March 15, 2016
Partnership School Backs New Education Funding Proposal
He Puna Marama Trust (HPMT) Chief Executive, Raewyn Tipene, has welcomed a new Government proposal to change the way schools are funded.
HPMT is the sponsor of Te Kaapehu Whetuu, one of the first partnership schools established in 2014.
When the results of Te Kaapehu Whetuus students are measured against the attainment levels (2014) for students across the country, the new Kura has lifted Maori student achievement with its aakonga (students).
For example, the NCEA results for Te Kaapehu Whetuu aakonga last year were as follows:
Level 1 – 82% passed NCEA Level 1
Level 2 – 100% passed NCEA Level 2
Level 3 – 100% passed NCEA Level 3
University Entrance – 100% passed
"My reading of the Government's proposal is that it's an attempt to do something tangible around the failure rates in schools", said Raewyn.
"Too many kids are leaving school with minimal qualifications or no qualifications to get a job".
"The suggestion has its merits and the devil is always in the detail but for the new kura, there's some validity in the Government's proposals because the decile ranking system is based on simple demographic info like the value of houses, the average wage etc. That assumes your constituents own a house and has a job that pays the average wage, which is clearly not the case in the North".
Raewyn said, "the proposal is a warning to all schools".
"Mainstream schools have 50 plus years of history, yet the attainment levels for Maori students is roughly a quarter of that of non-Maori students. For whatever reasons mainstream schools are failing Maori and Maori kids. Surely the time has arrived to look at the interests of Maori kids now".
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