Alarm at speed of School Journal privatisation

23 September 2013

Alarm at speed of School Journal privatisation

There is growing alarm at the speed at which the government is moving to privatise the School Journal.

Today is the deadline for private publishers to declare an interest in bidding for the publication – just three weeks since the government announced that it was planning to close Learning Media.

“This is a valuable publicly owned educational resource that is being flogged off as quickly as possible and with no public scrutiny,” says Greg O’Brien, writer of the history of the School Journal.

“The government has put in place a breakneck timetable in order to try to avoid the growing public backlash over this shortsighted move.

“The School Journal has been in existence for over a hundred years yet the Government is trying to sew up a privatisation deal in a matter of weeks.”

Mr O’Brien says the government is recklessly tampering with the heart and soul of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

“If the School Journal was a building then the Historic Places Trust would have long ago declared it a national treasure - a Category 1 Historic site. In educational publishing, New Zealand was once the envy of the world.

“However, a bunch of small-minded bean-counters now seem intent on curbing the nation's ability to think and feel and celebrate its shared, complex and unique character.”

“Quite simply the privatisation of Learning Media and the School Journal is putting at risk high quality homegrown content which has provided generations of Kiwi kids with relevant and enjoyable reading and learning,” said Peter Verstappen, Principal of Wakefield School and member of NZEI Te Riu Roa Principal’s Council.

“The best way to instil a love of reading amongst young New Zealanders is to have them read about situations that they can identify with. That’s why a homegrown School Journal is so important.

Yet again this government talks about the need to improve educational outcomes while at the same time showing a lack of care over the future of vital tools to help our children enjoy learning and reading.

PSA National Secretary Brenda Pilott says the privatisation of Learning Media will potentially see the loss of experienced and valuable specialists who currently produce the School Journal and other quality learning materials.

“What privatisation will mean is that staff currently employed on a permanent basis at Learning Media will either be lost or scattered throughout the private publishing sector and their work will become casualised.

“Producing quality learning New Zealand learning material for New Zealand children should remain a core role of a government-owned agency.”

In the short time since its fate was announced, thousands of New Zealanders have expressed their concerns about the future of the School Journal through an online petition and Facebook campaign.

ENDS

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