So NCEA results on reading writing and math are crashing… in my opinion this is directly attributable to Covid lockdowns although no one seems to talk about it.
I was lucky my wife and I had the means to have a good internet connection enough devices for my wife and our daughter and even then it was tough just through lack of space.
Both my wife and I had colleagues that had 2-3 children that really struggled they basically had to ration time in 'class' through lack of devices.
Worse through my wifes work, dealing with families in desperate need, we got a real understanding that it was impossible. Both parents 'essential' having to go into work to keep a roof provide food… their children fell behind in a huge way… how can they afford 2 or 3 devices and the internet connection to match plus provide the help and supervision….
Yes. It has had a huge impact on school children and students generally. And its going to take a long time to redress the situation.
But lest we forget:
we were in the first throes of a worldwide pandemic. We had no vaccines… no nothing to fight the virus other than isolationist policies and mask wearing. It took 12 plus months to get the country into a position where Covid could be managed and to ensure a minimum of death and economic destruction.
Many NZers have incredibly short memories. Too many have already forgotten how much we owe this government for saving the lives of so many of our mums, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and indeed children. Rather sad.
Sure, but it shows we failed our children especially the children of our essential workers. Where were the free devices, internet connections a Labour govt should have been all over that hell we dont have a plan to catch them up… instead we're seemingly suprised that they've fallen behind.
That's been the biggest failure of our covid response and it has far reaching consequences…
I'd say that was a complete drop in the bucket and a shit study. The charity my wife works for managed to fill about 30 percent of requests for help in terms of devices and they were comparatively well funded.
Keeping children alive and safe during a global pandemic is a failure?
"COVID-19 lockdowns revealed the extent and impact of digital exclusion when schools had to pivot to distant learning. The Ministry of Education introduced a range of solutions to bridge the digital gap"
For me the problem more stems from our education system focusing too much on environmental and cultural topics, and inadequate time on basics. The first move to remedy this situation should be streaming. But they are currently removing the last vestiges of streaming from our education system.
The pathetic quality of teachers is another problem. My grandchild's tattooed teacher is current up on charges for assaulting a police officer. She had previously told me she loved the open plan classrooms as it allowed he to wander into the adjoining class to have coffee and a break. I thought the staff room was the place teachers went to have refreshments?
From a fairly limited sample, admittedly, I’d say that ≥ 95% of NZ teachers have a tattoo, somewhere. There’s only a weak correlation between teacher performance and inked skin area.
Your facetiousness is duly noted. Not all teachers using the staff room are high quality. But I bet most teachers who dawdle into an adjoining classroom to have a cuppa during class time are piss poor educators. Maybe that's one reason why open plan classes are under review? There's much more I could say about my case and why open plan classroom where implemented into our education system. However, such candour would have me moderated faster than you could say ''Aotearoa grows dumber by the year.''
From my experience it's more down to individual teachers rather than the system per say, but at school age a missed year is absolutely massive developmentally especially for those that do best in person or with practical teaching in person.
My comments aren't meant to negate the undoubted affects Covid had on education. I said at the time the hardest thing regarding Covid and education would be getting kids back to school. That has been proven the case with many kids who pre Covid had poor school attendance records. Covid gave them the means and excuse to go completely off the grid.
I dont agree when it come to means and excuse… schools a habit once broken it's very hard to recover from. You're correct in that kids with poor attendance pre covid dissapeared completely but covid sent a whole lot more kids into that group and a heap more through no fault of their ownand in got left behind. Current NCEA results back that up.
From my experience, one thing which has a huge effect is teacher movement rather than teacher quality.
This is amplified in a market where private schools are free to raid state schools for the best performers. The movement and the loss felt by state schools affects student performance.
It is yet another example of how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Sadly they were in the minority and that's probably where you are right. But there are some great teachers in the public system just wanted to point that out I guess.
That’s because the private schools have the freedom.
So the good teachers have a choice. Move and be rewarded for their skills. Or stay in the public system for the love of the job but accept they get the same pay and conditions as the completely hopeless ones.
I think Jack’s point is that hopeless teachers & staff stay stuck in the slimy sewers of public schools and that the best and only the best rise to luminous and lofty heights of private schools. Metaphorically speaking.
You know enough of the specific day to day workings of your local schools, in their classrooms, to be able to stay they focus too much on environmental and cultural topics, and inadequate time on basics?
In hindsight yes, to a degree anyway. Actually think that was also down to the confidence of the teachers especially with subjects like maths.
Also think some moving away wrote learning for things like basic maths was mistake and that's a governance issue. To be fair I didnt realize that myself until lockdown and having the ability to sit in class with daughter. Not knowing by memory the answer to say 7*9 slows down working through more complex equations by quite alot. Hurts in timed exams.
Unfortunately , focusing on the basics will not fix the problem since the teaching of the basics has been thoroughly corrupted by many destructive philosophies in education.
For rigorous reading scientists,the evidence that the sound pathway is used in reading is as conclusive as research on complex human behaviour can get. Yet less than 20% of new entrants in NZ are taught to read using phonics early ,thoroughly, systematically and explicitly which is what is needed for the pathway in the brain to be established for at least 60% of children . This teaching is structured literacy.The token phonic readers introduced recently by the MoE combined with predictable readers could do more harm than good since for many children they are incompatible reading systems and It can cause them to become overwhelmed.
Failure to have children learn their tables by rote assures the child is disadvantaged in arithmetic. The numeracy project adds more destruction with its failing experimental approaches to basic arithmetic manipulations, instead of using time tested methods as Asian countries do .NZ is now right at the bottom on international achievement tests.
The horrible philosophies cooked up in academia and promoted by MoE has produced all this stupidity and failure . Don't blame classroom teachers for this ..
The both parents working scenario is not peculiar to the pandemic. This idea has been central to the neoliberal cause for many years.
Every adult must work to achieve the growth required to support the high castle. This means kids which in generations gone by would have had some parent support at home no longer have any.
Now, we pay one parent for a few months of work to rear the child and call it job done!
I always wonder about the focus when people use Americanisms when they are in a different country. I wonder about the point of view……
After every disaster there have been affects on those who can least afford it……children having to leave school during the depression to help bring food to the table, people who were little more than children going to fight in various wars, children who never had the support of a father because he had been killed during WW2.
I know that we had to educate via device and that this meant some lost years of their education, though it is simplistic to throw the blame on the 'Gummint' for everything. There are some who will make up, some that won't.
I think we will have to be clear eyed about this and have a realistic safety net for those who may not have achieved, cannot achieve. This could be with second chance education, and adequate access to suitable housing and benefits and supplementary payments. Fair wages etc.
Absolutely – it's amazingly similar to Luxon in New Zealand in 2022. Because he:
still believes the 40 year old neoliberal fantasy that tax cuts favouring the rich produce economic growth rather than just asset price inflation
is a craven disciple of the same mad, libertarian, privately-funded, right-wing think-tanks (such as the IEA) as Truss – and which celebrated her mini-budget as essentially their own creation implanted into her mind
won't accept or admit that when it comes to economic matters he is consistently wrong-headed, won't listen to advice and mistakenly thinks he is some sort of incisive genius
has only one tool in the toolbox – tax cuts for the big end of town
like Truss, can barely form a sentence that has any meaningful content – rather than slogans raided from a tatty 1980''s neoliberal rucksack he picked up somewhere along the way
I said to a family member earlier today – "how long before the RW media start inverting reality and compare Truss to Ardern?" Little did I know that someone called 'Jack on the Standard would be leading the pack on this distortion. Well done mate!
Jeremy Hunt 4/1 Penny Mordaunt 5/1 27 stoats in a raincoat 8/1 Cthulhu 10/1 A half eaten Chomp 12/1 Thatcher's corpse in a wheelbarrow 14/1 A Speak & Spell glued to a dog 18/1
It has to be someone who doesn't care that they will probably lose and so never get another shot. Or someone who is deluded enough to think they can win. That means a masochist or a lunatic. Tories prefer to inflict pain rather than receive it (cue Uffindell) which means masochists will be short on the ground.
"The energy strategy follows a recommendation from the Climate Change Commission. It will be developed over the next two years, with the final strategy due in December 2024."
What have they been doing for the past 5 plus years?
Planning for change with a zero discount rate,now the reality of real interest rates (the post gfc low or negative central bank rates were an anomaly)
The reality now is it will cost a lot of money,with an appreciating interest burden and a Government that has a high current account burden,and budget deficit which will worsen,munting the export sector will not lessen the economic emergency.
The options they were exploring was for more overseas investment into generation,but that was effectively just a transfer of profits,and interest rates offshore increasing the current account deficit.
There are big differences in the aspirational goals of 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and the engineering and economic reality.
It would appear that they havnt even reached the point of determining viability of anything irrespective of funding costs….all they appear capable of is announcing reports and aspirations….and then re-announcing the revised reports and aspirations…ad infinitum.
It won't be allowed to happen. If it looked dicey, a deal would be done behind closed doors and the losing candidate would be 'compensated' either by way of a rapid promotion or their personal finances would take a rapid turn for the better.
Getting paid off under the table is normal practice among the Tory political elite – and their equivalents elsewhere.
Originally published by The Hill After decades of failure to pass major federal climate legislation, Congress finally broke through last year with the Inflation Reduction Act and its close to $400 billion in clean energy investments. Energy modeling experts estimated that these provisions would help the U.S. cut its carbon pollution ...
Apology Accepted? “I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen …The communications weren’t fast enough – including mine. I’m sorry for that.”–Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.HOW OFTEN do politicians apologise? Sincerely apologise? Not offer voters the weasel words: “If my actions have offended anyone, then I ...
At first blush, Christopher Luxon’s comment at the parliamentary powhiri at Waitangi this year sounded tone deaf. The Leader of the Opposition in talking about the Treaty of Waitangi described New Zealand as “a little experiment”. It seemed to diminish the treaty and the very idea of our nation. Yet ...
THE (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding. BRIAN EASTON writes: Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It ...
A brief postscript to yesterday’s newsletter…Watching the predawn speeches just now, the reverence of those speaking and the respectful nature of those listening under umbrellas in the dark. I felt a great sadness at the words from Christopher Luxon last evening still in my head. The singing in the dark accompanied ...
by Don Franks While on holiday,I stayed a few days in Scotland with a friend who showed me one of the country’s great working-class achievements. It was a few miles out of central Edinburgh, a huge cantilever bridge across the river Forth. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic and ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 29, 2023 thru Sat, Feb 4, 2023. Story of the Week Social change more important than physical tipping points1.5-degree Goal not plausible Photo: CLICCS / Universität Hamburg Limiting global ...
So Long - And Thanks For All The Fish: In the two-and-a-bit years since Jacinda Ardern’s electoral triumph of 2020, virtually every decision she made had gone politically awry. In the minds of many thousands of voters a chilling metamorphosis had taken place. The Faerie Queen had become the Wicked ...
Look at us here on our beautiful islands in the South Pacific at the start of 2023, we have come so far.Ten days ago we saw a Māori Governor General swearing in our new PM and our first Pasifika Deputy PM, ahead of this year’s parliament where they will be ...
The Herald’s headline writers are at it again! A sensible and balanced piece by Liam Dann on the battle against inflation carries a headline that suggests that NZ is doing worse than the rest of the world. Check it out and see for yourself if I am right. Is this ...
Photo by Anna Demianenko on UnsplashTLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.Subscribe nowDeeper reads and listens ...
Hello from the middle of a long weekend where I’m letting the last few days unspool, not ready, not yet, to give words to the hardest of what we heard.Instead, today, here are some good words from other people.Mother CourageWhen I wrote last year about Mum and Dad’s move to ...
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
Insurers face claims of over $500 million for cars, homes and property damaged in the floods. They are already putting up premiums and pulling insurance from properties deemed at high risk of flooding. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: This week in the podcast of our weekly hoon webinar for paying subscribers, ...
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters When early settlers came to the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers before the California Gold Rush, Indigenous people warned them that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when great winter rains came. The storytellers described water filling the ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins has changed everything, and Labour is back ...
Over the last few years, it’s seemed like city after city around the world has become subject to extreme flooding events that have been made worse by impacts from climate change. We’ve highlighted many of them in our Weekly Roundup series. Sadly, over the last few days it’s been Auckland’s ...
And so the first month of the year draws to a close. It rained in Auckland on 21 out of the 31 days in January. Feels like summer never really happened this year. It’s actually hard to believe there were 10 days that it didn’t rain. Was it any better where ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
By Hilaire Bule, RNZ Pacific Vanuatu correspondent in Port Vila Vanuatu’s prime minister has stressed any future employment within the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat must be from MSG member countries. Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, who is also chair of the MSG Secretariat, made the statement following the recruitment of ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Yamin Kogoya On Friday 10 February 2023, it will be one month since the Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was “kidnapped” at a local restaurant during his lunch hour by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and security forces. The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was ...
By Kālino Lātū, editor of Kaniva News Dr Sitiveni Halapua, former deputy leader of Tonga’s Democratic Movement, has died aged 74. Born on February 13, 1949, he was a respected academic, a pioneer of Tonga’s democratic reforms and pioneer of a conflict resolution system based on traditional practices. Halapua earned ...
COMMENTARY:By Richard Naidu in Suva Five weeks on from Christmas Eve, I think most of us are still a bit stunned at what has happened in Fiji. A new government came to power in dramatic circumstances. It took not one but two Sodelpa management board meetings to change it, ...
By Red Tsounga Another house done, and onto the next . . . Volunteers working in Mount Roskill community over the past few days helping those suffering from Auckland’s flash flood devastation have done us proud. Tremendous work by everybody. Here are some random photos of our volunteer teams on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Mick Tsikas/AAP Senator Lidia Thorpe announced on Monday that she would be leaving the Greens. Thorpe had split with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis B. Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine Coast The news of a so-called “Chinese spy balloon” being shot down over the US has reignited interest in how nation-states spy on one another. It’s not confirmed that the ...
Today, at a Waitangi ki Waititi concert hosted by Te Whānau o Waipareira at Hoani Waititi Marae, West Auckland; Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp was officially announced as Te Pāti Māori Candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau for the 2023 Election. Hailing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Sure, Scotty Morrison’s Māori At Work is a wonderful resource for Aotearoa’s collective te reo Māori journey. But is it judgemental enough for the modern office environment?First published September 12 2019 The growing strength of te reo is palpable across Aotearoa, with record numbers of people participating in Mahuru ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Mills, Professor and Dean La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University Shutterstock It can be tough to access front-line health care outside the cities and suburbs. For the seven million Australians living in rural communities there are significant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University Chad Fish/AP Was the balloon that suddenly appeared over the US last week undertaking surveillance? Or was it engaging in research, as China has claimed? While the answers to these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Walker-Munro, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The generative AI industry will be worth about A$22 trillion by 2030, according to the CSIRO. These systems – of which ChatGPT is currently the best known – can write ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described this morning's Waitangi dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. ...
Screenwriter Dana Leaming’s debut comedy series Not Even is out now on Prime and Neon. This is the out the gate story of how it got there.Kia ora, Hi, What up? Up to? U up? …I’m Dana. I wrote and co-directed (with Ainsley Gardiner) the TV show Not Even ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Mick Tsikas/AAP A federal Newspoll, conducted February 1-4 from a sample of 1,512, gave Labor a 55-45 lead, unchanged on ...
The Human Rights Commission, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, last week released two reports on racism and the impact of colonialism in Aotearoa. Among their many insights was the necessity of a wider understanding of how racism manifests itself. I was honoured to accept an invitation by Te Kāhui Tika Tangata ...
Vincent O’Malley reviews a history of the battle of Gate Pā.First published February 5, 2019 Head up Cameron Road, one of Tauranga’s main arterial routes, a few kilometres out of the city centre and you drive over one of New Zealand’s most important historical sites. The road, named after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Murray Goot, Emeritus Professor of Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University Support for embedding an Indigenous Voice to parliament in the Constitution has fallen. The polls provide good evidence once you work out how to find it. However, the voters who have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Libby Rumpff, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne David Crosling/AAP The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 were cataclysmic: a landmark in Australia’s environmental history. They burnt more than 10 million hectares, mostly forests in southeast Australia. Many of our most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Fulbright Scholar and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Monash University Anete Lusina/Pexels School attendance levels in Australia are a massive issue according to Education Minister Jason Clare. As he told reporters last week, he hopes to talk to state colleagues ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marion Terrill, Transport and Cities Program Director, Grattan Institute Revising the generous fuel tax credits given to businesses should be a priority for the Albanese government, because keeping them would conflict with two other pressing priorities: reducing carbon emissions and repairing the ...
For nine years he steered the ship he built, but last week Duncan Greive announced his surprise resignation as CEO of The Spinoff. He joins guest host, Jane Yee, to discuss how doing things differently took The Spinoff from an irreverent TV blog to a respected online magazine, and why ...
Three decades ago one of the giants of New Zealand thinking and writing, Ranginui Walker, published Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou, Struggle Without End. The book, originally released in 1990 and revised in 2004, is a history of Aotearoa from a Māori perspective. It had a profound influence and today remains ...
A review for Waitangi weekend The bestselling novel Kāwai: For Such a Time as This by Monty Soutar feels like the story Matua Monty has been working toward telling his entire life. It aims for the loftiest mountain peak in a valiant attempt at the fabled Great New Zealand ...
Unfortunately the great flood of January 27 was not a one-off but a precursor to more emergencies likely to strike the city because of environmental effects of climate change. While the Auckland floods are proving devastating, costly and far-reaching, they have also had the strange effect of revealing Tamaki Makaurau's original landscape. ...
Health inequities between Pākehā and Māori are often framed as complex and difficult to change. But making access to GPs and dentists free will not only save money for whānau using these services, it will also save money for the health system and ensure Māori rights to good governance and equity ...
One of New Zealand's most promising fast bowlers, Molly Penfold, was surprised to get the call-up for the T20 World Cup, but she has a great support team around her, Merryn Anderson reports. She's only played one T20 for the White Ferns, and she's yet to take a wicket, but Molly ...
Labour and National’s leaders came to Waitangi agreed on which areas need more investment in election year. But as political editor Jo Moir writes, the country is going to see a big debate on how Māori should benefit from it Prime Minister Chris Hipkins used his speech at Sunday’s pōwhiri ...
Securing the right to housing will require us to challenge the very systems and ideologies that are doing such harm to our planet.Opinion: The images of rivers running down our streets, cars floating down the motorway, houses flooded and half-submerged buses ferrying people across the causeway, will stick with ...
Loading...(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. ...
It is hard to separate the politics from Waitangi, but the day party leaders were welcomed on to Te Whare Rūnanga was largely free of inflammatory rhetoric and political point scoring. ...
Rheive Grey pays tribute to one political party’s unapologetic commitment to markers of Māori identity, from hei tiki to waiata to tikitiki. I’m proud to be Māori. If you’re like me, it’s hard to read that sentence without singing it in your head. That’s either the power of good campaigning, ...
When I was a man my dick was only average size, but learning how to tuck it out of sight is a steep learning curve for a girl on a budget. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Illustrations: Sloane Hong The dick ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND Australia’s Reserve Bank is set to push up rates once again at its first meeting for the year on Tuesday, according to all but ...
By David Robie When Papuan journalist Victor Mambor visited New Zealand almost nine years ago, he impressed student journalists from the Pacific Media Centre and community activists with his refreshing candour and courage. As the founder of the Jubi news media group, he remained defiant that he would tell the ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori officially announced Mariameno Kapa-Kingi as their candidate for the Te Tai Tokerau electorate in this year’s General Election. The announcement was part of the pōwhiri for MPs at Te Whare Rūnanga o Waitangi. “Making the announcement ...
Paul Diamond’s book about the 1920s scandal that shocked Whanganui is on the longlist for the Ockhams (in the hotly contested General Non-Fiction category). Victor Rodger reviews. A closeted mayor with huge ambitions. A handsome, young, returned soldier with ambiguous motivations.A scandalous shooting that leads to a spectacular ...
An easy, low sugar jam that tastes even better than the sickly-sweet stuff. Often jam recipes call for much more sugar that I think is necessary, resulting in a cloyingly sweet jam whose flavour sadly becomes lost. Where some recipes will call for equal measures of fruit and sugar, this ...
Professor John Morgan offers a 'lesson plan' for Auckland children returning to school to help them understand what's going on in their city after the floods When Auckland schools go back, there’s a case to be made that geography teachers take over lessons for a day or two. Auckland’s ‘state of emergency’ ...
An acoustic 'harassment' device won’t be used to keep dolphins from high-speed boats, reports David Williams. Organisers of a super-fast boat race have scrapped plans to use an underwater noise device to scare dolphins in a marine mammal sanctuary. SailGP’s consultants, Enviser, lodged an application with the Department of Conservation (DoC) ...
Two reports on racism in New Zealand released by the Human Rights Commission land at a time when political rhetoric around racism is escalating again. Aaron Smale reports. The Human Rights Commission has released two reports that make a number of significant recommendations for confronting white supremacy and institutional racism. But ...
Flooding and land slides at her home in Titirangi have Zoe Hawkins sleeping in her running gear in case she has to flee. She shares her concern for others even more affected - and questions what the future brings. A week ago we lived on the edge of paradise. Our forever home ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Enshrining a constitutional Voice to parliament will bring better practical outcomes and give the best chance for Closing the Gap, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will say in a major address on the referendum on Sunday. ...
By Jamie Tahana, RNZ News Te Ao Māori journalist at Waitangi, and Russell Palmer, digital political journalist Iwi leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand have accused opposition parties National and ACT of “fanning the flames of racism”, urging the prime minister to be brave and not walk away from partnership on Three ...
By Phoebe Gwangilo in Port Moresby Higher Education Minister Don Polye has condemned a decision by the administration of the University of Papua New Guinea to treat a PNG-born and bred grade 12 school leaver as an “international” student. Roselyn Alog, 19, whose parents are Filipinos, was born and raised ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s former Elections Supervisor Mohammed Saneem is under investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency for alleged abuse of office and has been stopped from fleeing the country. The Fijian Elections Office (FEO) said Saneem was alleged to have “on numerous occasions . . . unlawfully authorised payments of ...
Labour's position has alternated over the past few days: first Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would speak, then he wouldn't, and then he would again. ...
Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer are announcing a transformative defence and foreign affairs policy which asserts the Mana Māori Motuhake and Tino Rangatiratanga of tangata whenua in Aotearoa at their Party’s ...
The Prime Minister will no longer speak at Waitangi commemorations after the organising trust moved the political leaders to a panel away from the main event The Waitangi National Trust wrote to political parties last month saying they didn’t want political leaders to speak at the pōwhiri held on the eve ...
The Prime Minister once again has a speaking slot at the pōwhiri in Waitangi after earlier on Saturday saying he would respect the wishes of the trust organisers by not doing so The Waitangi National Trust has given the green light for Chris Hipkins and other political leaders to speak ...
It’s been exactly a decade since Seven Sharp first appeared on our screens. Remember the first episode? We’ve unearthed the tapes. On this day in 2013, a bombshell was thrown into the New Zealand television landscape. “Time for us to make way, because you’re here to see what everyone’s talking ...
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris has fronted endless media requests and live crosses this week. Is he getting it right? Lewis Ferris is trying to find his weather map. “This week’s been so insane” he mutters as he closes multiple tabs on the three screens across his Wellington desk. He’s ...
After four years, executive director Max Tweedie has stepped down from Auckland Pride. He tells Sam Brooks about shepherding the festival through a tumultuous few years, and where he’s going from here.This year’s Auckland Pride Festival is set to be the biggest one yet. Over the course of more ...
A flailing mayor was only the public face of a multifaceted flooding communications failure. Duncan Greive examines the mess, and asks what can be done to improve it.It’s a chilling timeline. Stuff’s Kelly Dennett catalogued, beat-by-beat, the 12 hours in which Auckland was pummelled by a catastrophic deluge, interspersing ...
The Dunedin branch of the Green Party has selected Francisco Hernandez as its candidate for the Dunedin electorate in this year’s general election. Francisco Hernandez was the Otago University Students Association President in 2013. He has held a number ...
Waitangi organisers are trying to push political leaders to the side at Sunday's pōwhiri, but Labour's deputy leader says it's not for them to decide who speaks. Te Tai Tokerau MP and Labour’s deputy leader, Kelvin Davis, says the Prime Minister will speak at Sunday’s pōwhiri at Waitangi, in defiance of local ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we spoke to an aid worker who had made the trip to the war zone in Ukraine, looked at why Carmel Sepuloni was picked to be the new deputy prime minister, visited the flood-torn streets of Titirangi in West ...
Schools play an integral but often unrecognised and unacknowledged role in helping communities respond to and recover from disastersOpinion: Schools in Auckland and other flood-affected areas are about to re-open after a delayed start to the new school year. Students will return to school having experienced wide-ranging impacts. While some ...
A very short story for Waitangi weekend The pā is a lonely place nowadays. Gorse has marched on it like the British troops of old, consuming the hills and leaving the marae looking a bald patch on the head of the earth mother herself. Even the roads have worn thin, ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend. This week, it's The School Away From School written by Bill Morris and published in NZ Geographic's January/February 2023 issue. You can find the entire article, with photos from Lottie Hedley, on the NZ Geographic website. One hundred years since its ...
COMMENTARY:By Kayt Davies in Perth I wasn’t good at French in my final year of high school. My classmates had five years of language studies behind them. I had three. As a result of my woeful grip on the language, I wrote a terribly bad essay in my final ...
RNZ Pacific Journalist Victor Mambor, who is the chief editor of the West Papuan newspaper and websiteJubi, has received the Oktovianus Pogau Award from the Indonesian-based Pantau Foundation for courage in journalism. The foundation’s Andreas Harsono said Mambor’s decision to return to his father’s homeland and defend the rights ...
RNZ News Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick is brushing off concerns a temporary rent freeze in flood-hit Auckland would just see landlords hike rents even more when the controls were lifted — arguing they should stay permanently. More than 20 organisations have signed a letter urging Minister for Auckland Michael ...
Love this:
So NCEA results on reading writing and math are crashing… in my opinion this is directly attributable to Covid lockdowns although no one seems to talk about it.
I was lucky my wife and I had the means to have a good internet connection enough devices for my wife and our daughter and even then it was tough just through lack of space.
Both my wife and I had colleagues that had 2-3 children that really struggled they basically had to ration time in 'class' through lack of devices.
Worse through my wifes work, dealing with families in desperate need, we got a real understanding that it was impossible. Both parents 'essential' having to go into work to keep a roof provide food… their children fell behind in a huge way… how can they afford 2 or 3 devices and the internet connection to match plus provide the help and supervision….
Talk about a slow moving disaster….
Yes. It has had a huge impact on school children and students generally. And its going to take a long time to redress the situation.
But lest we forget:
we were in the first throes of a worldwide pandemic. We had no vaccines… no nothing to fight the virus other than isolationist policies and mask wearing. It took 12 plus months to get the country into a position where Covid could be managed and to ensure a minimum of death and economic destruction.
Many NZers have incredibly short memories. Too many have already forgotten how much we owe this government for saving the lives of so many of our mums, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and indeed children. Rather sad.
Sure, but it shows we failed our children especially the children of our essential workers. Where were the free devices, internet connections a Labour govt should have been all over that hell we dont have a plan to catch them up… instead we're seemingly suprised that they've fallen behind.
That's been the biggest failure of our covid response and it has far reaching consequences…
And you could be poorly informed on the subject. For example:
https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling2/digital-technology/evaluation-of-provision-of-connectivity-and-devices-a-covid-19-response
I'd say that was a complete drop in the bucket and a shit study. The charity my wife works for managed to fill about 30 percent of requests for help in terms of devices and they were comparatively well funded.
Of course, it was not enough, it never is, is it? My apologies for the interruption and please continue your ranting.
and you can pop your head back in the sand and pretend everything is ok…
Certain personal and professional responsibilities one cannot run away from, but nice try though.
Tell me, where and when was I pretending that??
Keeping children alive and safe during a global pandemic is a failure?
"COVID-19 lockdowns revealed the extent and impact of digital exclusion when schools had to pivot to distant learning. The Ministry of Education introduced a range of solutions to bridge the digital gap"
https://www.digital.govt.nz/showcase/tackling-the-digital-divide-during-covid-19/
Really, ours weakest areas all improved dramatically due to the extra attention to the subjects.
Yeah really, lead the news tonight. Pass rates at 30%
Don't they scale NCEA? In my day School C & 7th form were scaled so this never came up.
They scaled during but that doesn't really help down the track you dont know what you dont know.
For me the problem more stems from our education system focusing too much on environmental and cultural topics, and inadequate time on basics. The first move to remedy this situation should be streaming. But they are currently removing the last vestiges of streaming from our education system.
The pathetic quality of teachers is another problem. My grandchild's tattooed teacher is current up on charges for assaulting a police officer. She had previously told me she loved the open plan classrooms as it allowed he to wander into the adjoining class to have coffee and a break. I thought the staff room was the place teachers went to have refreshments?
Sampling error, all the high quality teachers use the staff room.
From a fairly limited sample, admittedly, I’d say that ≥ 95% of NZ teachers have a tattoo, somewhere. There’s only a weak correlation between teacher performance and inked skin area.
Could be positive – you can learn a lot from Lydia.
TBH, I was a little apprehensive, but that was great entertainment, thank you
Edit: I didn’t say whether the correlation was positive or inverse, so well observed!
Your facetiousness is duly noted. Not all teachers using the staff room are high quality. But I bet most teachers who dawdle into an adjoining classroom to have a cuppa during class time are piss poor educators. Maybe that's one reason why open plan classes are under review? There's much more I could say about my case and why open plan classroom where implemented into our education system. However, such candour would have me moderated faster than you could say ''Aotearoa grows dumber by the year.''
So many cheap and lazy stereotypes in such short space of time. You must have enjoyed excellent education once upon a time.
From my experience it's more down to individual teachers rather than the system per say, but at school age a missed year is absolutely massive developmentally especially for those that do best in person or with practical teaching in person.
My comments aren't meant to negate the undoubted affects Covid had on education. I said at the time the hardest thing regarding Covid and education would be getting kids back to school. That has been proven the case with many kids who pre Covid had poor school attendance records. Covid gave them the means and excuse to go completely off the grid.
I dont agree when it come to means and excuse… schools a habit once broken it's very hard to recover from. You're correct in that kids with poor attendance pre covid dissapeared completely but covid sent a whole lot more kids into that group and a heap more through no fault of their ownand in got left behind. Current NCEA results back that up.
It's not good however you look at the situation. Do you expect improvements under National? Or will it be more of the same?
No I don't… it needs massive investment all the way through the system, Nats wont do that.
All the best teachers are poached by private schools which are now advertising for 2029 enrolments.
Work it out.
Work it out? Does 'working it out' include working out how it is worked out who the 'best teachers' are?
From my experience, one thing which has a huge effect is teacher movement rather than teacher quality.
This is amplified in a market where private schools are free to raid state schools for the best performers. The movement and the loss felt by state schools affects student performance.
It is yet another example of how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Just had a quick look…the teachers that for my daughter and from my perspective were fantastic at are still at the same public schools.
Good for you! What are you complaining about then?
Sadly they were in the minority and that's probably where you are right. But there are some great teachers in the public system just wanted to point that out I guess.
That’s because the private schools have the freedom.
So the good teachers have a choice. Move and be rewarded for their skills. Or stay in the public system for the love of the job but accept they get the same pay and conditions as the completely hopeless ones.
Thanks for that.
What is your point?
I think Jack’s point is that hopeless teachers & staff stay stuck in the slimy sewers of public schools and that the best and only the best rise to luminous and lofty heights of private schools. Metaphorically speaking.
I'm trying to get Jack to comment on his vision. It must be for all schools to "have the
moneyfreedom" to poach good teachers from other schools.The described environment is David Seymour's wet dream. Education vouchers distributed to parents as soon as a child is produced.
Then it's a game of Rob the Nest, with real life children involved!
You know enough of the specific day to day workings of your local schools, in their classrooms, to be able to stay they focus too much on environmental and cultural topics, and inadequate time on basics?
In hindsight yes, to a degree anyway. Actually think that was also down to the confidence of the teachers especially with subjects like maths.
Also think some moving away wrote learning for things like basic maths was mistake and that's a governance issue. To be fair I didnt realize that myself until lockdown and having the ability to sit in class with daughter. Not knowing by memory the answer to say 7*9 slows down working through more complex equations by quite alot. Hurts in timed exams.
Unfortunately , focusing on the basics will not fix the problem since the teaching of the basics has been thoroughly corrupted by many destructive philosophies in education.
For rigorous reading scientists,the evidence that the sound pathway is used in reading is as conclusive as research on complex human behaviour can get. Yet less than 20% of new entrants in NZ are taught to read using phonics early ,thoroughly, systematically and explicitly which is what is needed for the pathway in the brain to be established for at least 60% of children . This teaching is structured literacy.The token phonic readers introduced recently by the MoE combined with predictable readers could do more harm than good since for many children they are incompatible reading systems and It can cause them to become overwhelmed.
Failure to have children learn their tables by rote assures the child is disadvantaged in arithmetic. The numeracy project adds more destruction with its failing experimental approaches to basic arithmetic manipulations, instead of using time tested methods as Asian countries do .NZ is now right at the bottom on international achievement tests.
The horrible philosophies cooked up in academia and promoted by MoE has produced all this stupidity and failure . Don't blame classroom teachers for this ..
The both parents working scenario is not peculiar to the pandemic. This idea has been central to the neoliberal cause for many years.
Every adult must work to achieve the growth required to support the high castle. This means kids which in generations gone by would have had some parent support at home no longer have any.
Now, we pay one parent for a few months of work to rear the child and call it job done!
Once schools were closed there was nothing left to paper over the cracks wrought by Neoliberalism.
As they say, 'this grinds my gears'
math instead of maths.
I always wonder about the focus when people use Americanisms when they are in a different country. I wonder about the point of view……
After every disaster there have been affects on those who can least afford it……children having to leave school during the depression to help bring food to the table, people who were little more than children going to fight in various wars, children who never had the support of a father because he had been killed during WW2.
I know that we had to educate via device and that this meant some lost years of their education, though it is simplistic to throw the blame on the 'Gummint' for everything. There are some who will make up, some that won't.
I think we will have to be clear eyed about this and have a realistic safety net for those who may not have achieved, cannot achieve. This could be with second chance education, and adequate access to suitable housing and benefits and supplementary payments. Fair wages etc.
Main criticism of Truss seems to be she never admitted when she was wrong and never listened to advice.
Sounds amazingly familiar to 2022 NZ.
Absolutely – it's amazingly similar to Luxon in New Zealand in 2022. Because he:
I said to a family member earlier today – "how long before the RW media start inverting reality and compare Truss to Ardern?" Little did I know that someone called 'Jack on the Standard would be leading the pack on this distortion. Well done mate!
I suspect the reason you were already discussing it this afternoon is because you too could see the obvious comparisons. Well done.
No it wasn't – it was because of my world-weary contempt for our legacy media.
Thank you, Jack, for opening our eyes. We couldn’t have done it without your help.
"sounds amazingly familiar to 2022 NZ"…
In what respect @ Jack (3)?
The wheelbarrow.
Good odds on the stoats… although a Yorkshirmans trousers stuffed with ferrets would definitely be better.
Compo for pm?
It has to be someone who doesn't care that they will probably lose and so never get another shot. Or someone who is deluded enough to think they can win. That means a masochist or a lunatic. Tories prefer to inflict pain rather than receive it (cue Uffindell) which means masochists will be short on the ground.
I dunno wouldnt surpise me at all if a more than a few of Tories liked to be on the receiving end behind closed doors.
Madam Cynthia Payne hinted that Tories could be naughty boys. What old chap!
I reckon Johnson will be in the running. Apparently he fancies himself to be another Churchill so he'd be keen on emulating him with a come-back term.
"The energy strategy follows a recommendation from the Climate Change Commission. It will be developed over the next two years, with the final strategy due in December 2024."
https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/118118/energy-and-resources-minister-megan%C2%A0woods-unveils-terms-reference-energy
What have they been doing for the past 5 plus years?
Planning for change with a zero discount rate,now the reality of real interest rates (the post gfc low or negative central bank rates were an anomaly)
The reality now is it will cost a lot of money,with an appreciating interest burden and a Government that has a high current account burden,and budget deficit which will worsen,munting the export sector will not lessen the economic emergency.
The options they were exploring was for more overseas investment into generation,but that was effectively just a transfer of profits,and interest rates offshore increasing the current account deficit.
There are big differences in the aspirational goals of 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and the engineering and economic reality.
Its a bit like the high speed rail problem.
It would appear that they havnt even reached the point of determining viability of anything irrespective of funding costs….all they appear capable of is announcing reports and aspirations….and then re-announcing the revised reports and aspirations…ad infinitum.
There are areas were there is good understanding of issues,and both the constraints imparted by the laws of physics and economics.
There are multiple reports from various agencies,duplicating,reinventing and overtly complicating issues in the policy arena .
The main fields are
i) Generation (27 gw additional)
ii) Transmission ( includes storage for peakload peakers)
iii) Distribution ( local ) includes load shedding for peak load reduction (such as ripple or Ev charging.
iv) Cost (the return on capital and costs that can be accepted by users)
v) Efficiency ( reducing demand of load)
vi) Increased demand.
https://tpow-corp-production.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/public/2022-10/WiTMH%20Monitoring%20Report%20-%20Sept%2022.pdf?VersionId=bN._.ITswVSOHK0i9klYcmwDuAD7orOU
Thanks for the link.
Those areas of good understanding apparently dont extend to the policy makers.
Life imitating art.
anyone know what happens if none of the tory leader candidates get the 100 votes needed to be PM?
It won't be allowed to happen. If it looked dicey, a deal would be done behind closed doors and the losing candidate would be 'compensated' either by way of a rapid promotion or their personal finances would take a rapid turn for the better.
Getting paid off under the table is normal practice among the Tory political elite – and their equivalents elsewhere.
The NZ Herald and RNZ report that Charles Windsor may visit our shores (at our expense I'm sure). Do we get a vote to tell the parasite to fuck off?