they are in the comments section.
Class size set at 27 is a great idea. To be equitable it must be across the board – private schools must comply and have class sizes of 27 as well. This only seems fair.
I know John Key likes smaller class sizes but I’m sure he is all for equity.
What is notable about this whole debate, inside, and outside parliament, is the utter paucity of any meaningful argument in favor of the policy being promoted….
so far, we have been treated to personal abuse, sarcastic sneering, surprisingly weak attempts to misdirect, and, at best, deliberate obfuscation….
It seems the apologist cadre is bereft of any real argument(which looks rather obvious), and have started showing symptoms of stress reaction, due to the repeated need to defend what have been, in any true democracy, utterly indefensible positions taken by the pseudo government occupying the treasury benches, temporarily…
It can now be stated without fear of meaningful counter, that the only growth this excuse for leadership will encourage is the numbers of people given no choice but to go elsewhere to pursue any kind of meaningful career….
These are the people we needed to keep,if the innovation that has underpinned our development ever since the first real democratic government,in the 1930′s, established the level playing field that allowed those who didn’t have the advantage of wealthy, titled parents, or the benefit of coming from the privileged position of having been gifted stolen land…to contribute their talents, and clever ideas…
Another three, or four years of this insanity and we won’t be in a position to do anything to stop the rot without employing “heavyhanded” methods of gaining back our ability to forge ahead in any meaningful way…
Look at the bright side… At least those still here will receive an invaluable lesson on how life was in europe during the fascist heyday…..
Now THAT would be an education!!
They had to back down, brilliant stuff, nice to see that people power , for want of a better term works.
so, will Parata get an “F” on her score card from Key ??
I would have thought that improving teacher productivity would be better than lowering teacher student ratio.
Why don’t they give every teacher better access to technology. That must be better than increasing teacher numbers?