Thorough Education Acllieved in a Caring Home z=-- February 1997 be found in "Tonzorvow's NO Strings Attached ~C~~OO~~which set out the policy position the Government costs. Zlte srrnls payable are had reached having considered "I can advise that ,act, he same as t~tose the ,cot proposa, in there are no strings payable to parettrs whose Administering for Excellence. attached to the children are &lly enrolled Tlte booklet stares: stirdents qf the Correspertdence (supervisory) allow- ,YC~~OO~. "5.4.4 Cltildren bfing rntrght ante... II nt honte will have the right to As ~egnrd~sncco~mtnbili~~~, t11e enivl in Conrespondenrf School I So says Kathy l'hillips, Minislr)~Itas an ongoing need to rorrrses. 7hrir parent(^) will be satisfled that 1tomeschooled receive a home-based scl~oolirzg Senior Manager, National clzildrert are being tarrglzt "at allowance based on tlzat Operations, Ministry of least as regtrlarly and inell as in cur~entlygiven to the parents of Education, Wellington, in a registered school" but his Correspontdeftce School a letter to the Editor of requirentertt has nothing to do students. " TEACH Bulletin dated 22 with the supervisoiy allowance. Accountabiliy is achieved via Wzile there are no specific Jannary 1997. the annual scanttoql declaration requirements set down re- and the annual self evaluation garding the ways in which a The full text of the letter reporr. parent uses the home-based reads as follows: sclzooling allowance rvhiclt is This cornpares favourably non-taxable, there is an Be Minister of Education, Hon with the reply to a similar expectation that it will be used Wyatt Creech, has asked me to for tlze pulposes tlzat it is r~ade reply to your letter of 23 question put to the then available. It is made available December I996 concerning the Minister of Education, Phil to parents do have been supeivisovy allowance payable Goff, in a letter dated 6 issued nith a certificate of to ltornescl~oolingparents. August 1990, just when the exentption md ~vltocontinue to supefvisory allowance was homeschool on the basis that You have asked what strings, first introduced to home tlze certificate was issued, tizat any, are attached to the is, they have demonstrated that snpewisovy allowance, or what scl~oolers. The reply on their child will receive an accounting measures are behalf of the Minister was educarion as regztlarly mzd as expected. I can advise tlzat written by Noel Scott, then well as in a sclzool. Ihe there are no sm'ngs attached to Associate Minister of allowance, therefore, should be the allo~vanceother than tlzat it Education, dated 16 Octo- used for educational purposes is payable retrospectively, once ber 1990 and addressed to and to assist a parent in annually, to parents nflw have providing for the education of been educating their childrent Craig S. Smith, National the child. "at least as regularly and well Director, Christian Hme as in a registered sclwol". Tlze Schoolers of New Zealand. I would point or& that, as in the allowance is simply a It reads as follows: case with aray allowance of his recognition that parents who rype, it is tlze prerogative of the honteschool their cclzildren are Zlze reasorz for lzomescl~oolirtg possible recipients as to inevitably involved in various parents receiving a grant can tijlzether or not they accept it. (Don't forget to register for the TEACH Leadership Cotlferetice in Welliiton 28 Feb - 1 March! Home Schoolers and the Correspondence Srhool TEACH Bulletin editor Craig horize schooling option. mis Smith wrote to the Mitiistry of old relieve some qf the Education suggesting that the demand on teachers, classrooms MOE make the NZ Corres and resources, yet the students ponclence School lessoris ~vorrld still be within dze state conlpletely available to home education qwtern. schoolers free of charge. Provisioral results of the 6. nze Ministry would be seerz TEACH Bulletin 00pitii011 1'011 to be fitlfillirlg its legal #1 show that this would indeed obligation to have all children be a popular mnove, with 82% derinstrzrction as regular and of respolldents in favour of the ~vellas in a registered school in idea. a way that provides a greatev mnolmt of choice to parents Your Editor's letter, dated 23 nil17 fewer rather than nlore December 1996, pointed out tlw adminiswative hassles. following benefits of such a move: 7. It would be Jilture oriented, as more and more activities I. Being on nze Corres- are being centred around the pondence School, home Imze to gain the logistical schoolers would not need advantages. exemptions, thereby eliminating vast amoz4nts of papernjork fm 8. It simply makes more sense the various MOE oflces in NZ for the Government's Corres- pondence School to be teaching 2. 7hey n~ozild not require dze next generation the Reviews by rlte ERO or annual approved cuwiculrrm, rather reports or annual sratzitov)r than the vast numbers of declarations ns they ~vould be adults and prisonem who are enrolled in a registered sclzool crirrently on the Corres- and follonirzg the national pot7.dence Sclzool roll. ciin.ictrlurn step by step. The Con-espondence School is 3. Not requiring rlze itenzs in quite a zwique development in Poinr 2 would constitute quite a hZ and has a good reputation. saving ro the MOE in lerrns of It is a shame that it is denied to money and manpower. dze very grozrp that w074ld berte$t the most became of its 4. Having some home sclzoolers current astronontical fee on the Correspondence School SwUcCUre. would relieve tlze concerns expressed by some within the Hon~ many lzorne schoolers principals' and teachers' nmuld opt for the Corres- grozrps. pondence Sclzool lessons once they became available free of charge k a matter of Hear, my son, your father's 5. If the Correspondence School instruction, and reject not your lessons were available to all conjecture, but I personally mother's teaching. comers, it rnight encourage suspect there could be quire a -- Proverbs 1:8 Inore parents to take up the fpw. Since the number of home I I I .... .... ...... ... .....,. , . .. ... TEACH Bulletirl Page 2 February 1997 sclzoolers is goII~PIP is 20,000 on the C.S. role. 'The no doubr rhar the nrrmber ~ho rest are adults, part time ~lordd choose the Corres- students whose schools do not pondence School M:OMM gro+v. offer those subjects, and But it M,oI~/~be growth of what prisoners. Oh, yes, ad then the Ministiy iuorrld srirely see As yorr WP nil)nre, home- there are the students who were a good thing: rnore children schoolirtg parents do have the expelled from the high school in following dze national ctnri option of prcrcl?ashz,q Corres Cambridge for smoking dope. culum with less adf?zinishatii~eponderrre Srlzonl corcrses for work for Minishy stag, and less use as the basis of tlzeir 'Ilie bit about C.S. not being a demmtd on already scarce honzesclzooli~zgprogramnze. If scl~oolof choice is liot totally teaclzer tirne arrd classroom Correspondence Sclzool enrol- accurate. There are the athletic resources. r~~errrand lesson material were students who want to put in to be freely available on extra hours training every day The MOE sent a reply dated 27 request, tltis wotrld cor~~pletelywho have nlanaged to talk the January 1997 which said 111e change the clt~n.acl~rof the C.S. into letting them onto the followjl1g: scl100l. role free of charge. Under Section 3 of the I appreciate your desire to ofir So if you are an athlete or get *- Education Act 1989 rlze a constructive suggestiort or7 a expelled from school or end up Government accepts an matter wlzicl~ concerns you. I ui prison you can have free obligation to pro~~ideaccess to trrmt that this explanation of access to the C.S. lessons, but pee education and pee crtrrent Governntent policy liot if you just wait to study efzrolment at a State school for helps you to understmtd the them at home. In that case you all students between the ages of wider context qf dze isszre you can buy the lessons at arod 5 and 19. Some parents, have raised. $3,000 per year. The Editor however, exercise their option has known parents who have to enrol their children at private Signed: themselves signad up for C.S. sclzool. Others exercise tlzeir Kathy Phillips, Senior Manager lessons, since they were right to seek an exemptiotz National Operations. virtually free to adults, aml then urlder Section 21 of the give the lessons to the children Education. Act 1989 to enable This is a very nice reply, but it to do. This is not bei tlzem to homesclzool rheir doesn't deal with the issues, suggested as a course of action, children. since these kids of letters can but it has been known to take only work withiti what is place. As part of its commilnzenl to Govenment policy. providing access to fvee Current policy is rmt to allow education for all New Zealand students free access to C.S. What Makes for clzildren and young persons, the lessons, implying that with the Govermnea resorrrces the right moves in the future it Hi h Quality Corresporzdence School as a could well become future ? sclzool of last resort for those Government policy. What ducati ion parents wlzo want access to could be done is for those ho~This question was asked of Dr state edztcntion but who find if schoolers who are uiterested m judith ~ik~~,chief &ecutive impossible or impracticable to this issue to write to their own of tlK ~d~~~ti~~~~i~~ office. enrol tlzeir children in a regzrlar MP and ask his/her opinion on Here is her atiswer as reported school.