20 December 2011

Frame’s life story sends a clear message to prime minister

PPTA says its latest book to the prime minister is a real example of education operating as a public good.

“To the Is-land by Janet Frame is a rare insight into education in the 1930s, and adds to the reading John Key has just done on C.E Beeby’s life and the reforms he made in education,” says junior vice president Doug Clark.

“Janet Frame was fortunate to be attending secondary school at a time when the government expanded its investment in public education. The introduction of charter schools signals the return to a system where education is left to the whim of the market, churches and charities and is not an automatic right.”

“Today this system has been replaced with an incoherent and fragmented web of privatised and contracted services which inherently fails to meet New Zealand’s skill needs and burdens our young people with a lifetime of debt,” said Clark.

“Charter schools are not a public good and we hope this latest reading reiterates the importance of real solutions for quality education.”

In the spirit of the season PPTA continues to help John Key build up a collection of reading by gifting him a book on each of the 12 working days until Christmas.

The letter to the Prime Minister is available here.

ENDS

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