NZPF Slams Ministry over Moerewa
“The decision to sack the Board of Trustees at Moerewa School is a sad day for self-managing schools and their
communities,” said Phil Harding, Vice-President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation.
“Moerewa is a tiny community, working with its people to do all in its power to provide high standards of education,
while achieving success as Maori,” said Harding. “Rather than being celebrated for its efforts and excellent ERO
reports, the Moerewa School Board has been punished, and its senior students excluded from their school of choice,” he
said.
The New Zealand Principals’ Federation believes that working collaboratively and transparently in partnership with the
Ministry of Education is the only way that the challenge of raising Maori achievement will ever be met, and is in fact
the Ministry’s policy. “This represents a lost opportunity for the Ministry to get alongside a high performing school to
fine-tune their assessment processes,” said Harding.
“Few schools would come through an NZQA audit of 84% of their students’ work unscathed, and the protracted process has
kept these students in limbo,” he said. “The Ministry has funded the unit for three years, and it is tragic to see a
positive innovation ended in this way.”
ENDS