INTEGRATED SCHOOLS MAY NOT BE SAFE FROM REVIEWSBy Rebecca Fox Integrated schools should have the same concerns as their state counterparts about facing a Ministry of Education review, University of Otago Associate Prof Howard Lee says. Integrated schools have contracts with the Government that preserve their “special character”, while allowing them to access similar Government funding to state-run schools. The agreements also mean integrated schools cannot be closed or merged as part of a review. Receiving Government funding opened integrated schools up to being treated in the same way as state schools, Prof Lee, of the Faculty of Education, said when contacted. He did not believe the contracts integrated schools had with the Government were that secure. “I do not share their faith; anything can change with a stroke of a pen.” Prof Lee said integrated schools should not be exempt from reviews. Of the 326 integrated schools nationwide, 236 are Catholic. In Dunedin, there are 16 integrated schools. Four are secondary schools—John McGlashan College, Columba College, Kavanagh College and St Hildas Collegiate—and 10 are Catholic primary schools. The final two are Liberton Christian School and Dunedin Rudolf Steiner School. The Ministry of Education last year sought submissions on a discussion paper, “Education With A Special Character”, which the principals of many of Dunedin's integrated schools believe could lead to the ministry exerting more control over their schools in an effort to include them in reviews. The paper questions the need for the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975. More than 500 submissions on the paper are being considered by the Ministry of Education before a report is sent to Education Minister Trevor Mallard late next month. St Hildas Collegiate principal Christine Leighton said there was a concern that if Mr Mallard was able to change the legislation to bring integrated schools under his control, they would then be part of a review process in the city. School reviews have caused an outcry around New Zealand from communities whose schools have been closed or merged. “We are certainly pretty suspicious of what his intentions are. “Why concern himself about the way integrated schools operate when it's obvious we are a popular option and one people in the community are happy with?” Columba College principal Elizabeth Wilson said integrated schools saw any changes to the Act as a threat. She believed proposals in the discussion document would provide the Education Minister with a mechanism to include integrated schools in school reviews. “The more talk about schools being closed by the ministry in the south, the more concern there is among schools of the implication of the discussion document.” Kavanagh College principal Paul Ferris said he suspected schools were nervous the Government would just choose to change the Act. “Including them in the wholesale reviews would have devastating effect on their right to exist and maintain a particular character.” John McGlashan College principal Mike Corkery said people did not arbitrarily change documents such as the Act, which was viewed by many as the Treaty of Waitangi of integrated schools. “They are not his schools. He is not able to close integrated schools.” The chief executive of the Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools, Patrick Lynch, of Wellington, said the contractual agreements integrated schools had with the Government could only be broken with the agreement of both parties. “We do not see any threat to integrated schools.” Integrated schools had been working closely with the Government over the issue of small schools, closing or merging six schools in recent years, he said. Otago-Southland Catholic Education Office director Tony Hanning said the office, while not opposed to change, was opposed to the idea of transferring the proprietor rights of integrated schools to the ministry. Dunedin’s Catholic schools had undergone their own review in the 1980s, with many amalgamations. “There is plenty of room for reorganisation without closure.” National Party education spokesman Bill English believes the discussion document poses a threat to integrated schools. “The ministry made it clear in that document that the minister wants to get more control over integrated schools by putting them under the same legislation.” Parents had a right to a choice of diverse educational options for their children, he said. Dunedin Integrated Schools
Key Differences/Similarities Between Integrated and State Schools
Otago Daily Times, February 12, 2004 Back to Main Page |