Pasifika parent representation on the boards of trustees

What We Have Found

The number of Pasifika parent representatives on the board fairly reflected the Pasifika student numbers in a third of schools.

Date Updated: February 2013

Indicator Description

The proportion of schools with a fair level of Pasifika parent representation on the board of trustees.

Why This Is Important

Boards of trustees of state schools must hold elections for parent representatives every three years. A board may also decide to adopt a mid-term election cycle where half the number of its parent representatives are elected at a mid-term election (18 months after the triennial election) and the remainder are elected at the triennial election. 

Triennial elections have been held every three years from 1998.  A by-election can occur at any stage in the election cycle if an elected parent representative leaves the board and thereby creates a casual vacancy.  Although the major changes in board membership occur in triennial election years, there is still some fluctuation in intervening years due to by-elections and mid-term elections.

This indicator is a snapshot of the composition of boards of trustees as at 1 December of each year.

Active participation by Pasifika in planning, development and delivery of education services will help to ensure that those services are appropriate and effective for Pasifika students. Pasifika representation on boards of trustees is one key mechanism for participation.

How We Are Going

In 2012, there were 472 schools with sufficient numbers of Pasifika students that, for the students to be fairly represented, we would expect to have at least one Pasifika parent on the school board of trustees. This expectation is based both on the number of Pasifika students and the number of positions on the board.

The proportion of schools with fair Pasifika representation increased from 26% in 1998 to 35% (164 schools) in 2012.  The trend shows a gradual increase in the last decade. The number of Pasifika parent representatives in the remaining 308 schools (65%) does not reflect the number of Pasifika students in these schools. 


Proportion of schools with fair Pasifika representation (1998 to 2012)

Demographics, such as family size, may contribute to this under- representation.  Based on the Population Census 2006 for every school aged Pasifika child (5-19 years old) there are 1.17 Pasifika adults aged 25 to 49.  In comparison there are 1.81 European/Pākehā adults for every European/Pākehā child. 

Number of schools and the proportion of schools with fair Pasifika representation (1998-2012)

While the majority of schools that should have Pasifika parent representation on the board of trustees are co-educational, the proportion of schools with fair representation in the 24 single sex schools (54%) was higher than among co-educational schools (34%).

Fair Pasifika representation on the board was more common in secondary schools (43%) than in primary schools (33%).

The majority of schools (59%) considered in this indicator are decile 1 to 3 schools. There were, however, schools that we could expect to have Pasifika representation in every decile.  Only one of the four decile 10 schools had fair representation giving a low of 25% and six out of thirteen decile 9 schools had fair representation giving a high of 46%.

Where To Find Out More

For further statistics on board of trustees members try: http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/schooling/ board_of_trustees

To obtain information on the proportion of Māori representatives, consider indicator:

• Māori parent representation on the boards of trustees.
  

References

• Savant, R. (2010). Analysis of the Board of Trustee Elections: 2010. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
• Ministry of Education (2010).  Effective governance - working in partnership.  Wellington: Ministry of Education.
• Statistics New Zealand.  2006 Population Census.