Teacher unions attack charter schools

Email
Print

Teacher unions attack charter schools

3News NZ

The first charter schools are due to open at the beginning of 2014

The first charter schools are due to open at the beginning of 2014

Teacher unions are joining Opposition party criticism of the government's charter schools project.

Details of the proposed privately run schools were released on Thursday, revealing they will be able to use unregistered teachers, set their own school hours and terms, and work out their own curriculums.

The concept is promoted by the ACT Party and setting them up is part of its support agreement with the government.

Labour says they're a dangerous experiment and the Greens think they will erode the country's education system.

Ian Leckie, president of the primary teachers union NZEI, says charter schools are "a blatant attack on professional teaching" and parents should be worried.

"The Government seems prepared to use taxpayer money to fund business-owned schools run by unqualified principals and teachers," he said.

Principals Federation president Paul Drummond says using unregistered teachers defies logic and undermines the integrity of the profession.

"All the research is clear - it is quality teaching that makes the difference," he said on Radio New Zealand on Friday.

The first charter schools, due to open at the beginning of 2014, are planned for poor areas of Auckland and Christchurch.

ACT leader John Banks says they will work with low achieving children who aren't doing well at state schools.

The schools will have registered and unregistered teachers, and Mr Banks is defending the system.

"A retired professor of mathematics could go in and teach maths and physics at the school across the road from where he lives," he said.

NZN

Post a Comment

Before commenting, please take the time to read our moderation guide


(Won't be published)



Comments

7/08/2012 10:56:47 a.m.

smithy wrote:

@Mike, You a teacher, good luck being in a classroom. get in teh real world, would you let a builder build your house with no qualification, No had that problem, leaky buildings, would you let a plumber install an overn no. you need skills and qualifications to do certain jobs. And as for bringing in CHCH in your argument, it is just a way for the Govet to save money and not provide for those who have lost.

5/08/2012 8:53:43 p.m.

NC wrote:

"A retired professor of mathematics could go in and teach maths and physics at the school across the road from where he lives," he said. What a ridiculous statement. Because teaching high school maths is exactly the same as lecturing at a university?! The content knowledge might be there, but the skills to teach that content to teenagers might not, and that is a huge risk. Behaviour management and all the associated research, techniques, ethics, and other considerations is arguably one of the most important skills a teacher learns when they are training. You can't teach squat if the kids aren't listening/engaged. It is insulting to realize that the powers that be think that an untrained teacher will have the same if not better skill set, content knowledge, teaching theory, rapport with kids etc etc than me or any other trained teacher. I fully accept that there are very capable untrained adults out there, but is that a risk the govt is willing to make? People will say that all the teachers are just being too defensive, but try doing this to any other profession and see how ridiculous and insulting it is. Nurses, engineers, police, pilots, etc - should we start introducing untrained people in these professions?

5/08/2012 3:41:58 a.m.

marcus wrote:

This is an attempt by the government to deunionise the education system in NZ and will only force good quality teachers into offshore teaching positions.Sadly our children will suffer as a result and as a whole NZ will suffer as the inadquacies of these unqualified teachers will become exposed.Furthermore what is to prevent paedophiles applying for positions especially considering this will be based solely around the wages paid,not that National and ACT would care,after all these teachers will only be going into poorer schools.A footnote to this is even private schools in Epsom get government funding now so they too should have these teachers,if not cut their funding and base it on a user pays system.Bet you if they put these teachers into Epsom all hell would break loose for both parties and they'd back off smartly.

4/08/2012 8:16:24 p.m.

David wrote:

Can you imagine it.. groups like the Black power and Mongrel Mob can start their own strongarming schools... absolutely pathetic policy thats going to be abused like every other unsafe National Party policy brought in before including Whanau Ora.

4/08/2012 12:42:29 p.m.

Stephen Berry wrote:

This is all about the union trying to maintain its strangehold on those who teach, not about improving education.

4/08/2012 12:01:48 p.m.

Grant wrote:

We must remember that professional teachers have been failing our children.
All that university training, a vast library of books on teaching to draw on and the universities are producing teachers and ultimately, a curriculum diametrically opposed to the skills needed to survive as an adult.
To get registered, a teacher(if they can even get a full time job due to universities creating a teacher glut), has to spend two years being assessed by other teachers to ensure they conform to the current failing norms of the "profession".
I remember being told by the teacher that was assessing me that as a technology teacher I should stand at the front of the room, hand out materials and make sure no one hurt themselves. I had been going around the tables, sitting with my students and discussing the ramifications of the particular project ideas they had(the apprenticeship model).
Forcing teachers to obtain the stilted qualifications of a university has not worked. It has left us with teachers skilled only in producing future academics and failures. These teachers cannot use the apprenticeship model due to the limitations of their indoctrination through the academic industry. Society is now flooded with academics and failures.
Charter schools need a chance to prove themselves with quality teachers not academically qualified robots.

3/08/2012 8:05:28 p.m.

S wrote:

Parents need choice; right now there is none unless you pay and we are zoned out of lots of school zones - charter schools will give parents that!

3/08/2012 5:55:05 p.m.

eddie wrote:

@M
ACT (Banks) was actually voted into parliament...The greens have never been (Fitzimons back many years ago the only success)...but we have Anti Smacking laws now because of the greens, Bradford. Is that OK with you though as it's the left (greens small minority, back then)?

3/08/2012 5:50:12 p.m.

Cheryl wrote:

'DAVID' - no reads your post's as they are basically psychotic. You are obviously a mouthpeice for the Labour party so your comments are biased and basically ignorant of the facts. You are blinded by your corrupt socialist idealogies. Get some anger managagement claasses and some therapy. You are just so angry and jealous.

3/08/2012 4:32:45 p.m.

David wrote:

More failed experiements is all we are getting, look at what has happened to ACC under National. The question Mike cant, or refuses to answer is... why is National screwing with a system that was rated last year (before National had done anything at all in education) 2nd best in the entire world... universities are quickly sliding down the list because National has made them more elitest and these tables meaasure performance and quality. The sole reason is so that Business can make a profit... this wont help our children.. research internationally has shown this. Mike has no valid or valuable insights to offer us... he has National Party propaganda... and thats it. Mike in other posts on the site believes that women are to blame for their wage disparity, and gay marriage is wrong, and Maori's are a pain in the butt. But Mike being a high paid manager wants a slave labour workforce... wants women to be penalised for making babies, wants Maori sundued and kept quite in the corner. Mike is of course the typical redneck bigotted National Party fanatic. Nothing of value to offer a discussion except a parrotted version of National Party propaganda directly quoted from their press releases. Pathetic.