Local bid to find charter school plan support level

Investigations are under way to determine interest in establishing a charter school in Dunedin, despite the educational model being criticised by educational groups nationally.

Dunedin educator Sarah Hjertquist has launched an initiative to gauge interest within the Dunedin community for establishing a new primary school along the lines of Discovery 1 in Christchurch.

Discovery 1 was a special-character, state-funded primary school which provided an innovative learning environment where children, parents and staff had an active part in the creation of a child's learning journey, Mrs Hjertquist said. The learning journey of children at Discovery 1 was a responsibility shared by the child, the family, the community and the school, she said.

The Government recently called for expressions of interest from anyone interested in establishing a charter school.

Charter schools have come under fire from New Zealand teachers' unions who believe they are a symptom of the Government's Global Education Reform Plan which would allow unqualified people to teach, companies to make a profit from schools and for power to be taken away from local communities in the running of their schools.

The New Zealand Educational Institute and the Post Primary Teachers' Association believed the schools were a failed ideological experiment from overseas.

Mrs Hjertquist disagreed.

She said her background was in early childhood and adult education, and she co-ordinates the Supporting Parents Alongside Children's Education (Space) programme under the umbrella of the Otago Playcentre Association.

Eight years ago she set up the Creatability Club for gifted children and is president of the Otago Association for Gifted Children where, she said, she had helped bring educational opportunities to Dunedin for teachers, parents and children.

Dunedin provided various different services and philosophies within early childhood education, and for a while now, it had been apparent to her and others that there were more possibilities and potential for alternatives at the primary school level in Dunedin. She said it was time to see what the community thought of the idea.

''The group is considering a range of different possibilities, including how such a school might be funded and supported, in order to create a sustainable and forward-thinking model that delivers a real point of difference in the education of children.''

Mrs Hjertquist was unable to provide further details, but said the aim was to establish a school providing an alternative learning experience.

- john.lewis@odt.co.nz