Francesca Rudkin: Why are charter schools vilified?

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Oct 22, 2026 · 2m · transcript

Education Minister Erica Stanford’s education overhaul has been impressive this government term. We’re seeing improvements in primary school student achievement, the NCEA qualification is not long for this world, and how good is it to have cellphones out of the classroom?

But for all the changes, there are families who feel the system simply doesn’t work for their child, whose needs, interests or circumstances may not fit comfortably within a conventional classroom.

Yet when someone suggests trying something different, we can become remarkably attached to doing the same thing and hoping for a…