April 09, 2024
Charter school pressure good for results
A Māori charter school principal says she’s keen to try another round of the publicly-funded private schools.
Education Minister David Seymour has appointed an establishment board to get charter schools running again by early 2025, in line with the ACT-National coalition agreement.
This time around there will be an option for state schools to opt into the new model.
Raewyn Tipene opened Whangārei based Te Kāpehu Whetu in 2014 as part of the original kura hourua charter school initiative and then took the option to turn it into a special character school when Labour scrapped the policy.
She says one result of the switch was that NCEA and University Entrance results went backwards, from being among the top in Te Taitokerau.
“The pressure goes off. The expectation of staff isn’t as high as it is under charter schools. If the policy is similar to what we’ve had in the past, we would think very seriously about shifting back,” she says.
A bill has yet to be introduced to formalise the return of partnership schools.