In the zone: New Zealand's legislation for a system of school choice and its effects

Abstract

This paper examines the legislative framework developed in New Zealand over the last 15 years to facilitate greater parental choice in education. The discussion is set within the context of changes to admission practices in a number of education systems to advance the privatisation agenda, and outlines the resurgence of interest in the development of voucher-based models of school choice. The New Zealand case study describes the series of regulatory changes that governed admissions and selection from 1989 onwards, with particular focus on selection in situations of school over-subscription.

Externalities and School Enrollment Policy: A Supply-Side Analysis of School Choice in New Zealand

“…Although this is merely a point-in-time estimate of the relationship, previous researchers (Fiske & Ladd, 2000;Ladd & Fiske, 2001;Pearce & Gordon, 2005; echoed these findings as a hallmark attribute of the presence of enrollment schemes in New Zealand. But what are the implications?…”

“…As indicated by numerous scholars and authors on the topic of New Zealand's school choice landscape (Fiske & Ladd, 2000;LaRocque, 2004;Pearce & Gordon, 2005;Thrupp, 2007aThrupp, , 2007b, the existence of enrollment schemes in both primary and secondary schools is on the rise. reported enrollment schemes are largely a phenomenon of urban areas (in which the percentage of urban schools with schemes was 28.6% vs. 7.1% for rural schools in 2004).…”

“…This article aims to illuminate supply-side characteristics of the landscape of choice in New Zealand today. 1 Hypotheses Pearce and Gordon (2005) and Thrupp (2007a;2007b) have reported a phenomenon taking place in the middle-class urban areas, where local children were unable to attend local schools, which has triggered an enrollment policy response that was intended to protect and prioritize the right of local school access to any schools that were oversubscribed. However, other researchers have suggested that the presence of the home zone has, in reality, acted to restrict access to local parents at the cost of enabling bright out-of-zone students to attend sought-after schools located in areas their parents could not otherwise afford to reside in (Harrison, 2004;Thomas, 2008).…”

“…Enrollment policy in New Zealand has undergone a process of enactment and reversal as a reflection of the tension between market-based and public delivery ideologies inflamed by a power struggle between parents and schools (Fiske & Ladd, 2000;LaRocque, 2004;Pearce & Gordon, 2005). Between 1989 and 1991, home zones were established, and school access was guaranteed to local students, with excess demand to be decided by lottery; beginning in 1991, home zones were abolished, and with the abolishment, the rite of access afforded local students to their neighborhood schools in cases of excess demand.…”

“…In 1981, Paul Peterson presented the argument that the structure of a school system forms the underlying landscape for educational opportunity. Because actual responsibility for enrollment policy is housed at the school level in New Zealand (Pearce & Gordon, 2005), the basis for an economic contextual understanding of school choice lies at the local level. In consideration of these combined theoretical frameworks, it is likely that the distribution of students into schools under open enrollment could lead to segregation by race and class as a function of parental preferences, school enrollment policy, and the power of schools to set their own boundaries.…”