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It is said that if something is not broken you should not try to fix it. Fair enough. Read more

School exam papers do not often make the headlines, but when they do it is always for the wrong reasons. The recent saga about an unexpectedly difficult NCEA algebra exam may be a case in point. Read more

Last month, we launched a report on the government’s interest-free student loan policy. To summarise briefly, the scheme has had no particular benefits in improving access to tertiary study, but has been rather costly both for the government and for the tertiary sector. Read more

A couple of months ago, I was part of a panel discussion on the future of tertiary education, hosted by the Tertiary Education Union. It wanted a forecast of the future of skills in a world of technological change: what should universities be teaching to prepare students for the world ahead? Read more

2016 is closer to 1240 than you might think. In 1240, Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, established the first ever documented student loan system. Read more

The train-wreck was utterly predictable but we should still look back to see how it happened, how bad it was, and how we can keep it from happening again. This week, The New Zealand Initiative released its decade-on retrospective look at the government’s interest-free student loan policy. Read more

Distance makes the heart grow fonder, so they say. But sometimes distance can also make you see things more clearly – not just if you are farsighted. Read more

Imagine if you were buying your first home and the only information you had was what you could see from the outside and through the windows. It may seem odd, but this is largely what happens in our public schools. Read more