Category: PPTA

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

Jeremy began his teaching career in the lowest performing public high school in the district of a large city in the United States.

At the time – in 2012 – and still now, this city had one of the largest proportions of homeless students with about nine percent either homeless or rough sleepers. “That’s really quite staggering and a really important context for how we were affected by the charter school.

Unfair comparisions
“One of the issues that we were up against is that we in the public school were often being compared to those in the charter school in terms of test scores, general achievement levels, things of that nature. One of the arguments that was used was that students going to this particular public high school were being pooled from the same neighbourhood as those going to the charter school so theoretically it’s the same pool of kids.

“So they were trying to say it must be something happening with our school or our teachers that’s causing the disparity in the outcomes – because it’s the same students. That’s the kind of soundbite that’s really easy to repeat in meetings and it just got repeated as a mattter of fact.

“No, it is not the same pool of students, it was not a case of equal input leading to inequal output – there were a lot of mitigating factors that put us in the public school in a very different circumstance than those in the charter school.”

Automatic filtering
As part of its application system, the charter school required applicants to have an address for receiving mail. “That’s going to automatically filter out those students who don’t have consistent addresses or are completely homeless or living in shelters or are rough sleepers. When you think about it, the students who are going to need the most support, the students who are more likely to have lower levels of achievement and academic success, it’s going to be these students – you can’t do your English essay if you’re not sure where you’re going to sleep that night.”

Jeremy said his school also had services and facilities, such as a teen mothers’ unit,  that provided for students with more diverse needs.

“We were also the district centre for special learning needs so students who had mobility issues or special learning needs, or who needed additional support, were going to opt out of the charter school because they knew it didn’t have the resources available.

Students with greater needs excluded

“So whether intentional or not, it became a system where the students who needed greater support, who were less likely to achieve, who needed more individualised focus – they were taken out of the charter system entirely. So it almost became a case of by default that  the students who were more likely to succeed, the students who had more stable backgrounds or fewer needs to support their learning or their academic success  – those were the ones who were able to go to the charter school. It was one hundred percent not a level playing field. Whereas the whole idea of a public educaton is that it is, or at least it aspires to be, an equal playing field for every child.”

Charter schools not the fix
Jeremy has concerns about the possibility, with charter schools this time around in New Zealand, of state schools that are deemed to be ‘failing’ being forced to convert to a charter school. “My issue with this comes from treating the charter system as a guaranteed ‘fix by default’ where really what we should be looking at is if a school is deemed to be failing, whatever the criteria, what specifically is not happening?

“You can provide support and solutions without needing to exacerbate this two-tiered system which I think would lead to further inequities in our education landscape here in New Zealand. Do they need smaller classes? Let’s see what we can do to give the school the resources and support to decrease their class sizes.

“Are some teachers not equipped to handle some of the new challenges coming through? Well then where is the PLD and the resources from the Ministry to help those teachers to upskill? 

“There are many other approaches that could be employed without switching to a charter system in which, by looking at how other countries have been impacted by them, we see that the benefits don’t outweigh the costs and drawbacks.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“Currently, assessing outputs is a measure of learning. Learning needs time and effort. Outputs need time and effort. AI breaks that relationship so outputs are fast and easy. All of the training we’ve done in how to do research –  AI now does it for us and it is doing it well.”

Simon McCallum encouraged teachers to think about whether they were teaching classical musicians or DJs. “Is what we are teaching on the pathway to students’ careers or what those careers used to be?

Fluid intelligence prime objective

“The quality of an education is measured not by how much you know, but on how fast you can learn. We need to change education to focus on adaptability and learning, rather than memorisation and compliance. Fluid intelligence becomes our prime objective.”

He has observed students using AI and says there are three distinct groups. “There seems to be one group who are using it a lot to avoid learning. They are replacing the effort to learn with the effort to work out how to get AI to do the task they have been asked to do. There is another group who are not using AI because they have been told not to. Then there is another group who are using AI a lot and in interesting ways. They are not using it to replace themselves, they are using it to augment themselves.So when we assess them they are moving much much faster because they are building their learning on top of AI.”

AI coming for all activities

Simon McCallum says AI has been coming for a while but society is not ready for it. “Change is now constant and the rate of change is acclerating. If AI is a five times multiplier then only 20  percent of companies need to adopt it to change an industry.”

AI is not just language models – it is  coming for all our activities. Rabbit AI for instance trains a model to do actions for you. Alpha Geometry, developed by Google subsidary DeepMInd, can solve hard problems in Euclidean geometry. It achieved a silver medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad.

Hold close to human connections

Humanoid robots, developed by Tesla, were beginning to look more human, could take instructions in English, acted autonomously, and moved in a disturbingly human way.

“We are going to have to hold close what we value, such as strong human connections.”

Dr McCallum is currently employed by Victoria University of Wellington, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Central Queensland University, winning teaching awards in both NZ and Norway. He has 25 years’ experience lecturing in Computer Science, AI and Computer Game Development.

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“The last two scheduled meetings of the Curriculum Voices group – a group of key stakeholder representatives for guidance and feedback on changes to the national curriculum – have been cancelled with no reason given. The Professional Advisory Group to the Minister on NCEA, a representative group of extremely experienced teachers and principals, has been disbanded with new members to be selected by the Minister.

“We also understand that the Ministerial Advisory Group, set up by the Minister late last year to advise her on Mathematics and English curriculum learning areas, literacy and the draft Common Practice Model, has completed its work. However, there has been no consultation on the group’s report and it hasn’t been released publicly.”

Chris Abercrombie said subject associations, whose members dedicate huge amounts of time and effort to work on the national curriculum, are not being consulted on what is happening or planned. “When they have expressed concerns to the Minister, they are not even being acknowledged, let alone given a response.  

“I was deeply disappointed and concerned that the first time the president of the NZ Association of Teachers of English learned there was a group rewriting the English curriculum was when she was contacted by the media. For a Minister who claims to have great admiration and respect for teachers, choosing not to consult with the head of English subject specialist teachers about such a critical development, speaks volumes. If this is how the Minister intends to treat the sector, we are in for some torrid times.

“We have checked with other subject associations to see if they have been contacted about their curriculum rewrites and they have not – notably Mathematics, another subject that was under the scope of the Ministerial Advisory Group.

“Secondary teachers are passionate about their subjects, how they teach those subjects, and emerging effective practice in their fields. We are extremely concerned that if the Minister shuts teachers out of the change process, she risks being misled by people who hold views about education that are very much on the fringe and not representative of national or international effective practice.

“We have serious concerns about the ability of some of these people to provide sound advice on national curriculum matters. They do not have recent teaching experience and they represent a tiny minority of conservative educationalists who want to take schools back to the last century, rather than equipping them to meet the educational needs of current and future generations.

“Not releasing the report of her Ministerial Advisory Group risks the Minister being misled about current teaching practices in secondary schools and the strength of the evidence for what is being put in front of her.  We call on the Minister to have the courage of her convictions and publicly release the report.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“We were promised  a lot by the Minister and our expectations were pretty high in terms of more funding, for example, for schools’ operation grants and professional learning and development for secondary teachers.  That has not eventuated. Increases to school operations grants, for instance, are below inflation, leaving them worse off in real terms.

“For a government that claims that one of its top priorities is education, today’s Budget is a big let down – particularly in the face of significant roll increases due to increases in immigration. 

“The highlight of the Education announcements is property, which is necessary, but it is people who are the most important investment in education.”

“There is nothing significant for improving school attendance when we have significant work to do to re-engage students who have not attended school regularly as a result of COVID.” 

“Teachers need professional learning and development to ensure they can be culturally responsive in their teaching and develop the use of te reo and tikanga Māori. Schools can’t do this on their own, the government needs to support them to meet their obligations under Te Tiriti.”

Chris Abercrombie said the Budget further demonstrated that Aotearoa New Zealand cannot afford charter schools. “Funnelling $153 million into an unproven experiment at a time when the government cannot even ensure that schools’ operations grants can keep up with inflation is irresponsbile – and immoral.

“Despite the Minister promising that funding will be the same for charter schools as state schools, the budget announcement that charter schools will have access to the funding for period products in schools shows that this is false.

“Kiwi Mums and Dads expect their hard earned tax to be spent on ensuring their children receive a quality education at their local school. The vast majority of Kiwi parents send their children to state schools and would far prefer that they be funded and resourced fully rather than setting up a separate system, funded by taxpayers, but are neither required to teach the national curriculum nor hire only registered and trained teachers.

“The Finance Minister and Prime Minister both promised a Budget dedicated to more funding for frontline services – secondary schools are one of the key frontline services in our country and we have been let down badly today.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

The performance measures, objectives and key accountabilities, curriculum performance standards and minimum number of roles to be held by qualified teachers will all be contained in charter schools’ contracts which are not required to be available to school communities or the public.

 “The lack of transparency is extremely concerning,” says Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president. “Charter schools will not be covered by the Official Information Act like state schools are, there are no rights for any ongoing community representation as part of the governance. Once a school becomes a charter school it’s a massive black hole.”

 State schools are required to consult with their communities to develop their school’s annual report, strategic plan and annual implementation plan. These documents all must be publicly available and show how boards will meet the objectives set out in the Education and Training Act 2020. Community representation, through the school board, is mandatory.

 There will be no requirements for new charter schools to consult with impacted or interested parties – such as nearby local schools. It appears they won’t have to consult on the health curriculum, and it is unclear if they will have to publish attendance data.

“Most concerning of all is that the Minister of Education will have the power to direct local schools to enter the conversion process for being a charter school based on ‘government priorities’ or ‘based on state school performance’. This direction can happen without any input from the school board, the teachers, or the community.

 “This is a completely unjustified overreach of Ministerial power, when there are already proven interventions that can be made in the state system to support schools, such as engaging a specialist advisor to the board.

 “We know from the last failed attempt that charter schools are unaccountable and the Minister’s own officials conclude ‘it was unclear if the model had an impact on the academic achievement for specific learner groups’. 

 “Communities and school boards need to be very wary of what they are being sold. Instead of putting money into secret deals for charter schools, the Government needs to put taxpayers’ money where it belongs –supporting the diverse range of public schools already available for New Zealand rangatahi.”

List of provisions to be provided in secret contracts rather than legislation: 

• Education performance measures
• Objectives and key accountabilities
• Curriculum performance standards
• Minimum number of specified roles to be held by qualified teachers
• Distance education requirements
• Performance outcomes, measures and targets
• Areas of non-performance requiring escalated interventions
• Triggers for interventions
• Property maintenance rates for parents
• Requirements for complaints and independent review process
• Transition process for converting schools
• Tolls and data used to measure each performance outcome area
• Reporting requirements
• Curriculum
• Qualifications offered
• Provisions for termination of contract
• Provisions for renewal of contract
• Hours and dates students required to attend
• Requirement to participate in national and international studies
• Performance information and frequency
• Person or body responsible for independent review of complaints
• Intervals at which to inform parents of student progress
• Progress updates on implementation plan
• Location and premises
• Transport for students

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

Pouring $153 million of public money into charter schools when New Zealand’s state schools are already full of innovation and opportunity, is wasteful, says Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president. 

 “Talk to any principal or teacher and they will be able to tell you about initiatives that they are desperate for funding for, to meet the needs of the students in their schools, whether that is supporting attendance initiatives, learning support, food in schools, relationships and participation with the local community –  the list goes on.  

 “When charter schools were introduced under the last National-ACT coalition there was no evidence that they improved educational outcomes despite funding each student at least six times more than state school students. There remains no compelling evidence that charter schools can achieve the claims being made of them by the Associate Minster for Charter Schools.  The fact that all but one former charter school have been re-integrated into the public school system shows there was no need for them in the first place.  

 “At the very time where every cent of public money is being scrutinised, it is unbelievable that hundreds of millions of dollars are being poured into charter schools with no accountability to the public or their local communities.” 

 Chris Abercrombie said evidence from the UK charter school / academy experiment overwhelmingly showed there are no better educational outcomes for kids.  It also showed that local autonomy and decision making had been completely removed. “Communities will rightfully be dismayed by the thought of their local school being converted without any accountability or agreement of the community required. 

 Chris Abercrombie said today’s announcement contained no details of what professional support would be available for teachers in schools that converted to charter schools. “The idea of teaching in a school with no requirement to teach the curriculum, with no access to centralised professional learning and development or assessment support and alongside unqualified teachers will not be an attractive option.” 

 He said Mr Seymour’s statement about charter schools being able to help students engage with learning differently was gobsmacking, given the evidence that exactly these students are rejected by overseas charter schools in order to meet their targets. “Nor has Mr Seymour explained what happens to the children if a charter school is closed or how the disruption to their education is managed.  

 “Teachers, students and communities are becoming increasingly confused about exactly what this Government’s policies are in the education space – it’s going in all directions at the ideological whim of the various parties. Mr Seymour’s announcement today does not give us any confidence or clarity that this Government has a clear direction for education.  Our students deserve much better.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“Ensuring that one of kids’ most basic needs – to be fed properly – is met each day at school  gives them a much better chance of being able to learn and achieve. We’re particularly pleased that the programme will continue in its current form for the rest of this year – schools will be breathing a sigh of relief.”

Chris Abercrombie said it was surprising that the Government was taking two years to review the lunch programme.  “This Government has been extremely critical of other governments for being slow with reviews and initiatives – two years seems a very long amount of time for this particular review.

“Schools need certainty and work should be focused on expansion of the programme – the more children and young people who can be guaranteed lunch each day, the better.”

Chris Abercrombie said teachers were concerned the new bulk purchasing system could reduce schools’ ability to respond to the particular needs of their communities. “We will have to see how it rolls out but it’s really important that meeting students’ needs continues to be at the heart of Ka Ora Ka Ako.”

“The best way to make sure there’s no waste is to make sure the food is what kids want to eat. Schools that make their lunches in-house are the ones that report the highest level of satisfaction with the programme and we don’t want that to be lost.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president, said outside of collective agreement negotiations paid union meetings were held when there were government proposals that would affect members, the teaching profession, schools or ākonga.

“The focus of these meetings will be how we as a profession respond to the Government’s proposals to channel money out of public education and into charter schools, and how we as a union will continue to develop our constitutional objective to affirm and advance Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

“There has been a glaring lack of consultation and information, from both the Ministry and the Ministers of Education on how charter schools will work, despite repeated requests for details through official information requests and face-to-face meetings.

“Charter schools were a hugely expensive and unproven experiment, when they were last introduced back in 2014. Funded totally by public money, they can be run by whoever wants to run them, they are not required to be transparent or accountable, they can use untrained and unqualified staff as teachers and they’re not required to teach the national curriculum. The fact that all the charter schools – bar one – were able to be reintegrated successfully back into the state school system demonstrates there was no need for them in the first place.

“We are seriously concerned this time around about existing schools being converted to charter schools. There are signficiant implications for children and young people’s access to their local school, teachers’ terms and conditions of work, redundancy costs, property issues and much more. Every school community has a right to know what is being planned.”

Chris Abercrombie said teachers were also concerned about the effect of Government policies and decisions on Māori student achievement, and its responsibilities under Te Tiriti.

“We are concerned that some of the Government’s policies are undermining the great work that has been done in schools towards improving educational outcomes for ākonga Māori.

“We cannot stand by while that work is unravelled and we cannot stand by while local schools are privatised.”

The meetings will be held during the fortnight from Monday 13 May to Friday 24 May.

PPTA Te Wehengarua paid union meeting schedule

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

Pay equity is about ensuring the same pay for work requiring similar levels of skills and responsibilities.

Chris Abercrombie says there has been a lot of great progress made with pay equity over the last few years, including for large groups of workers such as aged care workers and nurses.

Disbanding the taskforce would make it more difficult for workers to raise pay equity claims, and for the claims currently in progress to reach completion. One of these is the teachers’ pay equity claim, covering more than 90,000 workers across the education sector – from early childhood through to secondary, including English language and Māori language schools and kura. The teachers’ pay equity claim is currently in the assessment phase, where data is being analysed and comparators are being sought.

“If the Minister genuinely believes that government agencies can take on the taskforce’s work, given the significant cuts to their organisations, she is dreaming. We understand proposed cuts at the Ministry of Education, for example, will reduce their ability to continue the pay equity work they have been doing already – let alone take on more responsiblities.”

“The taskforce has made a huge contribution towards addressing the unfair practice of paying feminised professions less because of a historical undervaluing of the work that women do. We were beginning to see the putting right of serious imbalances in how people were paid based simply on their gender.

“The axing of the taskforce will also leave a serious gap in knowledge, experience and support for employers, Ministers and communities.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“As the report notes, last year’s events were very stressful for everyone involved, especially the students. It is reasonable to expect fast lessons will have been learned and steps taken to make sure the technology and related systems work without issue this year. Whatever it takes to restore our trust in the system, it must be done.”

“An explanation of the drivers for why digital exams should be relied on as opposed to traditional hard copies is important for students, parents and schools to see and understand. A world class assessment system is not cheap and the investment needs are great both within NZQA and within schools.”

Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president, said teachers welcomed the review’s recommendations to provide more support for principal’s nominees in schools. Principal’s nominees are individual teachers in each school who are the key liaison between the schools and the Qualifications Authority and have overall responsibility for the running of exams in their school.

“We are really proud of how all the principal’s nominees responded to the problems with exams last year. They did amazing work under intense pressure, stepping up to ensure that those students affected were assisted as quickly and effectively as possible.”

Chris Abercrombie reiterated the call for more funding for the Qualifications Authority to ensure it had all the systems and safeguards in place for future exams. “We can have either good assessment or cheap assessment – we can’t have both.”