CATHERINE WOULFE

When it came to light that a sex offender teacher has been using aliases to keep teaching, the new Education Minister, Hekia Parata, was very quick to launch an inquiry.

I urge her to broaden that inquiry to examine the system itself, not just the way in which this man flouted it.

The system has knowingly let teachers with serious convictions, including sex crimes and violence, back into classrooms. It’s kept their names secret from parents and principals; and for a long time it had no way of knowing for sure where they were working.

I’ve been hammering away at this for six years. See this story. I’ve also covered the topic for the Sunday Star-Times.

In a nasty nutshell, since it was set up in 2002, the Teachers Council has registered, or decided not to de-register, teachers despite knowing that they have convictions for:

– Battery of an 11-year-old
– Importing ecstasy and supplying cannabis to minors
– Indecent assault on a student
– Threatening to kill
– Assault on a female
– Common assault
– Assault with weapons
– Possession of objectionable material
– Grievous bodily harm.

It has also okayed teachers who have admitted:

– Stealing school funds to spend on themselves
– Having sex with students
– Sexually abusing a minor

This is nowhere near an exhaustive list. And consider this: the last teacher on the list told the council “that touching his 15-year-old niece had been ‘somewhat addictive’ and admitted that he had sexually abused her over a two-year period”.

They let that guy back in the classroom. That’s the one that really haunts me.

I will continue to write about the Teachers Council. Please contact me if you have any information relating to teachers you feel should not be in classrooms: catherine.woulfe@sundaymagazine.co.nz.

Please leave comments here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/blogs/procrastinator/6520756/Convicted-teachers-are-flouting-the-system

This is one of the reasons I am glad that we chose to home school. If we had left our children in school then our two oldest boys would have been molested by a very popular school teacher. This teacher in now behind bars.  The problem is you cannot have full confidence that your children are completely safe from teachers and other students with deviant behavior.

Govt: Sex offender has been working in schools

KATE CHAPMAN AND JOHN HARTEVELT

LATEST: Up to eight schools and potentially hundreds of children have been exposed to a convicted sex offender who used multiple identities to work as a teacher for eight years.

A ministerial inquiry in to the case was announced by Education Minister Hekia Parata today.

Parata said “Person A” was before the courts in Auckland on charges relating to a breach of the conditions of his release, following a conviction for a sexual offence against a minor in 2004.

Manukau police said they had arrested and charged a 41-year-old man with fraud offences.

It was believed he had worked in eight schools since 2000, assuming a number of different identities.

“We know that this person was convicted of and has served time for an offence,” Parata said.

“This case is somewhat exceptional in that it appears that multiple identities have been used. They were under an extended supervision order that relates to that offence and it is alleged that conditions that relate to that have been breached.

“Clearly, there are weaknesses in the system and that is why I have taken this very serious step of establishing a ministerial inquiry and asking someone of the seniority of [former Ombudsman] Mel Smith to begin and begin immediately.”

The man’s identity tied him to two schools, but it was unclear when he had worked for six other schools. The Government was seeking a variation to suppression orders so that parents at those other six schools could be informed. The scale of students exposed would become clearer if the variation was granted.

Read more of the article here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/6492579/Govt-Sex-offender-has-been-working-in-schools

Home Schooling is not so expensive after all:

SARAH HARVEY AND IMOGEN NEALE

 

MARTIN HUNTER/Fairfax NZ

COSTLY BUSINESS: Parents of these Christchurch six-year-olds will pay thousands for their education.

New Zealand parents are forking out a quarter of a billion dollars a year in school “donations” to help prop up schools.

With an average cost of running a large secondary school estimated by principals at $10 million, that means parents are fully funding the equivalent of 25 big high schools – buildings, equipment, maintenance and wages.

Increasingly donations are being used to pay for one of the most important areas of the curriculum – new technology.

The struggle to keep students up-to-date with fast moving technology, vital to the country’s future, is bringing the issue to a head, principals say.

Teachers and parent groups alike say the concept of “free education” is nonsense and the education system is dependent on parents propping it up.

Secondary School Principals Association president Patrick Walsh, principal of John Paul College in Rotorua, said: “I think the concept of free education at best is seen as aspirational, or is seen as disingenuous by those who propose it.”

Education Minister Hekia Parata said: “Schooling has always had a cost. That cost has principally been met by the government of the day, and that continues to be the case now.” She says parents have always – and will always – need to pick up some cost.

But parents are saying the donations and fees demanded by schools are getting too much. According to information gained under the Official Information Act by lobby group Family First, the amount of school voluntary donations paid by families in the past four years has totalled more than $1 billion – $234m (2007), $247m (2008), $272m (2009), and $266m in 2010.

One family, which wants to remain anonymous, told the Sunday Star Times they had worked out the high school one of their children attended was receiving a “criminal” $158,000 a year from parents.

“We worked out our child’s high school, with around 800 pupils is getting around $158,400 just from the basic school fees (if everyone pays) and this is a simple public school. It’s criminal that parents are being put under this much pressure. The government simply needs to provide more funding.”

The family has three children, one in primary, one in intermediate and one at high school and were paying $100–$200 each for fees at each school.

“This is on top of the donations for fairs and fundraisers, the sports fees, school camp fees, module fees, performance fees, and swimming fees, etc. And then you have the fees on top of the fees.”

cut… see link at bottom for whole article

Bob McCroskrie, national director of Family First NZ, said: “Despite the Education Act saying that state school education is free, this is completely removed from the truth. Families are forking out large amounts to help schools meet their budgets and provide core services.”

Walsh said: “The reality is schools couldn’t afford to function without a contribution from parents or finding some other secondary income stream.”

He said the issue had been “brought to a head” over the cost of technology in schools.

Parata said governments had always provided school systems but parents had always “contributed their part”

“Parents have always provided pens and pencils, and calculators and compasses and in this day and age technology is related to the internet.”

cut…

THE COST OF EDUCATION: PARENTS HAVE THEIR SAY

There is resentment among parents about being forced to subsidise the education system.

Of the more than 270 parents of school-aged children canvassed by the Sunday Star-Times 90 per cent pay the voluntary donations but 54 per cent said it had become tougher over the past five years.

About a third of parents are finding it so tough they have to pay by instalments. Some said the “voluntary” fees paled into insignificance when compared to individual subject, camp, uniform, sports, activity, photocopying and stationary and text book costs.

About 40 per cent said they had to pay an additional fee for information technology with some schools charging more than $100 for that alone.

This is what some parents said:

“The fees/donations keep going up, the so-called free schooling in the public sector no longer exists and therefore the schools are crying out for more money as the government doesn’t give them enough, and that’s usually just for day to day maintenance, not replacement of buildings or equipment.”

“I have never agreed with the way schools charge parents for `donations’. These have increased dramatically over the years and my experience is that some schools won’t take no for an answer but hound you long after your children have left. The government should be funding public schools to a far greater degree.”

“Five years ago we had three school-aged children, with the eldest two at a high-decile school that charged very high fees. That saw us paying more than $1200 for the two of them combined. The add-ons were the killer.”

“All three children at school now means more than $1000 a year in school donations, so we have to pay it a bit at a time when we can.”

“I understand that if I do not pay it’s my child who will be punished by not being able to go on field trips and other school activities.”

“Fees for intermediate went up 40 per cent this year. Last year I was able to pay lump sum, this year I have to do instalments.”

However, some parents were happy to help their school.

“I believe that parents need to pay fees where possible so schools aren’t struggling to provide the standard of education our children need. I think there should be a cap for parents with several children. We have only one child and are happy to pay fees”

“We realise that paying these donations allows the school to provide essential services to the pupils and teachers. There is no question of not paying them, even though we are already paying our full share in taxes that should be covering these things. I object to some people not paying the ‘donations’.”

– © Fairfax NZ News

Article from here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/6481058/Parents-prop-up-schools-to-tune-of-250m

So many adults are still searching for their passion in life. The message I constantly get is to live your dream, be true to who you are and do what makes you happy (your passion).

This is the underlying philosophy that forms the basis for my parenting and naturally for unschooling. There is no distinction between parenting and schooling. It is just our life.

Our children are born knowing who they are and what they need to be doing. With unschooling we are letting them do what they need to do, learn what they instinctively need to learn. Trusting your child is paramount to unschooling (an awful term, ‘natural learning’ is more apt). When you have a baby you trust that your baby will learn to crawl, walk and talk and they do! That desire to make sense of the world around them does not go away, it only intensifies and becomes more specialised. Following your passion leads to greatness.

Everyday life, when your children are learning naturally is a lot like the summer holidays in other school-going families. We all have lots of fresh air, exercise, plenty of sleep. The children take a lot of thinking time, which has been an inspiring learning curve for me. They really do think deeply, remember things and work out well without any adult interfering. My role is very much one of support, and mentor, chief questionanswerer, alongside being a full time parent.

We tramp, camp, read, play, cycle, have adventures, make things, socialise with friends (yes unschooled children have a fabulous social life!), attend workshops
and courses when we want to. We go to swimming pools, libraries and museums when other children are at school. We work out lives so we are all (me included) getting our needs met. We all have time for our passions and interests, time to be healthy, time together as a family and time to just lie out on the lawn and read for hours if that is how the day unfolds.

We have created a life that values time. Time together, alone, time to finish a project, time to chill out, think, ask and answer questions, have dates and be spontaneous when an opportunity turns up. Our children do not stop learning and when you realise that it makes you really think about how they are spending their childhood and how you, too, are spending your life. Lead the life you love, be happy otherwise what is the point?

Top Three Questions about ‘Unschooling’ Is unschooling the same as home schooling?

For some families, home schooling is about replicating the school day at home, fine tuned for their particular children of course.

Unschooling does not look much like school as there are no formal lessons. Learning takes place when children create their own opportunities. The children are encouraged to follow their own interests and lines of enquiry.

How do your children get opportunities to socialise?
Like most children ours have friends from the different circles we move in. They have friends from our home-schooling group, friends from Ashhurst and further afield. Their friends are from a real mix of backgrounds and ages. They have friends they make movies with, swim with, play music with, share books and play Lego with.
What about adult life? What will your children do when they are older?
They will continue as they have done so far – they know what they want to do and they take active steps to achieve it. If they decide to become an architect, vet or artist then they will take the exams and do the work like anybody else. Large businesses (including Fonterra) actively recruit from home-school groups around the country.
Jane Higgison & Dan Fyles

Editor’s note: The Higgisons featured on TVNZ current affairs program Sunday on the 20th March 2011.
You can see this episode at tvnz on demand http://tvnz.co.nz/sunday/video. Click on Episode 4
The story on unschooling, entitled Free Range Kids, was the second story of the show. Click
2 to go straight to that story.

Article from: http://ashhurst.org/files/2813/0663/2310/April_Web_Version.pdf