I've been thinking about this a bit lately. It should be noted that I only have experience working in a low decile school. However, coincidentally I have had three professional conversations relating to this topic just recently, with three different people.
Low decile schools get more funding (what that is, I'm not sure, but I believe it is significant). I believe the reasoning behind this is because lower decile children are lower achievers. However, does that mean to say all, or most, high decile children are high achievers? I was talking to teacher of a high decile school, who was telling me that 85%ish of her numeracy class (she did have the lowest streamed class of three classes at her year levels), were below the national standard. That is a huge number for a smallish amount of students. Why aren't they getting the funding to help them?
Working in a low decile school, I would say the resources I have access to are excellent. We have a wide range of reading material, an extensive library for both students and teachers for professional learning, we are starting to build up some great e-learning resources, and we have pretty plentiful maths resources as well. Our school has managed to fund an out of class numeracy and literacy facilitator for some years and has been able to provide extra literacy and numeracy support for at risk children. Our kids (most) are moving! Do high mid and high decile schools get the same opportunities?
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