education

Categories under education

Local Bodies: Whale Oil and Tolley Attacked Principals and Myself

Written By: - Date published: 7:50 pm, September 4th, 2014 - 25 comments

The stench of National’s dirty politics is reeking like decayed blubber. Today it appears that Anne Tolley appears to have used Cameron Slater  to attack critics of their flawed education policies. The question is how much taxpayers funds did the ministers use on their vindictive support for the countries most despicable ‘blogger’?

TolleyOil?

Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, September 4th, 2014 - 34 comments

NetworkOnNet posts about the Ministry of Education under Tolley bullying good principals though WhaleOil. And also in Education news: this week all 4-7 year olds will be eligible for a free hot school lunch… in the UK.

Dirty politics in Dunedin

Written By: - Date published: 12:49 pm, September 3rd, 2014 - 42 comments

No. Not Pete George. Instead Andrew Geddis appears to be up to his neck in the mire of organising “Debating ‘Dirty Politics’: Media, Politics and Law”, at a ‘scholarly’ debate on Friday from 1pm-4pm. It is a long-winded scholarly debate inside work hours. But it will be streamed on youtube and hopefully not only live.

Tertiary education – a “public good”

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, August 5th, 2014 - 14 comments

The Green Party is launching their “election priority for students” at Auckland University today from 2-3pm in the Auckland University Quad.  Russel Norman and Metiria Turei announced a student Green Card for off peak public transport. Updated

NRT: Breach of contract

Written By: - Date published: 6:50 pm, August 1st, 2014 - 9 comments

When National set up charter schools, they promised that they would be more accountable, and that contracts were a better means of enforcing standards than the usual school system. That works only if they’re enforced. NZ First has shown that at least one school is completely in violation of at least one part of their contract. So is the National government enforcing a contract? Yeah right….

Local Bodies: Novopay Exemplifies National’s Governance

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, July 31st, 2014 - 26 comments

This National led Government is strong on ideology, weak on process and reluctant to accept responsibility. The Novopay debacle exemplifies all of these well. When questioned about Novopay, National Ministers will never accept full responsibility. Stephen Joyce has just announced that the Government will be taking over the management of Novopay after almost two years of stress and wide-ranging issues. No matter what National and its Ministers claim, Novopay is largely their fault, and taking responsibility and making apologies are not what this Government does readily.

Local Bodies: Manipulated Data and the Art of Deception

Written By: - Date published: 12:28 pm, July 28th, 2014 - 7 comments

The National led Government are desperate to present the good news stories to promote the success of the past six years of their governance. They have increased the budget and the numbers of their spin doctors to ensure that it is mainly positive messages that make into the public domain. The Government cleverly manipulates data to hide the extent of poverty the degradation of the environment and the success of our economy. Of course most of us who live in the real world know that National’s reality is a falsely constructed one.

The education debate

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 pm, July 7th, 2014 - 58 comments

Education has become a major election issue.  And after Labour’s announcements at this weekend’s congress there is a stark divide, between the enrichment of the few or the advancement of the many.

Polity: A clear choice on education

Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, July 7th, 2014 - 144 comments

One of the most prominent battlegrounds in this election campaign will be education. Both large parties know our kids deserve better than the two-tier education system we currently have. Both have clear, costed plans they think can help. And now the public can choose. Actions, of course, speak louder than words. Both John Key and Bill English have chosen to send their own kids to private schools. Asked why John Key said  “Their schools have smaller class sizes and are better resourced than most state schools.”.

Imperator Fish: In the Beehive today

Written By: - Date published: 12:14 pm, July 7th, 2014 - 5 comments

This post was put up at Imperator Fish on Sunday evening. It looks like Hekia Parata was following Scott’s script today. 🙂

Sure we need a better class of wingnut commenter, as is frequently suggested here. However surely it is more important that we get a better quality of government minister than ones who think that evidence based policies means only the evidence about how well their party is doing in the polls?

A quick note to John Key

Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, July 7th, 2014 - 44 comments

Remember when John Key explained why he sends his children to private schools….. and now the Nats and Parata are saying that such advantages don’t work for all Kiwis.

David Cunliffe’s Congress Speech and education policy

Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, July 6th, 2014 - 116 comments

Livestream details of David Cunliffe’s speech to the Labour Party Congress this afternoon which is expected to announce reduced classroom size by funding more teachers using money clawed back from National’s so called super teacher policy.

Labour addressing digital divide

Written By: - Date published: 11:24 am, July 5th, 2014 - 136 comments

What stands out for me in the part of Labour’s education policy announced today, is the deliberate intent to make sure that all kids wind up with a personal network capable device both at school and home, and access to the net. At present we don’t. Much of the “voluntary” donations in schools is for computer equipment that kids need to learn from, but is not paid for by the state funding of schools. I was fortunate in that I started computing in 1976. Everyone needs that education now so they can pay for my retirement..

Labour will end the farce of “voluntary” school donations

Written By: - Date published: 1:40 pm, July 2nd, 2014 - 188 comments

Labour’s latest education policy announcement is fair, practical, and an answer to my (childhood) prayers.

Local Bodies: Pay Equity, Rod Donald Was Right in 2004

Written By: - Date published: 1:44 pm, June 28th, 2014 - 3 comments

In 2004 Green Party Co-Leader Rod Donald made a speech about the Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill. Ten years later the State Sector is still not an equitable employer. Pakeha men have done considerably better over the ten years than any other demographic and this is despite the fact that for many years now females have been out performing males academically. Women still earn less relative to their qualifications than men. There is some hope that a future Green/Labour coalition may finally address the issue.

Local Bodies: National’s Campaign Strategy Stinks

Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, June 20th, 2014 - 25 comments

We all know from reading Nicky Hager’s The Hollow Men (or watching the documentary) that the National Party actually advocates for a small section of society. Their policies rarely support most New Zealanders and after each period of a National led Government we have costly messes like leaky buildings and dead miners as the aftermath. This isn’t to say that Labour shouldn’t take responsibility for not repealing dodgy legislation, but National has always stood for less regulation, fewer protections for workers and the environment and an upward flow of money to the already rich.

Local Bodies: Teaching Profession Rejects Parata’s Plans

Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, June 11th, 2014 - 78 comments

Classroom teachers, the New Zealand Educational Institute, the New Zealand Principal’s Federation and education academics have all strongly rejected the Government’s proposed $359 million Investment into Education Success (IES). All believe that this substantial amount of money will not produce the results that the Education Minister claims and would be better spent elsewhere.

David Farrar badly needs night school

Written By: - Date published: 3:08 pm, June 6th, 2014 - 45 comments

In Kiwiblog this morning, David Farrar appeared to be running a 9th floor pre-pump for John Banks to resign. But I was rather incredulous when I read this “I don’t think the Judge has actually helped the Government by delaying the decision on entering a conviction. Now that it is the Judge’s role to care about the impact on the Government.”. Huh? DPF badly needs to go back to do some adult education. Perhaps to night school?

ACE restored

Written By: - Date published: 12:01 pm, June 6th, 2014 - 87 comments

I see that Labour announced the restoration and increase of the Adult and Community Education (ACE) funding that National slashed back in 2009 and largely killed the programme throughout much of the country. Damn good idea. This used to be a vital step up for people and their families to improve themselves and the subsequent generations as well. I have a personal history and interest in this. More than 4 decades ago the night schools that ACE now run caused a transformation in the opportunities for my extended family.

Green Party conference – focus on policies

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, May 31st, 2014 - 74 comments

It’s the Green Party Conference this weekend.  Metiria Turei was on RNZ yesterday morning, talking about how the main focus for the conference will be on policies.  Speeches will be streamed live online from the conference today & tomorrow. Update: summary of today’s speeches. Healthy Teens policy.

Stepping up: new energy from Kelvin Davis

Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, April 23rd, 2014 - 115 comments

Labour has swung positively behind the change from Jones to Kelvin Davis.  In his interview on TV3’s First Line this morning, Davis was confident, down-to-earth, & energetic. Hone Harawira & Davis are strong candidates for Te Tai Tokerau and those struggling on low incomes. Both would be assets for a Labour-led government.

LB: EDUCANZ, Professionalism and Politics

Written By: - Date published: 11:18 am, April 17th, 2014 - 8 comments

We now have a Ministry of Education that is under the beck and call of the Minister, and where political ideology determines policy, and shortly we will have a new Teachers Council that will be governed only by political appointees. Under a National led Government, teachers will lose any professional independence and become classroom technicians that have to support politically prescribed programmes and data collection. Anyone want a career in teaching?

Polity: Key in self-parody about lying (mk 2)

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, April 2nd, 2014 - 52 comments

There was an Audrey Young piece in the Herald yesterday, in which John Key talks about Labour’s plan to increase eligibility for free Early Childhood Education. So Key thinks this policy will cost at least ten times as much as Labour does. That’s a very big claim. But Andrey did not appear to ask for his sums, she just printed Key’s figures without comment. That was a pity because John Key’s figures are a bare-faced lie and are quite impossible.

Walking the talk – protests Sat 29 March

Written By: - Date published: 2:07 pm, March 28th, 2014 - 63 comments

Tomorrow Today: Support the important Day of Action across NZ against the TPPA – the TPPA is anti-democratic, pro-corporate & will make life harder for ordinary Kiwis; Support the NZEI demonstrations in Auckland & Wellington, for a living wage, for an excellent public education system, against poverty that undermines education. [Update: photos & reports]

LB: The Destruction of New Zealand’s Public Education System

Written By: - Date published: 3:11 pm, March 27th, 2014 - 21 comments

In 2008 New Zealand was internationally ranked in the top seven for educational achievement, and when you compared us with other countries that were also culturally diverse and were experiencing growing inequality we were extremely successful. A National led Government was elected and New Zealand’s public education system came under heavy attack… Hekia Parata continues this.

Closing the Gaps – Education & work

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, March 17th, 2014 - 8 comments

Simon Collins article on reducing inequalities for Māori & Pacific people. Māori and Pacific youth have become significantly disadvantaged in employment.  However, the article supports charter schools, without examining how such neoliberal intitatives are ultimately damaging for Māori & Pacific people.

Hekia Parata wants to punish poor schools

Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, March 17th, 2014 - 46 comments

Yesterday Hekia Parata floated the idea that funding of schools should be based on measuring the periodic change in academic standards.  This is a retrograde proposal which almost inevitably would penalise poor schools and worsen educational standards for many.  Today she has been trying to dampen down the idea and has emphasised that it will not be considered until after the next election.  A better reason to vote this Government out I cannot imagine.

LB: Government Spin and Hidden Secrets

Written By: - Date published: 4:24 pm, March 8th, 2014 - 34 comments

This National led Government has seriously mismanaged things and is desperate to hide the true effects of its governance over the last five years. I half suspect many of the retiring National MPs are jumping ship because they don’t want to be around when the proverbial hits the fan. National have carefully constructed showy facades that hide flimsy realities

Polity: Minimum pass rates at University are silly

Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, March 8th, 2014 - 21 comments

The government has imposed mandatory minimum pass rates of tertiary education. If Universities (and Polytechs, Waananga, and others) do not meet a government-imposed minimum pass rate (which ratchet up every year, and may go as high as 85%), then the institution risks losing some of its government funding. That is crazy town.

Militarism and the NZ Left?

Written By: - Date published: 12:28 pm, February 28th, 2014 - 31 comments

Two uncritical articles in Auckland’s local press, raise questions about the role of the NZ military, and the educational and cultural impact of a military charter school.  Unstated and unquestioned, is the nature of NZ’s relationship with that of militaristic US imperialism.

LB: Executive Principals and National’s Education Dystopia

Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, February 27th, 2014 - 18 comments

When John Key announced the Government’s plan of spending a whopping $359 million on education it was received with a sort of stunned incredulity. The problem is that few conservative governments understand education and the value of professional knowledge and the treatment of the Christchurch schools revealed a total disregard of the importance of communities.