| Roll Play: How creating better access to schools in Christchurch could affect school rolls Steve Thomas | 6 December 2007 |
Roll Play: How creating better access to schools in Christchurch could affect school rolls takes a fresh look at the impact of policies which could provide better access to schools for New Zealand children. The research presented in Roll Play explores the practicalities of allowing parents more equitable access to schools. It analyses data from a telephone survey of 424 parents whose children currently attend a secondary school in Christchurch, and looks at whether they think this is the most suitable school for their child or whether they would like to change their childs school. The report contends that allowing families greater opportunity to access the school they prefer for their children is a fairer way of determining access to state schools than the current enrolment system.
The research examines the case of Christchurch, a city in the South Island of New Zealand. In particular, it focuses on how the size of school rolls might change if parents were given better access to schools. Roll Play also explores how education policy could be changed to accommodate the wishes of parents, and how school capacity could be managed in Christchurch with changing school rolls.
One of the most important implications of the research is that in a situation where access to state schools was improved, the proportion of parents who would change their childs school is approximately 10% (with 95% certainty and an associated margin of error of +/- 3%). This means that there is enough capacity in the current Christchurch school system to manage the increase in demand that the more popular state schools would probably experience. The findings of the research therefore call into serious question current education policy around school enrolment if state secondary schools are over-subscribed.
Read the full report including maps (4.5 MB)
Read the executive summary (1.0 MB)
Read full report excluding maps (1.0 MB)
