For a brief moment last year, it looked as if the Ministry of Education was finally going to embrace methods of teaching literacy and numeracy supported by scientific evidence. They published a new literacy and numeracy strategy that made reference to structured teaching methods. Read more
Tokona Te Raki, an advocacy and research group for Māori issues, has recently released a report titled Kōkirihia. The report takes aim at the practice of streaming in our schools and pushes forward the bold suggestion to ban streaming by 2030. Read more
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is worried, and rightly so. His city is battling an invasion of road cones, and something must be done about it. Read more
We urgently need a conversation about education. Not the kind of ‘conversation’ the Ministry of Education typically convenes when it consults on new policy ideas. Read more
ast Thursday, most of New Zealand’s teachers were on strike. Teachers’ unions representatives say that the action was necessary to press their claim for better pay and working conditions. Read more
ast Thursday, most of New Zealand’s teachers were on strike. Teachers’ unions representatives say that the action was necessary to press their claim for better pay and working conditions. Read more
No matter how good an idea, it takes time for the entire country to hear about it. But that time has now come for localism. Read more
Inflation is a problem for the first time in 30 years. Property prices have whiplashed. Read more
You may recall New Zealand’s sixteen former Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) being merged to form the mega-Polytech, Te Pūkenga. But if you do, it is a false memory. Read more
The country’s public service is at a crossroads. Under former Public Services Minister Chris Hipkins, public sector headcount has exploded. Read more
After becoming Prime Minister in May last year, Anthony Albanese got straight to work. Within the first few weeks in office, he fired the heads of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Defence. Read more
Last week, documents came to light under the Official Information Act, showing that the Ministry of Education has been putting pressure on NZQA to make new literacy and numeracy requirements for NCEA easier to attain. It's not hard to see why Ministry officials are worried. Read more
What a difference a few weeks make. At the beginning of the year, I thought the economy would pick up momentum, inflation would soon come down, and polling trends would continue, possibly leading to a change of government come election time. Read more
The New Zealand Herald this week revealed a government-commissioned research report – just as the opposition called for fewer external consultants. The University of Auckland report for the Ministry of Transport seeks to identify public support for new methods of financing transport infrastructure. Read more
New Zealand’s school curriculum has things exactly backwards. Let me explain. Read more