Charter School Board Desperate and Undemocratic Act

Charter School Board Desperate and Undemocratic Act.

The announcement of the new Charter School Board demonstrates the desperation of the ACT party to establish its research and development unit on the poor before the next election. Associate Professor Peter O’Connor of the University of Auckland says that the Associate Minister is so much in a hurry that he has forgotten even a pretence at democracy. In an attempt to beat an impossible deadline to set up the first charter school for the start of 2014, the Minister is setting up the board before the Education Select Committee has even reported back to parliament on the bill. Dr O’Connor says it is typical of the approach taken to the introduction of charter schools from the very beginning.

Dr O’Connor says that the appointment of Catherine Isaac will be particularly frustrating for teacher groups and those opposed to the introduction of charter schools following her poor performance as Chair of the Charter School working group last year. He says Catherine Isaac dismayed educators across the country last year with her failure to understand the basics of the New Zealand education system and her description of children in South Auckland as the Research and Development Unit of the education system.

ENDS

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