Schools groaning under strain of extra demands

Media Release

Schools groaning under strain of extra responsibilities

Society’s problems are more and more often being left at the school gates and unless schools receive more support then something’s got to give.

This is one of the strong messages New Zealand School Trustees Association president Lorraine Kerr will be delivering at the association’s conference in Wellington tomorrow.

Ms Kerr says schools today are expected to deal with issues far beyond their core business of education. She cites policing truants, basic discipline, counselling and more recently after school care and policing food as examples of where schools and teachers go beyond their call of duty.

“This is not a new issue but the list of responsibilities school have just seems to get longer – schools are coming under more and more pressure and we need more help.”

Ms Kerr says schools don’t mind doing their part and are up to facing many of the challenges. However she says their role beyond education needs to be made more explicit and they need more support to cope with their expanding duties.

“After school care is a good example – many schools now offer after school and holiday programmes to allow parents to work. But there are legal and liability issues that have yet to be worked through.”

Ms Kerr says all the extra responsibilities can leave schools struggling for time to fit in the curriculum.

“Schools are also often asked to add extra programmes into an already crowded curriculum – like hygiene, fire safety, sun sense and dog safety. Many of these things should be taught at home.”

“Schools are being taken advantage of in many respects – by the government by some parents and by society in general.”

At the conference tomorrow Ms Kerr will be asking that people remember that schools are for educating our children and anything extra should not be taken for granted.

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