Education and Training Act (System Reform) Bill Submission Guide
Minister Stanford Makes a Grab for Even More Power
It's been a long year and you could be forgiven for wanting to switch off and hide from the pace of political change we've been subject to in the year that felt like a decade. Taihoa e hoa, not just yet.
There are a few submission guides available to look through, most with an educational lens - and they would be good to have a look at (I'll link to those at the bottom of the post). Here I'm focusing mostly on the shift to privatisation that is happening in our compulsory education sector.
Aiming to be succint and not wanting to cloud the activity of submitting on this bill, some of the information below is brief and surface level. There are plenty of groups and individuals who have been blogging on this if you are not already acquainted. I'll aim to put up a link post for these soon.
Education and Training Act (System Reform) Bill
Dropped quietly in late October, with submissions due by the 14th of January, this government is cynically opening discussion at a time when workers in the education sector are at their lowest ebb. It's almost as if the Minister is hoping to avoid open and honest consultation.
So why should a socialist care about this Bill? How does 'state' education fit with a socialist view of the world?
- Equity over equality – a strong public education system is capable of meeting society's diverse needs.
- Collectivism and democratic control – public education is shaped by communities, not markets.
- Public over private – a strong public education system allows us to resist privatisation through charter schools, PPPs, and "business-led" reform.
- Education is a right – it should not be thought of as a commodity or pathway to economic utility alone.
Submission Guide
This Bill seeks to increase the powers of the Minister of Education and undermines the working rights of teachers, reducing both their autonomy and their employment protections.
Charter School Conversions and Multi-School Contracts
Charter schools are privatisation in action, socialising the cost but privatising the control. Public money is handed to private entities who are able to run schools without the obligations, transparency, or community governance required of true public schools.
Where the original Act gave us private charter schools, this Bill seeks to provide a pathway back for public schools who give conversion 'a go'. This might seem like a good thing - the return to the public system - but it provides 'certainty' for schools at the expense of workers rights.
Through the 2023 amendments, the Minister can direct a 'failing' public school be converted to a charter school. When this happens, the public school ceases to exist and a new entity is opened. At that point, and with few of the current collective agremeent employment protections in place, the staff are jettisoned to the business, trust, or organisation that has taken on the role as sponsor. While they are free to walk away, staff are not provided with redundancy provisions of any kind. Staff transfer on conditions as close to the current collective agreement as possible but will soon be moved onto either an IEA or new site collective.
This Bill allows for a failing former public now charter school to be converted back (at the Minister's discretion) if a replacement sponsor cannot be found. If this happens, the sponsor will be responsible for any staff redundancy costs (ironic that the state expects this of the sponsor but not of themselves). This could leave staff out of pocket for salary and other things such as holiday pay.
ERO is being weaponised
The Education Review Office (ERO) evaluates and reports on education and care in Aotearoa NZ. If you look at any school website they will have a link to their latest ERO reports. This Bill compels ERO to inform the Minister and the Secretary of Education within two days if a school is of "serious concern". Serious concern could equal attendance issues (rife in areas of socio-economic deprivation), low teacher morale, conflict between school leadership and the board, academic results or anything else that feels off to ERO.
Without detailing exactly what 'of serious concern' looks like, there is room here for the Minister to choose which schools to remove from the state network and 'gift' to a business, trust, or organisation of their choosing. Remember how many lobby groups there are out there, just aching for some public funds to their private pockets, this is a concern. Neoliberal playbook anyone?
Multi-School Contracts
Another area where it's 'do as I say, not as I do' for this government, this Bill allows for multiple charter schools to be run under one umbrella organisation. This is despite the unions being locked out of multi-employer collective agreements (MECA), the ONLY sector legislatively barred from doing so.
Why is this an issue?
Internationally, the ability to organise charter schools in large chains (or trusts in the UK) has led to a lack of local input into schools, with the purchasing and dissemination of curriculum and resources without much in the way of professional development and support. Large fees are able to be charged by the directors of these chains, and money is siphoned away from the public at an alarming rate.
Property
A new Crown Agency will be established, which will take on the responsiblity for planning, building, maitaining, and administering school property. This feels one step closer to privatisation (there are already a number of 'Public Private Partnerships' in place in this area).
In doing this, the Ministry removes the Principals' ability to tailor building plans to their communities. Previous Ministry priorities were open-plan building, these have now gone out of fashion and we are back to 'single-cells' again. Our schools would be at the whim of the 'centre' - whatever that that whim is.
So what should you say in your submission?
This government has run roughshod over the people - right from day one. The submissions and Select Committee process has had almost no impact on legislation. It can be disheartening. However, your submission is on the record. Here some some key points:
- Privatisation has no place in our public education system. The education sector needs to be adequately resourced to ensure it can provide a launchpad for tamariki and rangatahi to have the best possible life outcomes.
- The Government needs to support schools. Wielding ERO against schools is bullying plain and simple.
- The Government should have a plan in place for if and when a charter school fails, to suppport staff, ākonga and communities through the process. This includes covering any salary and other financial obligations.
- Schools need to return to being community organisations - run in and for their communities. Ensuring that the schools have autonomy should be paramount. Taking decisions about property away from them leaves them vulnerable to external pressures.
Submission Advice
Below is a list of links and submission guides that might be helpful in formulating a more rounded view of the Bill and why you should submit against it. I'll add more if they become available.
The departmental disclosure statement - to support and enhance the Parliamentary and public scrutiny of that Bill.
Karena Ngata has put together an excellent resource - tautoko everything she has written here.
