Under the proposals we will see 13 schools close, and 18 go through some sort of merger. Some of these mergers involve just two joining up, while others will see up to five schools amalgamated into "cluster" schools. Two of the schools that are closing have elected to do so voluntarily, but the others have reported feeling somewhat blind sided by the proposals. Some schools could even be closed as early as Term 1 next year.
Now if you're reading this as someone from outside the education sector it's important that you realise that the majority of teachers (myself included) don't oppose the changes altogether. We understand that change needs to happen and we are happy to embrace that, in fact a lot of us just want to get on with things. The issue that we take with these "proposals" is that we have been kept so much in the dark about them. We have been given very little information related to how they came to decide which schools would close/merge and calls for more information seem to fall on deaf ears. Surely there must have been some sort of standard that a school has to meet for it to be considered damaged enough to close, right? Like, maybe the roll has decreased by this amount or you have damage to buildings over this amount? There could well be such a list but we are not given access to it. The small amount of information which has been released has also had some pretty scary mistakes too. Many schools have had the numbers of buildings/classrooms incorrectly listed ("You have pretty bad damage to seven classrooms, you know", "That's interesting, as we only have five classrooms...") Many have had incorrect roll numbers cited. One school even reported that their data showed a large pool of liquefaction in their field which needs fixing. This pool is, in fact, their long jump pit. And they don't want it fixed.
Yes, I know, I had to repeat that in my head a couple times before I could grasp the fact that the Ministry really is THAT far off the mark. This is the same Ministry that handles our pay (if you haven't heard about Novopay you should Google it). So please, do me a favour? Go hug a school teacher. They need it.
Some of the changes also seem to be quite random. Why do all the changes only effect primary schools? Initially it was announced that Shirley Boys' High and Boys' High would merge onto the Boys' High site and that Avonside Girls'and Christchurch Girls' High would also merge onto the Christchurch Girls' site. These have since been reversed by the Ministry. Why? I don't begrudge them the security of knowing the fate of their schools or the great outcome they have from getting the Ministry to back down, but why did they back down on those two and not on all the primary schools? It's not like the primary schools aren't also making noise about this.
Also, if there is such a clear case about why schools need to close, and the Ministry is really committed to "authentic" consultation, then why can't we have the information about how the decisions are made? What is there to hide? I'm a teacher and I am required to be transparent in how I work; why isn't the Ministry held to the same standard? Furthermore, if the Ministry really wants to take part in "authentic" consultation then surely an important part of this would be to provide information, at least to the individual schools which are set to close, about why they have been singled out. The whole situation just seems a little bit crazy to me, like a really bad British comedy where the Minister just can't seem to get it right.
I started writing this blog because I feel that there's a suspicion of the teaching profession in New Zealand. Many people seem to hold an assumption that teachers are constantly trying to get out of being held accountable, that we want an easy job, that we don't really care about quality education because we are just lazy. Personally, I can't remember that last time I went home at three or spent my teaching day doing anything other than working as hard as I can to do the right thing by my students.
On another note, the teachers union held a meeting today to facilitate a vote on what our next step will be. There were three options put forward; to strike next week (before Term 4 ends and we break for the Christmas holidays), to strike in February or not to strike at all. The overwhelming majority voted for a strike in February, so that is what we will be doing. We need your support more than ever and it's so important that we stand united on this issue. As they said that the meeting today; change needs to come from the grassroots up, not from the Beehive down. And as always, nothing about us without us!
Questions/comments welcomed, as always.
