I love this so much…
Secretive legal advice argues charter school rules likely to breach FTA, labour rules
A select committee report has revealed previously confidential legal advice that charter school rules will likely breach international labour and free trade agreements.
The advice was sent to MPs and sector groups in a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS), but they were later told it was a legally privileged draft. Another version was then released with some of the advice redacted.
RNZ did not publish it at the time due to legal sensitivity, but the Public Service Association referred to the advice during its submission to the Education and Workforce Select Committee and RNZ published those comments.
Labour, in its minority report on the Education and Training Amendment Bill published on Thursday, revealed the advice – and the attempts to prevent MPs and the public from seeing it.
…so when the Left ever suggest policy that runs foul of free market Treaties, the Right are very quick to point out this will lead us into legal conflict, but when ACT are suggesting deregulating teaching standards so Charter schools can get cheap deals, a move that puts us immediately in conflict with International Labour laws, suddenly David wants to gamble?
There is no doubt at all that the Unions will mount a legal challenge to watering down teacher standards and they will take this channel of dispute.
ACT are trying to hide this because they know it will draw more scrutiny of their neoliberal experiment in education.
I’m not sure this is the flex David Seymour seems to think it is…
…well Duh! Of course there is huge demand for Charter Schools, THEY ARE A RORT!
So Private Education interests who will be able to rort the system and get more public funding at the cost of the actual public education system are rushing to get their snouts in the trough?
That’s what David is boasting?
Isn’t it funny how it’s ‘wasteful taxpayer dollars’ when it’s going on welfare, yet when it’s going to private interests who back ACT, then it’s suddenly excellent use of public money?
At some stage,Kiwis need to take a hard long look at themselves for the far right climate denying racist beneficiary bashing Government they elected, all because a bitter post-Covid electorate hated Jacinda for having the temerity to save 20 000 lives during a once in a century pandemic.
We have mutated into something very ugly under this new Government while the rich laugh at how easily the angry voters were manipulated into giving them what they want.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
ACT support Charters because of their whackadoodle free marketering, and Natzos because they have unfinished business with Teachers Unions–they fancy some good old fashioned union busting after PPTA and NZEI stood firm and did over Hekia Parata’s National Standards.
For CoC it is about allowing for profit operators to penetrate state infrastructure yet again. Since Norm Kirk bought in integrated and special character schools there has always been a way for Catholic and alternatives like Steiner Schools to do things differently–though elements of the curriculum still need to be adhered to.
Charters can form, but the thing is they want to bludge on State Funding without accountability. I just hope new gen teachers have enough understanding to make it difficult for ACT to raid us taxpayers again.
So free yourself from the state system David but don’t be a hypocritical prick and use state funds to do it.
It is clear your arrogance and stupidity and clear lack of insight on display has no place in our political system.
‘Isn’t it funny how it’s ‘wasteful taxpayer dollars’ when it’s going on welfare, yet when it’s going to private interests who back ACT, then it’s suddenly excellent use of public money?’
So
‘Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor ‘then? (Gore Vidal).
At what stage does the government get a monetary return on their private Charter school ownership investment ?
Seymore wouldn’t know shit about Education, he just a jumped up little j**k who spent 4-5 Years at Auckland Glamour School in Epsom Auckland, did an Undergraduate Engineering at Auckland Uni and worked for some Global Think Tank in Canada.
He has limited experience in the practical education sector.
I agree he seems extraordinarily under-qualified. For him to be talking about schools, teachers, children, school lunches, curriculum, school teacher’s unions, anything to do with schools, is complete nonsense.
Unless he has children, which I suspect he does not, or has been a teacher, he’s knows nothing at all about children or teaching.
No expert advisors can replace the knowledge he’d have gained from actually having his own children or having been a teacher.
I suspect the actual Education minister is similarly unqualified.
If Seymour tried to run a classroom the same way he’s trying to implement charter schools with secret agendas and threats, he’d come very un-stuck. Children aren’t as easily fooled or ignored, as adults sometimes.
Many of us know of classrooms where there are several children with very little English. That’s ok, they learn quickly. Or classes where there are children who really need a permanent fulltime teacher aide but don’t have one. That teaches other children to cope with diversity and learn empathy perhaps. However, the teacher has an obligation to teach the normal children too. It’s not fair for their learning to be disrupted continually.
Charter school money would make a huge difference to state schools where more children would benefit. If Seymour really had the interests of NZ’s school children at heart, he’d want to make things better for more children, not just the privileged few.
David Seymour is fighting battles on several different fronts from a weak position. That suggests that he’s the one who can’t get along with others too well. David, go back to engineering and leave politics to those who see it as a vocation and have people skills.
I really think you are comparing apples with lemons with the inflated quoted funding amounts.
Have none of you had a son/daughter/relative succeed in a Charter school after failing miserably in State school. If this policy belonged to Labour you would be fully in support of it.
I have family that have done well at public schools and have had others that have failed .That will always be the case untill we get away from treating every kid as being the same so teaching them all the same as is the plan under national .
Not every kid aspires to be the richest prick on the block or a rocket scientist and there are limited positions in those fields .However there are some very good money to be made building stuff and there will be huge demand in NZ for construction workers building 3 waters and transport projects .All of those projects need a few excellent engineers but the rest need to be get ya hands dirty types who enjoy doing the dirty stuff .
I do not support Charter School – full stop!
It doesn’t matter to me who tries to introduce this BS educational experiment – Labour, ACT, NZF or TPM – No way!
As Gordon says, there will always be failures and there will always be successes. It depends more on the personalities involved than the type of school.
There are some brilliant teachers in the state system and if your child failed with them, it might not have been the teacher’s fault.
I’ve never met anyone remotely involved with a charter school but I doubt they could have better teachers than some state school teachers, I’ve encountered
I also doubt those exceptional teachers would have been in the least interested in becoming teachers in charter school either. They simply seemed to be too sensible and too dedicated to the art of teaching, to get involved with ideological claptrap.
The flex in flux. David Ssssssssssss’ unrolls like a snake not caring what it does – it’s the doing it that counts these days!
Shabby dress boy,what corporate school or any school let you dress with, shabby clothing in the place you respect, with shabby looking unkept clothing, does any of your tribe care for your appearance.
You think dress for success? It is the great inner being that can win hearts, minds and confidence. And if people concentrate on the showy outside they can be fooled by the camouflage and persiflage. And NZ Gnats etc want to be, because David S is a precocious trickster, and that’s obvious. People of the right-wing feel comfortable with that image and all it promises apparently.
Nation, used to own, power and other.
My first protest recently , at 58! My by-sider said it’s 5 times the dosh for a charter school kid. No one ever said democratic politics was on the nail, just better than the other. How I laugh whenever our present govt talks about boot camps. Crass-arse lies, but Labour didn’t do the necessary for the neediest, let alone only signaling re the oncoming tsunami of climate change.
Well educated, well loved, well socially catered for people are almost impossible to exploit. That’s why
wee seymour wants less of the above and more of the wretched and the corrupt concept of chartering educations for the private engineering of the minds of students for their exploitation by using state funding to create rich-person minions.
seymour’s a bullshit artist. Avoid. Unless you’re in a car and traveling at high speed.
How many of the 78 applications were from educators? How many from business people, non educators, seeing an income stream? How many from school boards made up of non educators plus a principal? How many conversions compared to new set ups? How much even handed consultation of staff and parents? How much shackle casting off compared to greed?
Scotland educated , unbelievable educate, my eyss these days not mental like my thought but most definate care, of social care, not pin number and the perpetual lie about the Kiwi dream.