Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Francesca Rudkin: Why are charter schools vilified?

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Francesca Rudkin: Why are charter schools vilified? · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Education Minister Erica Stanford's education overhaul has been impressive this
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  Speaker 1: government term. We're seeing improvements in primary school student achievement.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The NCEA qualification is not long for this world. And
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  Speaker 1: how good is it to have cell phones out of
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  Speaker 1: the classroom? But for all the changes, there are families
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  Speaker 1: that feel the system simply doesn't work for their child,
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  Speaker 1: whose needs, interests or circumstances may not fit comfortably within
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  Speaker 1: a conventional classroom. Yet when someone suggests trying something different,
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  Speaker 1: we can become remarkably attached to doing the same thing
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  Speaker 1: and hoping for a different result. That is why charter
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  Speaker 1: schools deserve a fair hearing. As a parent of a
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  Speaker 1: child with a brilliant, complex, neurodivergent mind who loves to
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  Speaker 1: learn but struggled with the mainstream school environment, this is
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  Speaker 1: music to my ears, in order for our child to
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  Speaker 1: complete her education, we went down an alternative route. No
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  Speaker 1: one was more surprised than we were. It was hugely
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  Speaker 1: expensive and prohibitive for most, but it was brilliant and
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  Speaker 1: our kid who was falling out of school is now
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  Speaker 1: doing a science degree at university. Charter schools will hopefully
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  Speaker 1: give more families struggling with children in similar situations the
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  Speaker 1: same opportunity. It is life-changing. For a young person who
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  Speaker 1: has all but given up on education, it could be
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  Speaker 1: the beginning of a future that might otherwise have quietly disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: Labour leader Chris Hipkins opposes charter schools. We should give
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  Speaker 1: all our schools the tools they need to cater for
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  Speaker 1: all of the kids who come through the gate, Hipkins
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  Speaker 1: said yesterday, and it is an admirable ambition. But is
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  Speaker 1: it the reality? Teachers regularly describe classrooms stretched by complex
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  Speaker 1: learning needs, behavioural challenges and inadequate support. Most mainstream schools
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  Speaker 1: do a wonderful job, but not every child learns the
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  Speaker 1: same way, responds to the same environment or thrives under
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  Speaker 1: the same structure. A practical, culturally grounded or more flexible
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  Speaker 1: approach can be the difference between disengagement and achievement. There
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  Speaker 1: are legitimate concerns about charter schools. Public money must be
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  Speaker 1: protected and Teaching quality maintained and private operators prevented from
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  Speaker 1: putting profit ahead of pupils and independence must never mean
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  Speaker 1: a free pass. Transparent reporting, financial audits, measurable achievement targets
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and the power to terminate contracts are essential safeguards. But
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  Speaker 1: if those checks and balances are enforced, why should every
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  Speaker 1: school have to follow precisely the same model? Charter schools
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  Speaker 1: are not a replacement for mainstream education. They're another tool
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  Speaker 1: in the kit. New Zealand children are not all the same,
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  Speaker 1: so why insist that their education must be?