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Teacher quality should be part of funding review, think tank says

&NewLine;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;<img class=" alignright size-full wp-image-1411" src="http&colon;//schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SND14-wk4-Decile&lowbar;Funding-Hekia&lowbar;Parata&period;jpg" alt="SND14-wk4-Decile Funding-Hekia Parata" style="margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width="300" height="280" />The New Zealand Initiative think tank has welcomed a review of the controversial decile funding system for schools, reported by the Sunday Star Times on April 12&period;&NewLine; <&excl;--more--> &NewLine;Minister of Education Hekia Parata announced the Government will review how it targets educational resources&period;&NewLine;The decile system was set up 20 years ago to provide more funding to schools serving students from poorer families&period; The review has been prompted by concerns that low decile ratings stigmatise schools&period;&NewLine;The New Zealand Initiative urges the review to consider not only school funding but also the ability of low decile schools to attract good teachers&period;&NewLine;Research Fellow Rose Patterson says&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Within schools, there is nothing more important than the quality of teachers&period; &&num;8220&semi;Unfortunately, our system does not direct the best teachers to the children who need them the most&period;&&num;8221&semi;&NewLine;The think tank says decile funding makes up about 13 per cent of school operational funding&period; However, when teacher salaries are included, decile funding accounts for only three per cent of school funding&period;&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Teachers are generally paid the same, regardless of decile&period; However, better teachers might be attracted by better working conditions and leadership in higher-decile schools&period; If poorer kids then have less access to good teachers, that would be a real concern,&&num;8221&semi; Ms Patterson says&period;&NewLine;The think tank says the review is an opportunity for a comprehensive analysis of the decile system and should include an investigation of whether higher decile schools are more able to attract highly skilled teachers, principals, and boards of trustees&period;&NewLine;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;

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Rosie Clarke

Rosie is the managing editor here at Multimedia Pty Ltd, working across School News New Zealand and School News Australia. She has spent 10+ years in B2B journalism, and has spent some time over the last couple of years teaching as a sessional academic. Feel free to contact her at any time with editorial or magazine content enquiries.