Schools tussle with standards

Small rural schools are struggling to implement national standards properly because they cannot afford to pay for training, principals say.

Teachers are invited to attend courses about the new primary school standards, but for many schools, the cost of a relief teacher to cover each staff member is too high.

Relief teachers cost up to $300 a day, and it is notoriously difficult to find them for schools in small, isolated areas.

Coastal Taranaki Primary Principals Association head Allan Forsyth, who is the principal at Manaia School, said ideally he would send all his staff on the courses but the bill would run to $6000.

"It's just too much. And that means limited professional development for my teachers," Mr Forsyth said.

"We are trying our best but it is giving us great difficulty implementing the standards."

South Taranaki Principals Association president Nadia Ballantine, of Whenuakura School, said many rural schools were struggling.

In Ms Ballantine's case, she had to go to the courses and then bring the information back for her staff, rather than pay for relief teachers.

"No rural schools can send all their teachers. We can't get the staff," Ms Ballantine said.

"It's not that the schools are refusing to implement the standards, it's that we're expected to implement them without the right support."

Education Minister Anne Tolley said yesterday it was normal for schools to pay for relief teachers when they had staff attending courses.

"Schools can use their operational grants to fund relief teachers who attend professional development training" Ms Tolley said.

"Schools themselves choose the training most appropriate for their needs."

The Government was providing $26 million in professional development to support schools with the implementation of the standards, Ms Tolley said.

There would be flexibility in providing training as the year progressed , with some workshops being held out of school hours as well as some in-school support.

The principals' comments come in the same week the New Zealand Educational Institute released a survey of 700 principals – 21 from Taranaki – showing nine out of 10 principals had concerns about the standards.

It also found about 120 schools were refusing to introduce the controversial new policy.

Ms Tolley said, however, the ministry only knew of 10 schools refusing to implement the standards and it was working with those schools.

"The fact is the vast majority of schools are getting on with the task of implementing the standards in a professional manner," she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News