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School Mergers

Published on: August 2022

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-126678

School Mergers

Mrs HELEN DALTON (Murray) (17:00:25):

I move:

That this House opposes school mergers.

I speak about the very important issue of school mergers. The forced amalgamation of the only two high schools in Griffith—Griffith and Wade high schools—has been nothing short of a disaster. It was so bad that a recent University of New South Wales report listed a raft of recommendations ultimately resulting in the following statement:

In future consolidation projects, the DoE does not consider the 'one school – two sites' model as an option if the goal is to build a single school culture focused on improving outcomes.

That very damning report was completed in May. The Griffith community remains in limbo. Nothing has been done. Through no fault of their own, students, teachers and parents of Griffith have become the victims of an extremely poor and ill-informed decision by the Department of Education. In 2019 they were well and truly blindsided when the department announced that Wade and Griffith high schools would merge into Murrumbidgee Regional High School. At the time, the department requested that the community consider two options but then chose a third and different model, completely ignoring them. No rationale or data was presented to the school community to support the decision. It was thrust upon them as a directive. Geographically, the schools are 4.2 kilometres apart. Anyone could see the option was doomed from the start, and it just got worse.

Teaching and learning outcomes were compromised, curriculum pathways were not achieved, school operations could not proceed without structural change, and staff and student wellbeing was not what it should be. The community had lost all confidence. As a result of the report, the Griffith Teachers Association has demanded a change to the current structure and model of secondary education in Griffith. Can you blame it? Teachers, students and parents should not continue to experience the difficulties caused by this merger disaster. They no longer accept the performance framework to compensate for a flawed model of secondary education that does not provide the adequate staffing and additional release time required to ensure the model succeeds. They are calling for a return to the two separate year 7 to year 12 comprehensive high school models because it is the most proven model of secondary education in the State. They want to demerge; they want what is best for the students.

The Department of Education must also recognise and acknowledge that Griffith is a rural town, which requires rural incentives to attract and retain sufficient numbers of appropriately qualified teachers. Staffing shortages have plagued secondary education in Griffith for decades. Yet just 36 kilometres down the road teachers can achieve or access incentives, including transfer points, rental or mortgage assistance and additional pay. While the staff have done their best to minimise the impact on student wellbeing, it has been difficult to hide their frustration and significant decline in wellbeing. The negativity at Murrumbidgee Regional High School has also impacted enrolments. It appears that preferred secondary schooling is now at the local Christian and Catholic high schools and in Leeton. Four school buses run every day to Leeton. Enrolments have decreased by between 10 per cent and 15 per cent, and a further 61 students have left the school this year.

While the amalgamation was intended to increase curriculum and pathways, that has not been achieved. Only considerable reputational damage to secondary public education in Griffith has been achieved. I implore the Government, the teachers implore the Government and the community implores the Government to turn this sinking ship around and return the campuses to the two separate schools that once were.

Mr GEOFF PROVEST (Tweed) (17:04:27):

I appreciate the effort the member for Murray has put into this public interest debate on school amalgamations. I come from a long line of school teachers. It has always been my policy to listen to teachers, to senior educators, to headmasters, to school communities and to the P&C. School amalgamation is always an emotive issue. There is a history in schools, a longevity—my grandkids went there, my father went there et cetera. As members of Parliament we have a duty—to put politics and emotions aside—to create the best education opportunities for children that we can. They are our future.

Schools have changed in many ways—for example, open learning, electronic boards, laptops, iPads and other technologies. As I said, I am guided by my principals, my teachers and the school communities. The member for Lismore is in the Chamber. Undoubtedly she will speak about proposed mergers in Lismore. I acknowledge that this is a controversial issue and that people have quite differing views. We need to work together for the best possible outcome for our students. It is not about bricks and mortar. It is all about the students. It is about giving them a learning environment in which they can thrive and prosper.

Going through any school education is a difficult task and, unfortunately, a number of our schools have been hit with floods. One or two of the smaller schools in my electorate are under significant reconstruction and students have had to be moved. That can be emotional as well. I remember—and I am sure the member for Ballina will mention it—that there was a great debate about the merging of schools. At that stage there was a lot of emotion, one way or the other. But I believe that has been going well. Some time ago the Deputy Speaker had two schools merged in Port Macquarie. There would have been active debate no less in the wider community and differing views. The Deputy Speaker told me once that "it was going gangbusters".

I honour and respect the right of every member in this place to express their views. I am not in Griffith. I am not talking to the Griffith headmasters or the teachers or the schools. We need to focus on the educational outcomes for the kids. It is pretty tough being a kid. Times are tough. As I said, it is not about bricks and mortar. It is about educational opportunities. I visit a lot of schools, like many members. It is disappointing to visit an older school with demountables and no air conditioning—we have gone through that debate. At Pottsville we have a new school, and approximately $120 million for two local high schools and two primary schools in my electorate. The classroom layouts and the IT facilities are very different but it is all designed to give the kids the greatest opportunity. While I acknowledge the concern, I also acknowledge the future. When we went to school, it was a hell of a lot different to what it is now. The opportunities are different. Different subjects and courses are offered now. We should support our experts in the field.

Mrs Helen Dalton:

We do.

Mr GEOFF PROVEST:

And I am sure a lot of people do. I hazard a guess that all of us here have a good rapport.

Ms TAMARA SMITH (Ballina) (17:09:44):

I lead for The Greens as the education spokesperson in this public interest debate. The Greens support the member for Murray's motion. It is not my first rodeo in the sense of hearing the problems that are happening in the electorate of Murray. I have seen that in the electorate of Ballina and also, as a union organiser based in Dubbo back in the day, in the college system that was introduced there. So much of the problem is in the execution and the years leading up to these amalgamations. It is a matter for the communities in the electorate of the member for Murray.

The community needs to be front and centre. What happens is that there is an announcement and then the community gets consulted. My philosophy in life around community consultation is: you do a lot and you do it early. It needs to be genuine. Consultation means there is a possibility that you will not go through with it. The families, school community, teachers and experts need to consult as to whether that is the best model. Unfortunately, consultation these days, particularly by this Government, means something very different to that. It means there is an announcement, then we are going to have rounds of meetings and a lot of spin. That is not community consultation.

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My community has told me again and again that they love their small schools. I look forward to hearing from the member for Lismore in this debate. We are an area of villages and each village has its own character. The member for Murray said that these schools are 4 kilometres away from each other. They are totally different cultures. They are very different ecosystems of school community. It is about the school community and all of that connectivity they have. The infrastructure at the Ballina Coast High School, in terms of bricks and mortar, is phenomenal. That is why we welcome and we would never talk down infrastructure investment in education. Let us not go to the underfunding and under-resourcing in New South Wales per school student. We have not met that resourcing standard and we still have a long way to go.

We would never talk down infrastructure investment in schools, but the problem is in the detail in how you bring communities along with you. I believe the Ballina Coast High School is a success story. The reason for that success is because of community resilience and that families, students and teachers accepted it. They have rallied and made an absolute corker of it. But that is not the way I think that things should go. That is why we support the member for Murray here today. It should start with the premise that a community gets to decide for itself what is the best model. It is not just about cost. As the member for Tweed rightly said, it is not about bricks and mortar and just about cost. It is about people and the best learning environment. The Southern Cross Public School and Ballina High School were longstanding sites of culture and that transition was very difficult. I know that because I taught at Southern Cross School for over a decade.

It is important to reflect that the anxiety in the community of the member for Murray is because they have not been genuinely consulted. They have not been asked what is the right solution for their educational needs. Until the Government has the courage to actually ask communities what they would like and we get to the logistics, people will get very despondent about the concept of community consultation, because it is not real. The Government cannot foreshadow the conclusions that a community will arrive at. The Greens are very happy to support this motion today.

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore) (17:14:53):

I thank the member for Murray for bringing this motion to the House for debate today. I think that everyone in this place agrees how crucial education is for our future generations. I myself was the beneficiary of a wonderful education, sometimes with better resources than others, sometimes with lesser resources and at a number of different schools. I think we all know what that will mean for future generations of this State. This Government believes that we need to continue to invest in the best opportunities for students and their futures and that, as the member for Ballina said, means investing in infrastructure, teachers, support staff and all the resources and materials for our schools, and ensuring that communities are engaged. We are committed to continuing to do that.

There will always be different perceptions about what is the right path to take with different school models in different towns, and we acknowledge that. We acknowledge the strength of feeling that the member for Murray has brought to the Chamber today and her strong advocacy for our community, and we acknowledge what she is hearing from her own constituents. I understand that she has raised a series of concerns with us all here today and I appreciate her bringing those concerns forward. I will talk about some of the Government's perceptions of the model introduced at Murrumbidgee Regional High School, about how the Government sought to develop evidence-based policy to understand what would work, and about the review undertaken after the fact. That is why the University of New South Wales was commissioned to independently evaluate the "two sites, one school" model at Murrumbidgee Regional High School.

The purpose of that evaluation was to fully capture the impacts and benefits et cetera of this new model to ensure that we can provide rigorous and transparent feedback to the Griffith community. The evaluation team conducted a range of interviews and focus groups, for instance, with the executive principal, the senior leadership team, teachers, school administration and support staff, students, parents and caregivers. It was all about their perceptions of the progress. The evaluation began in June 2018, with the interim report published in 2020. The final report was published in July this year. That report by the University of New South Wales found that the years 7 to 9 growth data from the NAPLAN in 2021—the first cohort to enrol in the school—were at or above State averages in reading and numeracy, including a positive trend for student outcomes. However, the report also found that the school's overall NAPLAN and HSC outcomes remain over-represented in the bottom and middle two bands and under-represented in the top two bands. Student wellbeing has remained stable but the report found that building a single school culture has proven difficult, as the two sites continue to operate somewhat independently and there are inefficiencies and duplications across the sites.

The report also made clear that it is difficult to make any fulsome claims about the ultimate impact of the merger until a full graduating class has attended Murrumbidgee Regional High School. That will not be until 2024 and it will occur following two years that were heavily impacted by the COVID pandemic, which has reduced quite a bit of interaction and communal meetings across the two campuses. The evaluation also called for the department to address the reputation or perception issues regarding public schooling in Griffith and to undertake further work to ensure we cement public education as the schooling of choice in the town. This Government is committed to ensuring that the students at Murrumbidgee Regional High School continue to get the best education, as they and all students deserve. We have taken on board all 14 of the recommendations from the final report. The department has acknowledged the challenges that the model has presented at Griffith.

The strategic improvement plan for the school clearly sets out how the school and the department plan to support student and staff wellbeing and focus on cross-site collaboration. This includes both sites participating in school development days and staff meetings together, as well as combined sporting teams and graduations and common teaching and learning programs across all stages. The school is continuing to develop more activities that bring staff and students from both sites together to build a single school community. We will continue to monitor the progress at the school. I know there is a lot of pride for all the staff and students and the whole school community in their ongoing commitment to working together as one school. I acknowledge the contribution of the member for Tweed, who talked about how each community has a very different way of engaging in education. In my own community, one of our schools is split across two sites. It is a newer school and we have had similar challenges, but I know that our education models can work to achieve the best outcomes for all of our students and communities, no matter where they live and go to school in this State.

Ms JANELLE SAFFIN (Lismore) (17:20:01):

I support the motion of the member for Murray. In so doing, I shall speak directly to the New South Wales Government's plan to merge four schools into one in Murwillumbah. The member for Murray and the member for Ballina spoke about the need for community consultation and said, in essence, that is where a lot of wheels fall off. They also mentioned the cultural recognition that each school is different. That is one of the challenges. I would add that School Infrastructure NSW needs to broaden its focus beyond traditional infrastructure, building and engineering, and incorporate cultural planners into the mix. It cannot lump everyone together and expect that they will all be happy at the end of the day.

The proposed school merger may be convenient for the New South Wales Government, but it certainly is not convenient for the community of Murwillumbah and the district, for the teachers or for the school community. I cannot even remember the date—it seems so long ago with COVID, floods and everything else—when the education Minister arrived in town. She was there two minutes, aided and abetted by her all too willing accomplices, the member for Tweed and the Hon. Ben Franklin. With no advance notice and no conversation or consultation whatsoever with the school community, teachers or Tweed Shire Council, the Minister announced that the merger was to take place. To say that the community was shocked would be an understatement—and they were shocked, because there was no lead-up at all to such an announcement. Government Ministers all too frequently forget that the days when they could do that are long gone. As communities, we expect participation. We are a participatory democracy. Yes, we are representatives in this place. Our communities, our society, has changed. We are participatory democracies. Even with all the powers that Ministers have, they cannot just ride in and say, "I'm going to change your lives overnight and merge four schools into one." That time is long gone.

What emerged from that event was that I talked to the Minister. I said to the Minister, "If you can show me the educational rationale for this merger—that it is in the best interests of the children and students in this community—I have an obligation to listen and work with that." I did do that. I said to the Minister, "Come back to Murwillumbah and meet with the school community. Meet with people, sit around a table and have a talk." We did that, and I sought certain guarantees. One was that the Minister would give me the evidence for the educational betterment of the students. I am still waiting. I was told by people in the department what it would be, but I have yet to see it. That bit is missing from the puzzle. Some of this seemed to have arisen from East Murwillumbah Public School, which was flooded and quite gutted in 2017. There were promises that the school would be rebuilt. Certain works were underway. The library and other areas kept getting put off and put off. I kept asking what was going to happen. It was announced by my predecessor, and it was in the budget papers and out there in the media, but nothing happened.

Then I have been told that some bright spark in education said, "Let's merge and that will be a cheaper way of doing it"—so much for the educational rationale. They are all the issues that shroud this particular merger. We were guaranteed that no teacher would lose their job. But 20 teachers and four administration staff will probably lose their jobs. That is not good enough in a thriving community like Murwillumbah. Just imagine what that would do. We were also told—I was told—we would have a great performing arts centre, which would be the showpiece. When Infrastructure NSW showed me the plans, I asked, "Where is the arts centre?" They said, "That will be in the assembly hall." The list goes on. The merger is a disaster and needs a review. I have a commitment from the Opposition that a Labor government will stop the merger, consult with the community and will keep the four schools open.

Mr DAVID LAYZELL (Upper Hunter) (17:25:15):

I thank the member for Murray for raising the great topic of regional education and regional schools. We have always faced challenges in this space. Distance is a challenge in regional areas, and giving our kids the opportunities they need will always be a challenge. I see what the department is doing. It is about opportunities. The other day I met with principal Glen Kite at Muswellbrook South in my electorate. He is doing some amazing work within the school, which is in a challenging part of my electorate. He is looking at new programs and putting energy into them. I thought, "Here is someone we need to back; here is someone we need to promote in terms of what he is doing with the change process and the difference he is making in kids' lives." Managing change is very difficult, whether you are dealing with kids, parents or the community. Here is a principal and teacher who is a real leader doing fantastic work in that space. The New South Wales Government is investing in the school to change demountables to classrooms, and I can only imagine what that principal will be able to achieve in future.

I appreciate some of the challenges in Griffith with the single school located on two sites. It is about change and change management. We cannot be afraid to take on challenges to make sure that kids have the best opportunities. If that is a model that the department, and indeed a lot of the teachers, are supporting then we should support it also. We should see it through to make sure we collect data and evidence. The University of NSW report is helping by collecting and reviewing the information, and making good recommendations about how we can improve going forward. Since the merger occurred there seems to be evidence of more effective student transition from year 6 to year 7, setting up those students for success as they enter high school, providing opportunities through broader classes and even different teachers who can engage with the kids and make sure they get the opportunities and support they need to enrich their educational life going forward.

We are seeing benefits throughout the State. In Ballina and Armidale there are increased enrolments in models with additional facilities. Teachers are having a positive impact on students, and parents can see it. If community leaders get behind the teachers and principals, those positive impacts can only get better and stronger. A combined, community-wide effort is important. At Ballina Coast High School days lost to suspension decreased from 1,943 in 2017 to 674 in 2019. Principals have indicated that higher expectations and focus on school culture have contributed to improved outcomes. In relation to Griffith, the University of NSW final report found that years 7 to 9 growth data from the 2021 NAPLAN, the first cohort, was at or above the State average in reading and numeracy, indicating a positive trend. We do not yet know the full benefits, but we have to get behind the model. We must provide support to see whether this model will work and benefit those kids.

Mr DAVID HARRIS (Wyong) (17:30:26):

I support the motion of the member for Murray. By way of background, I worked in education for 26 years, mostly as a principal. My first appointment was to Griffith Public School, which shared a site with Griffith High School, and I know Griffith High and Wade High very well. The Government and the education Minister have to stop experimenting on our kids. Educational standards are dropping because we have mad schemes for school improvement. Instead of focusing on ways to improve them, the Government tries weird and wonderful models to somehow form hybrid schools that are failing our kids. When the experiments fail, the education of a whole generation of kids is ruined. These are not one- or two-year experiments. It is not a case of "Oh well, they will get a new teacher, we will fix it and the kids will be okay in the end." Students' entire educational lives are ruined when these experiments do not work.

Griffith Public School and Wade High School had very different cultures. So, in its wisdom, the Department of Education decided not to form a school for years 7 to 10 and a senior high school, which we have seen work in other places; it decided to keep the schools separate but give them the same name. This has failed dismally because the department wanted to create one cohesive culture across two sites but did not give teachers the time to sit down together and develop that culture. It put a principal in place to oversee the two schools but kept them virtually separate. It gave them the same name and the same uniforms, but kept them separated. How can you develop a cohesive culture across two sites when they never see each other? The teachers had no time to have proper meetings and develop curriculum together. You did not have to be an education expert to know that it would fail.

In the community of the member for Murray the parents of primary school kids have seen that the model is failing and are choosing not to send their kids to those two schools. They are turning to the private system, where kids generally tend to perform to a higher standard. Parents fear their kids will fall into a system that is not working, which means results spiral downwards because the top kids are lost. You do not have to be a genius to see this. I talk to teachers every day—my wife is one—and they speak about it all the time. As a principal, I advocated against Local Schools, Local Decisions, not because it was a terrible idea but because the implementation was all wrong. The Government put forward a theory to make all schools islands. It was all about the individual school. The Government then gutted the Department of Education of all the specialist staff that used to be the bridges between schools. So the schools became islands and did not talk to each other, did not share resources and did not have opportunities to work together.

You do not have to believe me; look at the Programme for International Student Assessment results. Our results are going down, down, down. We need to put a stop to this, because teachers are working their behinds off. They are falling over or leaving the system altogether because they are put into a situation where it does not matter how hard they work. They are not being rewarded, and the kids are not improving because that specialist help is gone. They are even starting to make it harder for teachers because the range of students they have to work with in the classroom is getting harder and harder.

I started off in one‑teacher schools: I had kindergarten to year 6 in the same room. It was really, really difficult. It was very rewarding, but we had a curriculum that stayed the same for a period of time, so we knew what we had to teach. Under this Government the curriculum changes every two or three years, so teachers do not have any continuity. They are continually trying to keep ahead of the changes while also having the skills to teach the kids. Let's have a reality check. The Government needs to understand that its policies have caused the problems in the system. Let's stop, reset and give teachers some continuity so that they can do their job, which is to teach kids and not to be forever coping with change.

Mrs HELEN DALTON (Murray) (17:35:44):

In reply: I thank all members who made a contribution to this important motion. The member for Ballina highlighted that the community needs to be front and centre, and I agree with that. I thank her for her contribution. Community feedback is so very important, and we did not experience that in Griffith at all. Other places, such as Lismore, did not either. A poor policy from the Government has been landed on us, and we have had no way to address it. It is not like the Griffith community has not tried to adapt; it has. I acknowledge that the member for Upper Hunter said that we need to adapt to change. We have tried. We have given it a red‑hot go, but it is impossible when there are two schools 4.2 kilometres apart that are totally different culturally, with totally different needs. It is not just about adapting to change. We would embrace technology if we could only have it, but at the moment there is not even a gymnasium at either school. Most every high school in this State has a gymnasium; we do not. We are out in extreme weather conditions, paddling around. It is disgraceful.

The member for North Shore agreed that education is important. I welcome her to come to Griffith to take a look and discuss the school issues with the community. That would be wonderful, because she would gain a huge insight into what is going on there. There was no bloody upside in the University of New South Wales interim report—none at all. The final thing in the model was that it was never to be replicated again, yet the Minister for Education and Early Learning, the Hon. Sarah Mitchell, stands by and allows a generation of children to fall by the wayside because she does not have the intestinal fortitude to admit that she is grossly wrong. She needs to demerge that school today. There is no need for this to go on. I thank the member for Wyong, who has taught in Griffith and has some insight into what it is like. I urge the Government to stop experimenting on our children. And that is what it is: one big experiment.

Mr Geoff Provest:

Do I get a mention?

Mrs HELEN DALTON:

What about you?

Mr Geoff Provest:

Yes.

Mrs HELEN DALTON:Time expired.

Well, you touted a lot of platitudes, too. I am happy to have you come to Griffith and talk to the people because, as I reiterated, we have tried to work with the Government. In fact, the Minister came to see our school. She heard from the community, the parents and the children. She even heard from the principals of the primary schools. No‑one was in favour of this. In fact, she was walking through the playground— []

The DEPUTY SPEAKER:

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Motion agreed to.