I am a 23 year old student teacher in my final year of training and am all to aware of what an interesting (to put it nicely) time I am coming into education at. I recently did an assignment on Charter Schools and am now even more concerned with their implementation in NZ. They are a fallacy. The government has packaged them up all pretty as a way to solve the problem of underachievement - which of course appeals to the wider public. Realistically these schools are something far more sinister. If charter schools are truly targeting our most underachieving students then please explain the following... I live on the same road as a Decile 10 Primary school and in the most matter of fact way, it is a wealthy suburb. I asked a couple of parents about if they had considered sending their child to a charter school. Their responses were: -If there was one closer, that wasnt like a military school, then yeah I would look at the school as an option - Ive thought about it but I already plan on sending Caitlin to Kristin (a private school). I also happen to be on placement at a Decile 2 school in South Auckland. I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak with a couple of the Pasifika families one afternoon. When I asked if they had ever considered charter schools for their children I was met with a number of responses: - an awkward laugh (it was like I was speaking a foreign language) - What is charter school? - What you mean? - No no Tavita loves school Children dont just enroll themselves in school. Parents are the ones that make the choice about where to send their children to school. Charter schools are supposed to target our most disadvantaged students, yet if my experience is anything to go by, parents of these children dont even know what a charter school is. All the while... white middle to upperclass parents are more than likely going to engage with the choice provided to them by charter schools. Basically funds are being drawn from the very system that our most underachieving students will remain. Instead the children with parents from high socioeconomic backgrounds will reap the so-called benefits of Partnership schools. This does nothing but exacerbate the gap between high and low achievement and further segregates the wealthy from the poor. I dont claim to have the answers on how to help our most disadvantaged students. Charter Schools however make no appearance on my list of ideas.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 00:42:26 +0000
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