Activity 3: Global trends :
The closure of country schools

“More than ½ of humanity live in cities-over 2/3 predicted by 2050.”

In my short time in the education game I know of three schools in our district to face closure: Akitio School, Tirumea School, and Mangamarie School. All were full primary and eventually the numbers dropped by so much that they were forced to close the schools. Neighbouring schools gained the kids and boosted their chances of survival. Closing schools is nothing new and in 2004 a plan to merge many of the schools in the Masterton district saw the end of some country schools.

Why do these schools close? There are many things to take into consideration; but I would presume that teachers in charge of the schools would be right down the bottom of the list. I’ve heard one theory about the shrinking population in Tirumea which made sense to me; that was that a lot the farm land had been planted up in pine forests, which meant that instead of having many people to look after livestock, they only needed a few to look after trees. Manawatu Standard (2015) quoted the reason for the Mangamarie School closure is “Demographic trends, size of the district, and transport issues.”

Technology in farming is getting better and farms are getting bigger. A thousand hectare block would have once provide work for 3 people and their families will now only have 1. As technology gets better in farming, the need for people reduces. At its most basic needs, schools require…..firstly students to be in them.

Masterton district has an area of 229,859 Ha, population of 24,600, which equates to 0.11 people per hectare. 17.2% of the population rely on agriculture as an income. Our district should have the lots of country schools, not be closing them. In 2016 there were 12 schools with less than 10 students in them. Most of these schools were so isolated geographically that it would be hard to close these schools. In some districts, like Masterton maybe it is an easier decision.

What does this mean for me if I want to end up as a teaching principal in a country school? Is it too risky to pick up my family and move to a new district only to have a shrinking roll through no fault of my own? I know of a country school that has a mini-van that picks up students from town and drives them 20 km towards the coast to keep the numbers up. On the flip side, my sister in-law just moved to Auckland from Melbourne, and are now residing in the zone for a school that is already full. It would be fair to say that the principal was not interested in the arrival of this new entrant student.

The school I currently work at is sucking in students from around the district. These students are leaving their country schools to be at our school, with a roll of 470. It would be fair to say that we are nearing full capacity as well, while some schools have empty classrooms and are going through CAPNA.  

Does the country school still have a place in New Zealand or are we going with the ‘big is good’ mentality.

References: 

National Intelligence Council. (2017). Global trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https:// www.dni.gov/files/images/globalTrends/documents/GT-Main-Report.pdf

Wilkie, K. (2015). Manawatu Standard, July 15^th 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/69614857/rural-school-closed-because-of-declining-numbers

Statistics retrieved from: http://profile.idnz.co.nz/masterton/home

Schroeter, M. & McBride, N. (2017) Manawatu Standard, January 29 2017. Retrieved from: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/88846413/Then-there-was-one-Boy-has-playground-to-himself-as-sole-pupil-at-country-school