Ōtara school principal says wider issues must be addressed before blaming teachers

A South Auckland principal has added his voice to the charter schools debate, saying it will not make much of a positive impact on Pacific and Māori students.

Charter schools have been a hot topic of discussion, especially following high rates of NCEA failures for students, with Pacific and Māori hardest hit.

Some have argued charter schools could solve the shocking May report on NCEA pass rates, while others have pushed back against it.

Speaking to William Terite on Pacific Morning, Flat Bush Primary School's principal Banapa Avatea tossed his hat into the discourse following charter school information they received.

"I'm not able to say that they're going to be a model of learning [that'll] influence or impact learning for our Māori and Pasifika learners," Avatea said.

He said a "very experienced person" from the United Kingdom had spoken to them about their version of charter schools called academy schools.

Academy schools, which are publicly funded but operate independently of local authority control, were introduced to raise educational standards, particularly in underperforming schools.

In the UK, 80 per cent of secondary schools, 40 per cent of primary schools and 44 per cent of special schools are charter schools called academies.

A Ministry of Education briefing reported "substantial variation" in performance between academies, where some schools' results were well below the national average but that overall academies had improved the performance of low-performing schools.

However, Avatea was told that the communities that academy schools were meant to provide the greatest support for, had not achieved improved outcomes.

Avatea said there were "really concerning outcomes" that had happened, including how the gap had widened between learners from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds and those from an affluent one.

"You've seen increased segregation across those spaces as well.

"In the past 10 years, we've seen an increase of around 27 per cent of Pasifika students attending University.

"So, within our spaces, we are experiencing success. However, what we're not seeing across the media are more examples of those successes."

NZEI Te Riu Rou also spoke to a UK-based teacher who warned that the conversion to charter schools had not improved the achievement rates.

Watch the full interview via 531pi's FB below:

Avatea said although the low NCEA pass rates must change, the "wider causal factors" have to be considered to reach a solution.

He pointed towards rheumatic fever statistics, where 94 per cent of the 182 children hospitalised for the disease this year were Māori and Pacific.

"In the Counties Manukau area where I'm located there were 79 cases. In 2022 there were 84 cases of hospitalisation.

"Because not only do we have 182 hospitalisations, but let us think about all the undiagnosed cases, let's think about the impact on our attendance and how that impacts on our achievement.

"Let's also be aware of the healthy homes standards which was introduced to ensure that all of our children, tamariki, whānau, were living in fit-for-purpose homes.

"The compliance for that has been moved from the first of July this year to the first of July next year."

Reports have also shown Pacific peoples among the hardest hit by the cost of living crisis and food insecurity, are the third highest ethnic group in emergency housing applications, and bear the most brunt of the 36,000 more children reportedly living below a poverty line this year.

Furthermore, Pacific and Māori make up a majority of who KidsCan support, alongside a national concern where an estimated 15,000 high schoolers work 20 to 50 hours a week atop of studies.

"So, we're talking about things in our sector within schools that we're seeing that are not only attributable to what's happening in our classrooms but what's happening in a wider space," Avatea said.

"And when we're, as a country, able to have created spaces for all of our children, [where] all of our whānau are living in fit-for-purpose healthy homes then we'll see a drop in that.

"There are some things statistics tell us, but sitting underneath that are stories and narratives that if we're not able to unpack and tell then we won't know the whole story."