Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, December 21st, 2011 - 71 comments
Irony will be if Anne Tolley gets sacked over a portfolio she no longer holds. And if she’s fired, not for turning one of the world’s most successful education systems into an ideological warzone over performance pay but, for lying to Parliament about a principal turned ministry expert with a sleazy husband being suspended.
Written By: - Date published: 1:47 pm, December 12th, 2011 - 69 comments
The new cabinet is out, and the Biggest Loser is Anne Tolley.
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, November 22nd, 2011 - 35 comments
The Nats’ education policy came out yesterday and, predictably, it’s ideologically driven nonsense that will damage children. Worst aspects, league tables (almost universally condemned by experts and experience) and a proposal for the Nats to specify a “personality test” to select teachers.
Written By: - Date published: 4:44 pm, September 11th, 2011 - 73 comments
The other night I resigned from the bot of my local school. My experience in the field of education is fairly varied, with time on both sides of the chalkface as it were. … the bot has been forced by the government, through the moe to include national standards, and I can’t in good conscience be a party to such foolishness.
Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, September 8th, 2011 - 132 comments
RNZ had the news this morning that the schools most strongly opposing the nonsense of “national standards” – the Boards Taking Action Coalition – have decided to change their tactics.
Written By: - Date published: 1:55 pm, August 17th, 2011 - 53 comments
More and more schools are standing up and saying No to national standards. Naturally, Tolley thinks it’s all about her.
Written By: - Date published: 4:03 pm, July 31st, 2011 - 61 comments
Why is it that the Ministry of Education has at least 20% of the school boards unwilling to put National’s standards into their charters. They are doing this despite the blatant bullying by the Anne Tolley as the minister. They can’t see what the standards would positively achieve for their kids. Perhaps Tolley needs some education?
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, July 2nd, 2011 - 63 comments
Yesterday was crunch day for schools who oppose the governments national standards, and a surprising number have made a very bold stand. But according to Tolley: ”Look, it’s election year, so anything goes”…
Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, February 3rd, 2011 - 5 comments
Crushless Collins’ double-bunking money saver costing $2.6m.
Shock! Paying someone else to build and operate our schools won’t save money.
Nat-appointed public service chiefs paid to air-commute. Pay cuts for frontline.
Key smiles at launch of new science ministry, waves in $3m of science funding cuts.
Written By: - Date published: 3:33 pm, February 1st, 2011 - 23 comments
Today is the day that Anne Tolley’s $400 million dollar cut to early childhood education bites. A sector which delivers $13 value for every $1 invested is really going to hurt. Centres themselves are having different responses: 90% of centres are definitely raising fees – between $2 – $80 per week, with an average of …
Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, January 24th, 2011 - 17 comments
Today’s Herald editorial explores Auckland Grammar’s decision to ditch NCEA in favour of the Cambridge exams and the support this elitism, which undermines the NCEA system, has received from Anne Tolley. Never shy to give helpful advice to its favoured PM, the Herald tells Key it’s time to rid himself of the incompetent Tolley.
Written By: - Date published: 2:16 pm, January 23rd, 2011 - 31 comments
The international evidence that National Standards don’t work is conclusive. Only 20% of schools are ready to implement them and over 300 schools are refusing all together. What’s our Minister for Education’s response to the objections of people who have dedicated their lives to education? A declaration of war – using the kids against the teachers.
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, January 20th, 2011 - 44 comments
Auckland Grammar School (that most private of public schools) has decided that NCEA isn’t good enough for them and that it doesn’t meet the needs of its community. When 300+ Primary Schools said the same about National Standards Minister Tolley threatened Boards of Trustees with the sack, threatened with extra visits by ERO and a cut in funding.
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, December 9th, 2010 - 19 comments
Yesterday, the OECD released its annual comparison of educational achievement in different countries. This study compares half a million kids’ aptitude in reading, maths, and science. Kiwi kids come out pretty damn well: 7th in reading, 13th in maths, 8th in science. And, guess what, we beat countries with National Standards hands down.
Written By: - Date published: 1:59 pm, December 1st, 2010 - 52 comments
The Nats’ stupid slash and burn approach to early childhood education (ECE) is about to hammer families. And once again Anne Tolley is in complete denial about it.
Written By: - Date published: 5:17 pm, November 22nd, 2010 - 33 comments
Anne Tolley prefers instead to concentrate on the diversion that is National’s Standards. It must be easier implementing a political slogan than actually doing her job.
Written By: - Date published: 1:13 pm, November 13th, 2010 - 33 comments
Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, November 11th, 2010 - 58 comments
The latest Nat campaign to stifle those who speak out against them is in full swing. A report that a “Third of rebel schools appear to soften stance on standards” goes on to note the bullying tactics being used against schools to achieve this “compliance”. These tactics have already caused a senior Ministry official in the Auckland region to refuse to participate in the harassment of schools in protest.
Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, November 9th, 2010 - 69 comments
An education blog reports a revolt in the Ministry of Education, with a senior official in the Auckland region refusing to bully schools over national standards. That is well and bravely done. So much easier to keep your head down and “just follow orders”. But these orders are very very wrong.
Written By: - Date published: 7:21 am, November 8th, 2010 - 29 comments
Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, November 5th, 2010 - 161 comments
Anne Tolley has lost the debate on national standards. The boycott looks set to gather strength, and even The Herald has come out against them. The empirical evidence, academic consensus and weight of professional opinion has always been against standards. The only ones still defending them are hacks and shills pushing a political agenda.
Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, November 3rd, 2010 - 69 comments
225 schools are refusing to take part in the Nats flawed, damaging “national stadards” fiasco. They have a mass of educational evidence and professional opinion on their side. Anne Tolley and the Nats have precisely no evidence to support their position, all they can do is repeat threats, slogans and lies. That is why the Nats are losing this debate.
Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, November 2nd, 2010 - 112 comments
Anne Tolley’s Education Amendment Bill 2, due out of Select Committee next week, ignores the Law Commission’s call for “light-handed” legislation to deal with 100 year old gaps that leave children at private schools in a legal vacuum regarding their welfare. Instead the Nats will hand unspecified sums of public money to private schools.
Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, October 29th, 2010 - 24 comments
According to a recent piece in The Herald: “Education Minister Anne Tolley said a recognition that New Zealand’s education was the best in the world did not rule out reform.” Reform may not be ruled out. But charging ahead with untested, unwanted, and probably damaging national standards certainly is. Where is the case for them, if our education system is so good?
Written By: - Date published: 1:57 pm, October 28th, 2010 - 30 comments
The last Labour government introduced 20 hours free early childhood education. It’s a resource that many parents have since come to rely on, taking some pressure off household budgets as every other cost seems to keep on going up and up. But now we have the latest in a series of indications that the Nats are going to cut the programme…
Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, October 25th, 2010 - 3 comments
Rumplestiltskin spun hay into gold. It stikes me Anne Tolley is quickly becoming a “reverse Rumplestiltskin”. Taking a very successful Early Childhood Education sector and stripping out millions, putting the primary sector through the national standards debacle, forcing secondary teachers to strike – Tolley is turning gold into hay.
Written By: - Date published: 11:47 am, October 24th, 2010 - 7 comments
The Secretary for Education Karen Sewell has just had a minimum pay rise of $30,000p.a. Ironically the same 4% that teachers are after. Here is some maths for Mrs Sewell. Her 4% is 30,000 dollars. 4% of a teachers salary of around $65k is $2,600 dollars.
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, October 20th, 2010 - 23 comments
Trying to get my head around the economic arguments going on. Hearing contradictory things. Who’s telling the truth? ls Labour’s new overseas investment policy Stalinism that will ruin the economy, as Key claimed on Monday and Tuesday? Or is the same as the existing law, as Key claimed on Monday and Tuesday?
Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, October 8th, 2010 - 2 comments
Hot on the heels of massive cuts to Early Childhood Education Tolley has formed a taskforce to ‘take a look at the provision of ECE services‘. That’s hot on the heels of a similar taskforce to have a gander at why the National Standards won’t work. Has the goose ever thought that maybe, just maybe, you should think before you act?
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 am, September 29th, 2010 - 54 comments
Anne Tolley, Minister for wrecking primary education, doesn’t have the first or faintest idea of what “national standards” are actually going to mean in practice. She is “appalled” at the idea of labelling children as failures. But that is exactly what the standards are designed to do.
Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, September 18th, 2010 - 52 comments
On Tuesday Anne Tolley, Minister for wrecking primary education, dropped another pearl. Has there ever been a comment made by any other minister, ever, in the history of New Zealand, that is as stupid, as arrogant, as offensive, as out of touch, as brain-fartingly idiotic a statement of the bleeding obvious as this clanger from Tolley? Anything even close?
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