Posts by Julie Fairey

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  • Hard News: Schools: can we get a plan up…, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I might be able to dig up a not too old (like 2012) MOE presentation on the coming demographic changes they were looking at then. Please hold caller.

    ETA: Here you go then:
    http://www.springboardtrust.org.nz/images/articles/bruceadinsbtchallenges.pdf

    I have seen slightly different versions of this presentation twice - once to elected members at Auckland Council, and another time to retired teachers.

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Schools: can we get a plan up…, in reply to Max Call,

    My perception is that Auckland schools may end up more at one end or the other of deciles, ie less mid-decile schools, more 1,2,3 and 8,9, 10. Which, because lots of people think decile indicates the quality of teaching, will lead to more unnecessary angst and gloating.

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Schools: can we get a plan up…, in reply to Sacha,

    Well yes. And I did ask if that was being proposed for any schools where predominant zone was commercial, but got overtaken by events with councillors going for education zone across them all.

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Schools: can we get a plan up…, in reply to Sacha,

    Local Boards have been pushing hard (or at least some have) for social infrastructure planning and some bits and pieces are starting to get to a point of nearly being useable, but it seems to take FOREVER. And then the next step is actually securing forward planning, resourcing, political commitment that endures, to actually deal with what the audits show us.

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Schools: can we get a plan up…, in reply to Lindsey Rea,

    Thanks Lindsey, appreciate that. Do you have any insight on the MOE's plan to get all their sites given an underlying residential zone in the Unitary Plan process, but the councillors decided to go with an education specific zone instead. I did some OIAs around it and MOE and Council both said underlying residential, determined by what the surrounding area is, was the standard approach to zoning for school land across the country and Auckland was unusual for not already having it. Will be interesting to see what comes out of the Unitary Plan in the end. I was super suspicious that a change to the zoning to residential would make it much easier to sell school land (you wouldn't need a plan change), in particular to create opportunities for charters. But I'm paranoid like that.

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Schools: can we get a plan up…, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Was there possibly an issue there about not thinking they would be able to get a consent because of other infrastructure (water, roading in particular)?

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Schools: can we get a plan up…,

    People may find the case of Wesley Primary, in my own area, instructive (in a sad way). Their long awaited rebuild ended up being prefabs, and also got caught up in the Mainzeal collapse :(

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Schools: can we get a plan up…,

    My understanding is that MOE have repeatedly said they will not buy land on the isthmus. To my mind that means only two options there; build up or charter schools.

    Many school classroom buildings could do with upgrades, to make them suit modern teaching techniques and the varying uses of school buildings. School admin blocks have largely been upgraded over the last 20 years, but not so much with classrooms. New schools such as Hingaia are doing quite exciting innovative things with classroom design, and there is an opportunity to also get children involved in the design. I spoke at Albany Senior last year and was astonished at how changed the learning environment was from my recollection of secondary - like a modern building that a really on to it organisation would use. And it seemed to work, from my conversation with a teacher there.

    So there's a huge opportunity here to reinvent school classrooms, but that requires huge investment - either in land or in building - which I don't see happening anytime soon, sadly.

    The other big tension that I've observed is between Council and MOE over sports fields. Council wants to be able to use school fields during the times they are not in use (which is a lot of time for most schools), and MOE seems to want to build out their fields and then rely on Council-provided ones instead. One old example of this is Owairoa School in Howick, where they put in a whole lot of extra classrooms and all but obliterated their fields (to take international students in the 1990s), and then used the Howick Domain across the road. I'm not sure how well this worked (I was living just up the road so am only aware of it by observation as a neighbour, rather than talking to people involved).

    ETA: I can also confirm the MOE approach to delay building for demand until as close to the demand as they can (meaning after the demand) - I had some involvement with two newish schools built in the 2000s, one on the North Shore and another in the South East both in growth areas, and neither could get the MOE to bring forward building for the planned additional classrooms when demand was clearer growing faster than anticipated. The approach appeared to be that MOE would build when there was demand, not before it, which is ridiculous when it comes to any form of infrastructure, not least important social infrastructure like the school system.

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Who'd have thought?,

    Readers of the above may be interested in the observation that the Finnish system spends 30 times as much on PD for teachers than it does on student testing. I found this article very interesting and helpful in understanding the aims of education reforms like national testing, league tables etc. http://www.pasisahlberg.com/blog/?p=234

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Moving from frustration to disgust,

    Thank you for this Russell.

    Puketapapa Mt Roskill, AK… • Since Dec 2007 • 234 posts Report Reply

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