Guy Pascoe: Independent Schools of NZ CEO on parents making significant sacrifices to send their kids to private school

There’s a belief a surge in Kiwi parents making significant sacrifices to afford sending children to private schools won't last.   

In some instances, private school enrolments are closed until 2027, families are being asked to submit videos of their home life, and entrance tests are being made tougher. 

Independent Schools of New Zealand chief executive Guy Pascoe told Mike Hosking around 4% of New Zealand students are enrolled at private education.  

He says parents are making huge financial sacrifice to make it happen, and there's concern there'll be a point when parents simply can't afford it anymore. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It turns out we love a private school, more and

(00:02):
more parents lining up. In some cases, now enrollments are
closed until twenty twenty seven. Families are being asked to
submit videos of their home life, and entrance tests are
being made Tougher parents are fighting for a better curriculum, qualifications,
smaller class sizes, independent schools of New Zealand. Boss Guy
Pasco's well this guy, very good morning to you, Mike.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
How are you very well?

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Indeed, thank you boom times. This is good, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah? Well, it certainly is goofel or some schools. But
I would say that while there's really high demand in
certain areas like Auckland, in other parts of the country,
it's not uniform across all schools.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
I was going to ask you, is this a main center,
think as this an Auckland, Wellington christ Jedge thing.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, it is the main center, so I think, I mean,
certainly there are some schools in the regions that are
doing well as well. But as I said before, it's
it's like uniform.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Is this a noticeable spike or what we've been discussing
for many, many years, there's a sort of malaise around
some of the public school system and the qualifications and
the attention and the turning up and all of that,
and therefore you drift naturally to private.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, a good question. I mean, we have noticed an
increase in enrollment in independent schools since COVID, and that's
actually been observed internationally as well.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Oh really, so it's not just New Zealand, because I
can mount you a fairly substantive case that says our
public systems in deep, deep trouble. And I'm not surprised
at any of this, but you can tell me it
happens all over the world.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, it certainly was a post COVID response that internationally
we're sun to see a kind of a decline, And
obviously what's happened in the UK has had increditiveness that's
on their independent school system at the moment. But yeah,
our numbers have kind of been hovering around four percent
nationally for a number of years.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Who in a costable living crisis so called how do
you afford this?

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well, I mean that's a really good point, and appearance
are making huge financial sacrifices to up to send their
children to the school of their choice, and something that
you know, we are concerned about is that at some
point there will be at some point where no apperients
just something you can't afford it anymore.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Do you get something better? And I know the answer
to this because I'm a parent of five and I've
gone through private and public and integrated every school going
in the country. Does going to private give you a
better education?

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, ultimately that's for parents and families to decide. I mean,
there are some incredible things happening in independent schools around
the country, and the results speak for themselves. But that's
not to say there aren't amazing things happening in state
schools as well, And we're just something advocating for independent
schools as a small but very critical part of the
wider sector.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Interesting, all right, Guy appreciated Guy Pasco Independent Schools of
MW Zealand CEO. I'll come back to that my experience
if I have time, because I have a fairly well
honed view on that.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
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