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It was about this time last year that Education Minister Hekia Parata, in the context of a discussion about decile funding, said she was interested in reviewing the funding system for schools. Her office subsequently made it clear that any review would not happen until after the election. Read more

Last week Parliament passed the Education Amendment Bill, creating a new professional body for teachers, Educanz, which replaces the New Zealand Teachers’ Council (NZTC). The secondary teachers’ union president Angela Roberts said “teachers will not take this lying down”. Read more

The review of troubled Whangaruru facility should be released to help the rest, writes Rose Patterson. One of New Zealand's first charter schools is failing, abysmally, and the Ministry of Education must stop dodging questions. Read more

Should teachers be paid on their students’ NCEA achievement or National Standards results? Should they be let go if they can’t get their results up to scratch? Read more

We live in a time of immediate gratification, and at election time, political parties love to pander to what we want, right now. A recent 3 News Reid Research poll asked voters what they prefer for education. Read more

Last week some Aucklanders in the double grammar school zone (Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girls’) were upset to see that One Tree College and Selwyn College were looking at including them in their school zones too. They fear this may lead to Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girls’ shrinking their school zones, excluding their children from entry to these sought-after schools. Read more

This year both National and Labour announced education policies that aim to strengthen school leadership and collaboration. National is putting far more resource behind their policy, but Labour has a big advantage: they are better at getting buy-in from teachers. Read more

Labour has been busy announcing a series of election promises for education: helping parents provide digital devices for every child, covering school donations, and the latest – reducing class sizes. The first two attempt to address issues of inequality of opportunity for school students; wealthier families are more able to provide their children with modern learning tools, and school donations represent much less of a burden on the household budget than for less affluent parents. Read more

Over the last week, Labour have announced an impressive array of educational policies. While it is impossible to comment on every single proposal, two of their major initiatives – on digital devices and class sizes – are worth discussion. Read more