Who's Really Running the Ship?

Union Blackballing

Who operationally runs and controls government schools?  The obvious answer is the government.  He who pays the piper, calls the tune.  Fair enough.  It's a reasonable answer.  Nevertheless it is a superficial response.  In effect, the teacher unions have enormous influence over how the government education system operates.  They virtually control the curriculum, the terms and conditions of employment, who will be admitted to the profession, and so forth.  Most of this influence is an exercise in soft-power.  It is not overt.  It is not belligerent.  It does not have to be. 

Now this would be fine if the unions were committed above all else to high quality education for New Zealand students.  But they are, we hear you protest.  All the time union representatives and talking heads are declaring they seek the best education for New Zealand students.  What is generally concealed, however, is that "best education"--in the collective union mind-- always means union-sanctioned education and a system which serves the needs and appetites of union members.

Every so often there is a face-off between the government and the unions.  Almost always the unions win.  Here is an example of raw union power and government capitulation.

When Chief Petty Officer Kelly Kahukiwa left the navy to teach in Northland he did not know what a charter school was.  Now, because he had a job at a Whangarei charter school, the student teacher is caught between a teachers' union and a controversial government policy that has left him blacklisted from training at state schools. It comes after the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) said its members will not work with employees of charter schools.

The union blackball was announced before the introduction of charter schools.  It has been relentlessly carried out, particularly in Northland where education union membership appears to be quite militant.

Mr Kahukiwa started teaching te reo Maori and music at Te Kura Hourua O Whangarei Terenga Paraoa in Whangarei at the start of the year. He sought out the school after meeting some of its students at the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Cassino in Italy last May, where he was with the Royal New Zealand Navy. "All of us in the military, when we met those kids, we knew there was something special going on," he said. "I just thought, oh well, whatever a charter school is it works for these kids, I want to be part of it."

Mr Kahukiwa wanted to be a teacher.  As part of his training and work experience he wisely wants a breadth of experience in various school.  His mistake was he chose his initial assignment to be at a blackballed school.  Now, get this.  The responsibility to train teachers lies with the government.  The Whangarei based charter school is government sanctioned and funded.  But the union has blackballed it.  Which of the two--government or union--would win?  That is, which has real control?

Mr Kahukiwa said the first he knew of any issues was three days into his next placement, at Tikipunga High School in May. Once the school found out he was from a charter school, the board asked him not to return. "I was just astounded," he said. "I had no idea why or what was going on. I'm just one teacher trying to do what [the PPTA members] all joined for, which is educate kids, uplift the kids and share my skills." - Northern Advocate

The board of the Tikipunga High School is enforcing the union blackball.  Contrary to the position of the government.  It is clear that the teachers' union really controls the schools and the teaching profession.  It's high time the teachers' unions were faced down and told by the government to withdraw the blackball, or they would face de-registration as unions.  It is also high time the government sacked the board of the Tikipunga High School for acting not in the best interests of their school but as stooges of the union and its self-serving propaganda. 

If not, there is at least one positive will emerge.  De facto teacher union control of government schools is being unmasked.  Not one scintilla of genuine concern about, or commitment to, young people and their education.  It's all about union muscle, union jobs, and union feather-bedding. No surprises there.