Alwyn Poole
alwynpoole.substack.com
Alwyn Poole founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. MH Academy is now an in person private school for Years 11 – 13. There is now a nationwide online provision called Mt Hobson Academy Connected for Years 1 – 13.
New Zealand is a small and distant nation by world measures. We also rate very poorly in education given our diminutive size and high relative wealth. While we were once regarded as “world-leading”, the most recent measures (PISA 2019) have us 7th for Science, 8th for Reading and an abysmal 22nd for Math. Other concerns were:
“an alarming rise in bullying, gaps between high and low achievers, drastically deteriorating attitudes toward reading, a rise in truancy, poor learning environments and a negative attitude toward school.”
stuff.co.nz/national/education/117890945/new-zealand-topend-in-oecds-latest-pisa-report-but-drop-in-achievements-worrying
New Zealand leads the world in the wrong way with some of the highest gaps between have and have-nots and between ethnicities. There is a 45% gap for school leavers between young people from Asian families achieving UE as compared to those from Maori and Pasifika families. New Zealand also performs poorly in terms of children with diverse learning needs such as those with dyslexia, autism or ADHD.
The Labour government and Education Minister Chris Hipkins are no longer able to bring out the “nine years of neglect” ploy – or blame other governing parties. They did very little in their first three years except having a couple of working groups that were highly contradictory of each other and got very little implemented.
They promised Designated Character Schools to crack open the one size fits all model but did not deliver. They threw millions of dollars into laptops, modems and hard-packs – even though largely unsolicited – during lockdowns. They now need to look at the day-to-day where NZ students have reported:
New Zealand had one of the worst scores for classroom behaviour of any OECD nation with more students reporting noise and disorder in their classroom (41 percent) and more saying students did not listen to their teachers (35 percent).
rnz.co.nz/news/national/404762/nz-teenagers-hit-new-lows-in-reading-maths-and-science-tests
We have a system that – through bilateral monopolies in the demand and supply of teachers (unions vs the Ministry of Education) means that we have a collective contract that prevents any incentives for teaching in the schools where the students have the highest needs.
The Government is looking to do away with the decile system and what they consider to be the labels that go with it. It will take the students and families between 6 and 8 days to decode the new system and realise that, to paraphrase The Who, “The new boss is the same as the old boss.”
It is well past time to look for maverick people and maverick models.
It is time to break down the “one-size-fits-all” as it fails many and reinforces society’s disparities.
Minister Hipkins, his associate (Jan Tinetti) and the Labour Maori caucus have no ongoing excuse. No party has been handed a change mandate on a plate like this in recent history. So far they have brought no genuinely positive change. They have merely aimed to preserve power through being moderate, mediocre and middle-of-the road. The 2020 school leavers results had 69% Asian leavers with UE, 44% of Europeans, 20% for Pasifika and 19% for Maori.
Our children deserve the best and state-of-the-art learning theory clearly shows what is required to bring about high levels of aspiration and fulfilment. If Labour makes significant moves in the right direction I will be the first to support them – but there is no indication from them of anything but Sergeant Schultz on Education and Dug the Dog from Up being trained to be distracted by HOUSE PRICES.