School boards ‘may walk out’

Press, 21 October 1989, Page 20

School boards ‘may walk out’

PA Hamilton School boards may have to contemplate walk-out action if they do not get sufficient funding, a Post Primary Teachers’ Association national executive member, Mr Norm Austin, says.

Mr Austin said boards would be facing extreme pressures next year when they tried to run their schools efficiently with little money. Tension between boards and teachers might also arise if boards had to make cuts in some areas of the school, said Mr Austin.

“When boards get themselves in the position where they can’t possibly run the school because of the lack of funding, boards may have to contemplate walking out on the school,” he said.

The new education system introduced to New Zealand this year is almost parallel with the., system in Britain, he said. The British system, which had been running for 18 months, had resulted in low teacher morale inside and outside school hours, teachers leaving the profession and going to lower-paid jobs ’ with higher job satisfaction, and more pupils; going to private schools, said Mr Austin.

“The New Zealand system has the potential to be an absolute disaster,” he said.

Already there ' were signs of breakaway school board organisations being set up because the boards’ demands and services were not being met, he said.