Charter Schools and Social Integration in New Zealand: A Focus on Maori and Pasifika Students

Abstract

  Indigenous Maori and immigrant Pacifika students are referred to as “priority learners” in New Zealand. There lies a significant achievement gap between Maori and Pacifika students and those of European and Asian descent. The disparity is also conspicuous socially and economically, such as in suicide, unemployment and poverty rates.

  The above suggests a state of inequality restricting many Maori and Pasifika students’ capability to have the meaningful choice of life. For Maori who have had to suffer the grief as “the colonised” and Pasifika, who are sometimes referred to as “the most marginalised” in New Zealand, a society where one can, regardless of ethnicity, pursue the life one aspires, participate meaningfully in society and feel the positive bond with the society is yet to be realised.

  The issue of social integration lies in how we stem social division deriving from disparity, recognise cultural differences and develop a society where everybody can participate in mainstream society and its institutions. The design of the education system plays a key role in promoting the capability of the individual.

  As the New Zealand government introduced the charter school system as a means to achieve the level of education for “priority learners” including Maori and Pasifika students to succeed in work and life, this paper explores the possibility and the challenge of this new system in regards to social integration.

  The charter school system was proposed initially by the ACT (Association of consumers and taxpayers) party and introduced by the fifth national government and legalized in 2013. These schools can be established based on a contract between the sponsor and the ministry of education and funded by the government.

  Although the New Zealand school system has experienced a significant level of devolution and diversification since the “Tomorrow’s schools” reform of the 1980s, the ACT party who supports smaller government, deregulation, tax cuts and entrepreneurship has been advocating that charter schools promote further choice and diversification, innovation and freedom to school education.

  However, teachers unions have actively opposed the introduction of charter schools, which may well make one assume that implementation is creating another clash based on political ideologies.

  Nevertheless, the Maori and Pacifika students of New Zealand are the most disadvantaged and make up the majority of a long tail of underachievement. To eliminate this achievement gap and to promote social integration through education is still an imminent issue.

  In light of social integration, where those with different cultural backgrounds than the mainstream can participate meaningfully in society and understand oneself to be an equal citizen in a just society, this paper investigated the meaning of charter schools and the implications of conflicts surrounding these schools in New Zealand.

  As teachers unions argue, the national party did not mention implementation during the election campaign, charter schools do not have boards of trustees including parental representatives, and the obligation to disclose information is limited in spite of public funding, all of which work to restrict the chance to democratically scrutinize the legitimacy of institution and to lower accountability.

  The decline of democratic legitimacy could erode trust in the public education system as a whole, which would not make it a reliable source of social integration.

  On the other hand, for Maori educationists, and also for those working for charter schools, existant mainstream schools do not appear to be accountable as they are not taking responsibility to change results for many Maori students who have been failed. (View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)