After a slow start, the government's forecast spending for its flagship education programme will leap nearly $100 million this year.
Teacher and student at Linwood Primary School, Christchurch. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
The Investing in Educational Success scheme was supposed to create about 250 clusters of schools, but so far only 34 groups are fully up and running.
Recently published government documents show it spent $8m on the scheme in the 2015-16 financial year, well short of the $74m it originally expected.
The documents now forecast spending will reach $103m this financial year, jumping to more than $160m in the 2017-18 year.
That money includes spending on elements of the scheme, like research by teachers, but most of it would be extra pay for teachers and principals selected to lead work on particular targets, called achievement challenges, in groups of schools.
The Education Ministry chief advisor for communities of learning implementation Tony Turnock said about half of the country's schools were now in the groups, known as 'communities of learning'.
He said it took time for each community to decide on their achievement challenges and select people for lead roles.
"A lot of communities of learning want to really get this right. They want to make a difference for their kids and ... make really good appointments to know that they're going to get the right people to make that real difference for kids in communities of learning, and so that does take time."
The ministry said more than 400 teachers and principals had been appointed to lead roles in communities of learning. They included principals who coordinated the work of each group of schools, teachers who worked across the schools in each group, and teachers who worked as leaders within their own school.
Another reason spending had been slower than originally expected was opposition by teachers' union the Educational Institute.
The opposition stopped after the government agreed changes to the scheme, but a member of the union's executive, Lynda Stuart, said there were still problems that would stop some schools from joining the programme.
"There are still concerns around the money going into the leadership so it's going into salaries for people rather than it going into the process and the work that we need to do meet the needs of the community of learners that we have."
Ms Stuart, principal of May Road School in Mount Roskill Auckland, said some schools did not want to appoint one principal to lead their group of schools and would prefer to share the job.
But the leader of the Mid-Bays community of eight Auckland schools, Murray Bays Intermediate School principal Colin Dale, said he could not understand the reluctance.
"I don't understand how anyone could be against what the plan and motivation is behind this initiative," he said.
"Government is resourcing teachers in a way that they never have before. They're giving them time, money, positions and leadership opportunities."
Scheme taps into 'hidden talent'
Another cluster leader, Patrick Walsh from John Paul College in Rotorua, was also enthusiastic about the scheme.
"I do think it's going to lead eventually, when most schools have bought into communities of learning, to higher student achievement and better teaching practice."
He said the scheme had tapped into the expertise and enthusiasm of teachers and principals in the group of nine Catholic schools.
"That was hidden talent that's now been discovered that can be shared across the schools."
But Mr Walsh said that even when a group of schools had been set up, it took a while to get it running.
"We've all been working as principals under the Tomorrow's Schools regime which is that we've been leaders of our own schools and worked in silos, so a new system which requires us to work as a cooperative and understand different systems, pool our data, ideas and share expertise has been a little bit problematic."