The Education Ministry suspects some schools have been opening for fewer days than legally required, documents obtained under the Official Information Act show.
The documents also show the ministry is preparing a crackdown – monitoring schools next year and limiting the number of days they can choose to close this year.
The Secondary Principals Association challenged the ministry’s evidence that schools were breaking the rules.
It also said the ministry’s interpretation of what counted as being open for instruction was wrong, and it had legal advice to that effect.
The association warned earlier this year that the ministry’s interpretation of the rules would be difficult to manage.
The documents obtained under the OIA were dated August and September last year, and said the ministry had ministerial agreement to address “the current non-compliance with the use of school-initiated closing for instruction like Teacher Only Days (TODs) by some schools”.
The documents said schools had to be open for instruction for a set number of “half-days” each year – periods of two hours or more where there was compulsory, organised learning for all students and teachers were available.
Primary schools had to be open for 382 half-days and secondary schools for 376 this year.
School could close for teacher-only days initiated by their boards, but had to make those days up at the start or end of the year.
They could also close for teacher-only days initiated by the education minister and those “don’t usually” need to be made up.
However, the documents said schools were not sticking to the rules and it was an area of “misunderstanding”.
“We have found the reasons for closing have become increasingly diverse and frequent, with inadequate notice given to whanau and we are not sure if boards have been making up the half-days,” one of the documents said.
“In the 1990s and early 2000s schools have had ministerial authorisation to close during term time for show or gala days.
“However, the reasons boards have used to close have become increasingly varied and they have not adequately notified their communities about them.
“Also, we believe many schools don’t understand what open for instruction means, likely because it isn’t defined in the regulations and therefore they count days when only some year levels are at school as open.”
The document said “other reasons” schools had closed during term time included sports days, parent-teacher interviews, open days, orientation days, prize-giving, field day, agricultural events, commemorating local historical events, special character reasons, and tangi/funerals.
It said tangi/funerals “may need to be treated differently when a school could not open because all staff and students were attending”.
“A case-by-case approach involving agreement with the local Te Mahau office is a possible solution,” the paper said.
The document said the ministry would develop clear guidance for schools because “this is a key area of misunderstanding in the sector”.
The document said “new settings” would allow schools to close during term time for four curriculum half-days this year and four “board discretion” half-days.
A hand-written note said schools could close for two full days that they had to make up and two curriculum days they did not have to make up.
“Outside of this by application to minister against set of criteria or call back days,” the note said.
Schools would also have to give their communities six-weeks notice of a closing day.
Secondary Principals Association president Louise Anaru said it challenged the ministry’s suggestion that some schools had failed to make up for days that they chose to close.
“I would challenge the credibility of that evidence. If there is evidence it’s Spanz’s opinion and and we recommend to the ministry – approach the school or couple of schools if there is evidence of that, talk with them rather than punishing the whole sector.”
Anaru said the association had been told schools would be limited to four teacher-only days, two of which they would have to make up,
She said schools would not meet the ministry’s interpretation of “open for instruction” for the entire six-week study leave period during end-of-year exams.
Many schools would also fall short for a further three or four days a year due to events such as staggered starts for different year groups, powhiri for new students, and parent-teacher interviews or “conferencing”.
“It’s really just not possible to comply with the new requirements,” she said.
“In cases such as study leave for senior exams, there wouldn’t be enough days in the year to catch up.”
Anaru said schools were constantly looking for extra time to teach their students and were not trying to short-change them by taking classroom time away.
“It’s very low trust,” she said.
Anaru said the association was waiting for detailed guidelines from the ministry before it went to its members to decide its next move.
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