Written By: - Date published: 2:59 pm, December 13th, 2017 - 74 comments
It’s great to see Chris Hipkins abolishing ‘National Standards’ as a matter of priority. This policy was nothing but an unfortunate bit of populism from the previous government, and a Prime Minister in John Key who specialised in band-aid solutions to problems that required stitches. While it may have made some people feel better that it […]
Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, October 28th, 2017 - 85 comments
I am a New Zealander living in Norway lecturing at NTNU, Norway’s largest University. For the last few months I have been thinking about the challenges of providing free post-secondary education. Norway offers free education for all students including international students.
Written By: - Date published: 11:47 am, October 23rd, 2017 - 51 comments
This post is too long to read. Its purpose is to serve as reference material, a “one stop” snapshot of where we are as a country. The mess that the new government inherits. The consequences of the nine long wasted years of National. The magnitude of the challenge ahead of us.
Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, October 9th, 2017 - 20 comments
The complete mess that National has made of our health system got plenty of airtime during the election campaign. While it received less coverage, the education system is a mess too.
Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, August 29th, 2017 - 54 comments
As the Nats stand exposed in another apparent dirty politics hit, Labour gets on with the job of winning the election. Jacinda Ardern today announced new policy: Making tertiary education and training affordable for all.
Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, August 27th, 2017 - 124 comments
The centerpiece of National’s campaign launch was an education package that doubles down on the demonstrably failed national standards policy. Out of ideas.
Written By: - Date published: 12:25 pm, August 14th, 2017 - 100 comments
“Labour’s School Leavers’ Toolkit will help students learn to drive, understand practical budgeting, be equipped with workplace skills, and learn how our political system operates through civics education at school. Every secondary school will be resourced to provide these courses.”
Written By: - Date published: 9:11 am, July 20th, 2017 - 27 comments
According to Morning Report the Nats are calling Labour’s budget for more spending on health and education “a plan to waste more money”. Tell it to the people who can’t afford private alternatives and depend on the public systems.
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, June 13th, 2017 - 35 comments
Labour is right to stress the many advantages that immigration brings to NZ, and right to address the major way in which it is being abused – student visa scams. Bill English has made National’s position clear, they would rather have the quick bucks.
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, April 24th, 2017 - 37 comments
Parata can believe whatever brings her comfort of course, but the fact is that this National government has made, as usual, a mess of education.
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, March 21st, 2017 - 137 comments
An excellent piece by Simon Collins in the weekend Herald. NZ’s educational scores in international comparisons are locked in a downward spiral. National’s ideology has failed, while we ignore successful models.
Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, February 24th, 2017 - 10 comments
This is what you get with a hasty, reactive, “top down” policy process.
Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, January 28th, 2017 - 14 comments
National needs to do something to address spiraling education costs in both the secondary and tertiary sectors.
Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, December 14th, 2016 - 88 comments
A depressing feature in The Herald this morning explores the exploitation of migrant workers. The same pattern as the private sector’s treatment of foreign students. This paints a shameful picture of New Zealand. Greed has made us forget who we were.
Written By: - Date published: 11:58 am, November 30th, 2016 - 45 comments
Thanks National: “NZ kids worst at maths in English-speaking world”.
Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, November 23rd, 2016 - 131 comments
Revelations surrounding the role of fake news in the American election have been stunning. And the critical thinking skills that democracy needs to survive this trend are under attack in our education system.
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, July 17th, 2016 - 462 comments
God’s been a bit of a let down recently. Is it time for Him to retire?
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, May 21st, 2016 - 32 comments
Charter schools are pretty nice work if you can get it, no wonder groups are lining up. But there’s no evidence that they are good for education.
Written By: - Date published: 9:35 am, May 3rd, 2016 - 260 comments
National told us “New Zealand elected a Government that promised to introduce national standards so that every single child could read, write, and do maths when they left school.”
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, April 10th, 2016 - 56 comments
Young Labour member and regular TS reader TheSocialDemocrat has drawn up a manifesto for change. As neo-liberalism enters its twilight phase, now is the time to redefine the debate about what makes a society great.
Written By: - Date published: 8:03 am, February 9th, 2016 - 178 comments
The TPPA could bring us charter schools on steroids, and threaten policies like free tertiary education. In general its a way of locking in a permanent, international right-wing governance which can limit and constrain the kind of social policies that any future NZ left-wing government might want to enact.
Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, February 2nd, 2016 - 31 comments
Although there have been predictable howls of outrage from the usual suspects, the media reaction to Labour’s bold tertiary education policy has been generally great.
Written By: - Date published: 3:23 pm, February 1st, 2016 - 84 comments
A Kiwi Kids allowance for all under fives, with totally fee free public primary and secondary schools.
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, January 18th, 2016 - 114 comments
Data released to the Sunday Star-Times shows a huge decline in numbers of tertiary students, including declines in many key skills and fields. Various explanations are offered, only one of them makes sense…
Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, December 12th, 2015 - 14 comments
Details of a mess in tertiary education published yesterday. On top of the mess in charter schools. National aren’t very good at this.
Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, December 7th, 2015 - 113 comments
To date, TeachFirst(NZ) has received more than $6.4 million dollars of public money and, as a result, has infested 18 schools with dozens of so-called “teachers”.
Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, November 14th, 2015 - 17 comments
The Herald seems to have accidentally deleted the online version of yesterday’s big story from Kirsty Johnson on how the government manipulates media perceptions. However could that have happened?
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, November 4th, 2015 - 31 comments
National is initiating a review of education. They will of course be excluding consideration of resourcing and their sacred cows (national standards, charter schools). One possible outcome appears to be shifting resources from poorer schools to richer ones.
Written By: - Date published: 12:21 pm, July 7th, 2015 - 11 comments
The government has awarded itself a nice report card. Let’s take a closer look.
Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, June 8th, 2015 - 72 comments
An anonymous editorial in The Herald this morning really is atrocious. Apparently the limited uptake one of the Nats’ pet education policies is all the fault of the unions.
Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, April 9th, 2015 - 15 comments
On the one hand the government are pushing for more and more NCEA passes to feed the league tables, and on the other they are acknowledging that those passes are no longer enough to suggest success at Tertiary level and tightening criteria to exclude students. Mixed messages, perverse incentives, a giant shambles.
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