School resources, culture and connections

Sandie Schagen

Description

... survey is available on the Internet (http://www.nzcer.org.nz/pdfs/15870.pdf). ...... (53 percent), gone to school meetings (44 percent), helped with sports (37 ...

Sujets

• Sport

Informations

• Publié par: Sportif
• Nombre de lectures: 65
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

School resources, culture and
connections
NZCER National Survey Thematic Report
Sandie Schagen and Cathy Wylie













NEW ZEALAND COUNCIL FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
TE RÜNANGA O AOTEAROA MÖ TE RANGAHAU I TE MÄTAURANGA
WELLINGTON
2009

New Zealand Council for Educational Research
P O Box 3237
Wellington
New Zealand

© NZCER, 2009


ISBN 978-1-877293-69-6 (Print version)
ISBN 978-1-877293-70-2 (Web version)


Distributed by NZCER Distribution Services
P O Box 3237
Wellington
New Zealand

Acknowledgements
We would like to express our grateful thanks to the principals, teachers, trustees and parents who
gave their valuable and often very limited time to answer our lengthy and wide-ranging
questionnaires. Without them, there would be nothing to report.
Thanks are also due to New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) colleagues who
helped in various ways with the survey and reporting. Ben Gardiner was responsible for survey
administration; Edith Hodgen managed the data entry and undertook the analysis; Magdalene Lin
and Sally Robertson helped with the data analysis and reporting; Christine Williams formatted the
report.
Finally, this research was funded through the Ministry of Education’s purchase agreement with
NZCER.
i
ii
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements i
Executive summary xiii
Resources xiii
School funding xiii
School staffing xiii
School culture xiv
School governance xv
Relations with the BOT xv
Parents and their child’s school xvi
Links with other schools xvii
Relations with government and other agencies xvii
Issues facing schools xviii
1. Introduction 1
1.1 The structure of the report 1
2. Methodology 3
2.1 The national survey sample 3
Secondary schools 3
Primary schools 4
2.2 Analysis of data 4
2.3 Reporting to respondents 5
3. Funding 7
3.1 Funding in primary schools 7
Sources of new or increased costs 10
Increasing local income 11
Trustees’ views 12
3.2 Funding in secondary schools 13
Sources of new or increased costs 16
Increasing local income 16
International students 16
Parent donations 16
Trustees’ views 17
iii
3.3 Summary 18
4. Staffing in primary schools 21
4.1 The primary principal’s role 21
Principal turnover 23
Teaching undertaken by primary principals 24
Support from the MOE 25
Hours worked 26
Morale and stress 26
Workload and job satisfaction 27
Coping strategies 31
Desire for change 32
Career plans 34
Recent achievements 35
4.2 The primary teacher’s role 36
Classroom-release time 38
Workload and job satisfaction 40
Morale and stress 41
Desire for change 44
Recent achievements 46
Professional development 48
Career plans 49
4.3 Staffing issues in primary schools 53
Turnover of teaching staff 55
4.4 Summary 57
5. Staffing in secondary schools 59
5.1 The secondary principal’s role 59
Principal turnover 60
Hours worked 60
Morale 60
Workload and job satisfaction 61
Coping strategies 62
Desire for change 63
Career plans 64
Recent achievements 65
5.2 The secondary teacher’s role 67
Classroom-release time 68
Morale 70
Workload and job satisfaction 70
Desire for change 73
Recent achievements 75
Professional development 76
Career plans 76
Staffing issues 77
iv
Help provided by support staff 81
5.3 Summary 83
6. School culture 85
6.1 The culture of primary schools 85
Primary principals’ views 85
Primary teachers’ views 91
Industrial relations 100
6.2 The culture of secondary schools 100
Secondary principals’ views 100
Secondary teachers’ views 104
Industrial relations 109
6.3 Summary 109
7. School governance 111
7.1 The governance role 111
7.2 Why serve on a school board? 112
7.3 The trustee’s role and responsibility 115
7.4 Principal appointments and appraisals 117
How appointments were made 118
7.5 Progress of school boards 122
7.6 Experience and skills 125
7.7 Formal training and support 130
7.8 Summary 132
8. Relations with the BOT 135
8.1 Board–principal relationships 135
Information received by trustees 137
8.2 Board–school staff relations 139
Trustee contact with teachers at their school 139
8.3 Parent–board contact 141
The parent perspective on contact with their school’s board 143
Issues raised by parents with their school board 144
8.4 Community consultation 147
Consultations with the Mäori community 149
8.5 Summary 151
9. Parents and their child’s school 153
9.1 Parents and primary schools 153
School choice 153
Parents’ contact with their child’s teacher 155
Raising issues or concerns with the school 156
v
Parents’ satisfaction with information about their child’s progress 157 ’ satisfaction with their child’s schooling 157
Parents’ involvement in their child’s school 159
Information parents receive about their child’s school 159
The cost to parents of primary schooling 160
9.2 Parents and secondary schools 162
School choice 162
Parents’ contact with their child’s secondary-level teachers 164
Raising issues or concerns with the school 165
Parents’ satisfaction with information about their child’s progress 166 ’ satisfaction with their child’s secondary schooling 166
Parents’ involvement in their child’s secondary school 168
Information parents would like about their child’s school 168
The cost to parents of secondary schooling 169
9.3 Summary 171
10. Links with other schools 173
10.1 Primary school links with other schools 173
10.2 Secondary school links with other schools 176
10.3 Summary 180
11. Relations with government and other agencies 183
11.1 Primary school links with government agencies 183
Contacts with the MOE 185
Could the MOE do more to support primary schools? 187
Experiences of ERO 190
Methods of accountability 191
Changes to the current model 193
11.2 Secondary school links with government agencies 194
Contacts with MOE 197
Could the MOE do more to support secondary schools? 199
11.3 Summary 202
12. The overall picture 205
12.1 The primary school picture 205
Issues facing primary schools 205
Summary of primary school survey findings 207
Differences between schools 209
12.2 The secondary school picture 210
Issues facing secondary schools 210
Summary of secondary school survey findings 213
Differences between schools 215
12.3 Changes since 2003 215
Common trends 216
vi
Varying trends 216
Other changes 217
12.4 Conclusion 217
References 219

Tables
Table 3.1 Likely financial position in primary schools at the end of 2007 and 2008 8
Table 3.2 Primary school finances, compared with previous year 9
Table 3.3 Pressure points on primary schools’ spending 10
Table 3.4 Actions taken by primary school trustees to address financial problems 13
Table 3.5 Likely financial position of secondary schools at the end of 2006 and 2007 14
Table 3.6 Secondary school finances, compared with previous year 14
Table 3.7 Pressure points on secondary schools’ spending 15
Table 3.8 Number of international students in secondary schools 16
Table 3.9 Action taken by secondary school trustees to address financial problems 18

Table 4.1 Primary principals’ career histories 21
Table 4.2 Primary principals’ years at their school 22
Table 4.3 Primary principals’ positions between principalships 23
Table 4.4 Number of principals per primary school in the last 10 years
Table 4.5 Teaching undertaken by primary principals 24
Table 4.6 Number of hours primary principals worked in a week 26
Table 4.7 Primary school principals’ morale
Table 4.8 Primary principals’ typical stress level 27
Table 4.9 Primary principals’ workload and job satisfaction 28
Table 4.10 workloadaction, by morale 30
Table 4.11 workload and job satisfaction, by stress level 31
Table 4.12 How primary principals manage their workload 32
Table 4.13 Desired changes to work as a primary principal 33
Table 4.14 Primary principals’ career plans for the next five years 34
Table 4.15 Main achievements as a primary principal in the last three years 35
Table 4.16 Primary teachers’ career histories 37
Table 4.17 How primary teachers spend their nonteaching/classroom-release time 39
Table 4.18 Primary school teachers’ workload and job satisfaction 40
Table 4.19 Morale as a primary school teacher 41
vii
Table 4.20 Workload and job satisfaction, by morale 43
Table 4.21 n, by manageable work-related stress 44
Table 4.22 Desired changes to work as a primary teacher 45
Table