Guest Post by Alwyn Poole
There is absolutely no doubt that a child from a home with – low education outcomes of the parents, only one parent in the home, a family history of welfare dependence, low relative income, exposure to violence and neglect, having very few positive role models or obvious pathways to development … is pushing very loose manure uphill with a very wide rake. This is not excuse making – it simply acknowledges that some young people pull themselves up by their boot-laces – but many do not.
In New Zealand we pretend to address this situation through providing an Equity Index Number (it used to be “deciles”) to our school system. The schools with more “at risk” students through the issues mentioned above are, theoretically, provided with more funding to address that situation and bring about fairness and a ladder to success and social transformation.
I am always prepared to challenge people who I think are doing a poor job but … highlighting Wellington Girls College and Flaxmere College – below – has NONE of that aspect.
Wellington Girls College has an EQI of 374. What that means is that they have few students that the Ministry of Education would consider “at risk”. It also means that they get no marginal funding for that aspect. In terms of academics – WGC is NZ’s top achieving purely State School.
Flaxmere College has an EQI of 564. This is the highest in New Zealand and means that they have the most “at risk” students. They receive $262,720 of marginal funding for that aspect.
If that funding was genuinely effective – in a public school system that aims to lift all students – you would expect to see very similar results between the two schools.
Here is a comparison:
| Wellington Girls’ College | Flaxmere College | |
| Roll 2024 | 1497 | 283 |
| EQI | 374 | 564 |
| Level 2 NCEA for Leavers 2024 | 96.4% | 52.1% |
| Level 3 NCEA for Leavers 2024 | 93.1% | 36.6% |
| University Entrance for Leavers 2024 | 87% | 11.3% |
| Retention Until 17yo 2024 | 96.7% | 52.1% |
| Transition to Degree Study in Y1 Out | 72.6% | 4.8% |
To be clear:
– To overcome situations for their students that are fully acknowledged as being deeply disadvantageous for their future outcomes – Flaxmere College receives a marginal funding boost of $262,720 (confirmed through an OIA).
– This is a 2.14% addition to the funding level any high school in NZ receives. A pittance!
– It works out at less that $5 per student per day.
– Schools such as WGC can ask for donations (e.g. $805) – which completely counters any extra funding for the Flaxmere’s of NZ. Auckland Grammar School has a donation of $1775 per year.
It is no wonder that New Zealand’s gaps for those that achieve and those who do not are the highest in the OECD.
The Minister of Education has no plan on this hugely important aspect of the present and future of our nation.
The Ministry of Education has as their purpose statement:
”To shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners.”
Has there ever been an entity in the Western World further from achieving their purpose? And yet they have – by and large – the same people in leadership as they had under the last government – and the same number of bureaucrats. The Minister has not even brought in a new Secretary of Education despite being 2 years into her term.
Schools are asked to be accountable. Teachers are asked to be accountable. The Minster and the Ministry … not so much.
Do we just sit back and accept this?