The charter schools policy was released about 24 hours ago and we have had a deluge of stories on it, but most people have cherry-picked a few facts that support their initial position. Blog posts have been written by The Dim Post (and again), Kiwiblog, Offsetting Behaviour, Just Left, Teaching the Teacher, Keeping Stock, Not PC, Gordon Campbell (the most thoughtful) and Homepaddock. Media releases have been put out by NZEI, PPTA, the NZCTU, the NZ Teachers Council and the Maxim Institute. And there a few news stories but most of them simply connect up quotes from politicians and unionists – here’s one example.

In this first post, I want to explain what a charter school is, what ACT’s election policy did and didn’t contain, and start discussing the importance of context. In future posts, I’ll review the new policy and look at what we can pick up from international experiences, including relevant research. The series will continue over an extended period.

What is a Charter School?

A charter school can be whatever you like and people will inevitably point out that all schools in New Zealand have a charter. That said, there is reasonable agreement about what a charter school is in educational policy circles. The following para condenses a Wikipedia definition, according to my view of international usage of the term.

Charter schools receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school’s charter. Charter schools are opened and attended by choice. Where enrolment in a charter school is oversubscribed, admission is frequently allocated by lottery-based admissions systems. Some charter schools provide a curriculum that specializes in a certain field — e.g., arts, mathematics, or vocational training. Others attempt to provide a better and more efficient general education than nearby public schools. Some charter schools are founded by teachers, parents, or activists who feel restricted by traditional public schools – others are established by non-profit groups, universities, and some government entities or companies.

This wasn’t in ACT’s policy!

If you go to ACT’s website, you’ll find no direct mention of charter schools in the education policy (although they did mention school boards setting teacher pay directly and other deregulation), but it is in Don Brash’s campaign speech on education (alas, I read all the parties’ election policies and statements for my ED Insider site). I’ve excerpted some key sections below.

The third priority is to allow successful and established state schools such as Auckland Grammar, Epsom Girls, Rangitoto, McLeans, and Christchurch Boys’ to become Trust Schools. Such schools would be exempt from the usual constraints of Ministry management and given control over their own affairs.

…In addition, there should be no reason why educational entrepreneurs such as David Selfe, let’s call them edupreneurs, should not be able to set up completely new schools to attract government funding. These proposals may seem radical, but in fact the danger is not that New Zealand might stray too far from orthodoxy by adopting choice, competition and entrepreneurship in education. The real danger is that we will be left behind.

…Ladies and gentlemen, the ACT Party presents a clear choice on education this election. We can choose to continue with the status quo. We can choose to ensure that there is limited choice, limited innovation, and that only the few can access it. If that’s what you want, then any other party will deliver it.…It is a choice to be able to see your child’s share of the education funding go to the school that you choose… You needn’t pay twice, and those who can’t afford to pay once would have choice too.…It’s a choice to let successful schools manage themselves as trust schools. It’s a choice to let groups of innovative teachers set up new schools like Corelli and Tū Toa.

Now I’m sure some people will say that “charter schools” is not mentioned in the text above, but anyone familiar with schools policy issues would recognise that what Don Brash talked about could be characterised as charter schools according to the definition above. To be fair to those surprised by the policy, not many people paid much attention to Don Brash’s speeches J

Context Is Everything

Any educational initiative should be judged by the context in which it operates and that’s even more important when we start looking at international comparisons (the Teachers Council’s Peter Lind makes this point). When I talk about context in this series, I’ll refer a lot to the “regulatory framework”, which is shorthand for all of the policies around curriculum, staffing, facilities, student welfare and the many other areas where schools face regulation of some sort. It is crucial that we consider what will and won’t change in any charter school initiative, as it will impact upon results.

In the US, charter schools have often been a reaction to local education systems that can be maddeningly bureaucratic. In NZ, we wouldn’t put up with the “rubber rooms” of New York City, where teachers alleged to have done a bad job were required to turn up and…do nothing. The rubber rooms have since been removed but there are plenty of other stories of bureaucracy in the US – in such an environment, freeing up the regulatory framework to allow new charter schools to operate has been appealing to many people.

In New Zealand, we don’t have quite the same bureaucracy as in the US. We have quite a bit of devolution to local boards of trustees and our curriculum is quite open – there are no prescribed textbooks as in the US. We do have considerable central control over property and staffing, and those are areas where charter schools are likely to have greater freedom – more on that later.

Differences in the regulatory framework (both for general and for charter schools) lead to quite different charter schools. Over the coming months we’ll hear more about the systems in different US states, Sweden, the UK and elsewhere. We’ll also probably hear about existing legislation that allows for different types of schools to develop in New Zealand, like designated character schools or kura kaupapa Maori. In all those cases, we should be alert to the context, rather than just lauding or denigrating the results.

Let’s Not be Too Serious

The NZ Herald highlighted a reader comment that brings some light relief to a rather political topic: “It can’t hurt to try it out a little first. As long as we don’t end up with the ‘Woodstock Bourbon School For Boys’.”

1. Whanganui Fears Misplaced? A UCOL Whanganui grad and student (and couple) are worried that arts provision in the town will be downgraded by UCOL, but UCOL’s Whanganui head says there’s nothing to worry about.
2. Aoraki Cuts Decided Aoraki Poly will cut 11 courses and 11 positions next year across Dunedin (4), Oamaru (1), Ashburton (1), Christchurch (3) and Timaru (2) (ODT).
3. Parity of Esteem…is Stuart Middleton’s latest topic.
4. Extras: profile of Koru Institute of Training and Education; Wairarapa service academy; consent issues are holding up a Canterbury archive project.

Research & Innovation

1. Lost Chimneys Canterbury’s Prof Geoff Rice has written a book about Christchurch’s lost chimneys.
2. Growth Meeting The National Research Centre for Growth and Development is holding its annual symposium in Dunedin.
3. Spirituality Otago Uni’s Richard Egan et al have explored what spirituality means in healthcare.
4. Extras: postgrad conference at Waikato; Auckland’s Quentin Atkinson on primate evolution; Canterbury’s Mark Quigley received a communication award for quake comment.

Public Issues

1. Election Canterbury’s Ursula Cheer on the Banks-Key tape;
2. Zac Guilford Massey’s Steve Stannard proposes a fairly dopey link between Zac Guilford’s professional rugby career, alcohol sponsorship and his excessive drinking. He was hardly the only 22 year old to get far too drunk last weekend, but he was the only one famous enough to make the front page.
3. Horses Waikato’s Stuart Locke has a prescription to improve the equine industry.
4. Polynesian Union Auckland’s Steven Ratuva on a proposed Polynesian Union.
5. Extras: Victoria’s Stephen Burnell on employment prospects; Otago Uni’s Robert Patman on Syria; Otago Uni academic on pavlova; Auckland’s Kathleen Callaghan to appear at the Pike River inquiry; Otago Uni’s Andrew Geddis cited in the NZ Herald; CTU follows up on Massey’s nursing burnout research; Massey’s Micah Jensen looking after penguins; Otago Uni’s Robin Gauld on a new DHB CE; Auckland’s Rhema Vaithianathan on the “holiday highway”; Victoria’s Jonathan Boston on a public sector CE investigation.

Students

1. Google Earth Dunedin I like that Otago Poly has given its architectural draughting students a project to help fill the gap in Dunedin 3D buildings on Google Earth.
2. Tourism Awards ATTTO’s A+ awards were announced last week for their top trainees and Modern Apprentices (TIANZ, Mountain Scene).
3. Great Pathway A student has gone from a WINZ-funded YMCA course to Toi Whakaari/NZ Drama School – great story.
4. Cool Chair A Unitec student has created a pretty cool-looking chair that has won an award.
   
5. Op Shop Fashion Waiariki students created some pretty cool op shop fashion.
6. Boy Genius A high performing 17 year old is the feature of a recent documentary and started tertiary education at Te Wananga o Raukawa.
7. Extras: NMIT student on the ghost chips ad; students checking on water quality; end of year music show at UCOL; Whitireia to launch 2011 edition of literary journal;
   new app wins health and safety award at Otago Poly; Xterra athlete at Waikato; Dunedin student fires.

Stakeholders

1. Extras: crazy fun kids race at BOPP (SunLive); market day at NorthTec.

I’m very supportive of employer and union involvement on ITP councils (and I mean both groups, because there are talented people working on education in both unions and employer groups), as they can represent the end-users of vocational education. Of course, just being an employer or a union rep does not guarantee that the individual has the expertise or the support network to make an effective contribution to the Council. Much the same arguments apply as for CEO, staff and student reps.

The nominations to Councils are effectively made by Business NZ (and regional associations) and the CTU, although the ITP is only required to consult with them – the relationships varies, as does the consultation level. I’m not convinced that the CTU and Business NZ have made enough of their involvement over the last 20 years to justify their co-ordinating role. I’m not aware of any work done by Business NZ to support or coordinate their nominees. The CTU has, I understand, hosted some meetings of tertiary education institution (TEI) and industry training organisation (ITO) governing body reps, while I have spoken to a group of EPMU TEI/ITO reps (I hope I helped) - even so, I’m not sure they’ve committed large resources to making the most of their representation. People may argue that current nominees are skills-based appointments and do not need to be supported, but I’d respond that Business NZ and the CTU were given quite specific rights in the Council appointment process and they bore some responsibility to follow through on it to make it work.

The CTU was opposed to the ITP Council changes last year but I’m not aware whether they made a submission to the Education and Science Committee on the bill. Business NZ did make a submission, and did not object to losing their role in the appointment process - they did propose that the nominations process should be open and rigorous. Once the dust settles, I expect that few ITPs will designate employer (maybe 5-10) and union (maybe 5) rep roles on their new councils.

External roles are not just about employers and employees though. Councils could also add in professional bodies (Federated Farmers has a nominee at several ITPs) while they could co-opt anyone – local body politicians and iwi representatives were often given guaranteed roles in Council constitutions. I would expect that 16-20 ITPs will have Maori representatives on their Council under the new arrangements (reflecting the Treaty partnerships that they have developed over time – both ITPs and Maori have committed time to the relationships), but I wouldn’t expect to see any other local body or professional bodies having a specific role (other than farmer reps at Telford Rural Polytechnic, and maybe local body reps at SIT).

While constitutions are unlikely to specify many external roles, many of the new Council appointments will come from employer backgrounds, with quite a few union people (although maybe not one per ITP).