Intermediate Students Miss Out Again

Intermediate Students Miss Out Again

The Education Minister’s announcement regarding Christchurch school closures has now revealed what we always knew - Intermediate closures go ahead and students are used to support roll numbers at local secondary schools.

Forty-three percent of closing schools are Intermediates and this takes away the Intermediate option from families in various parts of Christchurch.
Of even greater concern is the fact that students and families only have a few months to prepare for a pivotal transition in their adolescent lives.
Schools, already grappling with the shock of closure, now have to prepare their students for a move they don't want.

All students deserve to be taught in a Modern Learning Environment. This must continue when our students start their 2014 learning journey. There is no place for old relocatable classrooms in the 21st Century.

NZAIMS has been informed that it could be up to three years before purpose-built classrooms happens. If this is true, we will see yet again that Intermediate students come off second best when the Ministry of Education re-organises a network of schools.

Research confirms that students in the middle years are wired differently and require specific teaching knowledge and approaches if they are to achieve to their optimum. Will College teachers be positioned in just six months to acquire these skills? No plans have been announced by the Ministry to address this.

Whilst we acknowledge change is necessary, NZAIMS continues to question the glaring omission by the Ministry of Education and government regarding students in the middle and their special learning, emotional, physical and social needs.

This is an opportunity lost with again a zero attempt at joining the aspirations in the New Zealand curriculum with schooling provision for the future.

ENDS

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