The introduction of the Education Amendment Bill 2012 will see a new kind of innovative schooling created in New Zealand.
The Bill makes provisions for Partnership Schools, showing that the Government backs innovative approaches to helping disadvantaged school children.
The Partnership School model creates the freedom for school leaders to try new and different approaches to education or to bring successful approaches to communities that may not have experienced earlier.
This is important for working out which ideas might help those children for whom the regular state school system is not effective.
Partnership Schools, which are also known as charter schools, have had mixed success overall overseas, but some have shown good results under certain conditions.
When a school has a clear mission, such as to help low-income children achieve better educational results and strong lines of accountability, it can make a big difference to a child’s learning.
It is exciting to see this opportunity being introduced in New Zealand.
It is important to choose the right providers put in place the right accountability systems.
Steve Thomas is Senior Researcher at Maxim Institute, Auckland, which is the source of the above article.
