On intellectual failure & economic crisis
Before they were swept along by the latest incarnation of US Right anti-intellectualism, National used to have some smart people. One of the […]
Social issues
education
Key admits mistake: Tolley and Groser shuffled out
Today John Key admitted his mistake in two Ministerial portfolio appointments, as two long overdue changes were announced. 1) Chopper Tolley has rightfully […]
Between a rock and a hard place
At the end of the month the new kindergarten year begins. Reading this article in the SSTimes from yesterday reminded me of just […]
Tilly the Cat’s Christmas Lesson
Not related to anything in particular, Peter Giddens has written a sweet little Christmas story that I thought it would be fun to […]
Trial needed for national standards
Anne Tolley should have the sense to listen to the teachers, the principals and the eduction experts. She should trial her national standards […]
The stamp of democracy
Another disgraceful Herald editorial recently: Teachers must learn to obey Govt’s orders Three years ago, when the National Party announced its plan to […]
Wee gripes: Another Tolley lie
Minister of Education Anne Tolley is obviously feeling the heat of the reaction to her inexplicably daft decision to read a moralising children’s […]
Education flaws: Just plain scary
Primary school education has been the focus of debate here in NZ with the introduction of ‘national standards’. Today we hear on RNZ […]
Thickest. Minister. Ever.
So, imagine you’re the Minister for Education. You’re meeting with the PPTA executive, and sometime soon you’re expecting to announce big teacher layoffs. […]
Laws needs an education
I told myself I’d never do a post on pathetic publicity groupie Michael Laws, so here I am failing to live up to […]
Tolley: national standards could be disaster
The man National credits with coming up with the idea of national standards has warned the incompetence of Education Minister Anne Tolley could […]
Caption Competition
John Key, Edication Espert
Well what a fiasco yesterday’s launch of National’s brave new $36 million education policy was. Despite Key claiming the plan was one of […]
Chopper chops science education
National’s Anne Tolley, our education minister who thought that taking a ‘helicopter view’ of something meant taking a ride in a chopper, is […]
Clueless on ACE
Night classes Adult and Community Education (ACE). An incredibly cost effective and valuable part of the NZ education sector for decades. The ACE […]
Another broken promise
Before the election National made promises about extra resources to tackle problems in schools: Schools Policy Strengthening the Ladder of Opportunity National is […]
Intergenerational theft
I had a free education. Most of the politicians in this and recent parliaments had a free education. More recent students have not […]
School support staff fight National’s pay freeze
From the NZEI. Great to see the low paid mobilise so effectively.
Education cuts don’t heal
Remember “Education cuts don’t heal”? That was the rallying cry during the last National government. Looks like we might be needing it again […]
Stupid hypocritical ACE cuts
Night classes – Adult and Community Education (ACE). An incredibly cost effective and valuable part of the NZ education sector for decades. The […]
Informative journalism
Colin Espiner: “For some reason that I don’t quite understand, unemployment usually continues to rise at the end of recessions, and there’s normally […]
Are you smarter than a 10th year?
Meet Robert Wadlow. When he died in 1940, he was the tallest ever recorded person, standing 8 feet, 11 and a half inches […]
Reverse Robin hood
John Key’s policy to get kids into sport turns out to be a transfer of dollars from low decile schools to high decile […]
Uncowed
Shh. Hear that sound? It’s National’s mud throwing machine gearing up again. Inevitably, they’ve released Labour’s ministers’ spending. No evidence of any rort but […]
Incentive to leave school?
I disagreed with Helen Clark in 2007 when she first suggested raising the school leaving age, as I don’t believe the mainstream school […]
Bill sez: ‘pay cuts for youse’
Yesterday in Question Time, Bill English sent a message loud and clear to teachers, police, doctors, nurses, and all other public servants (‘frontline’ […]
Two birds with one stone
In 2007, in election mode, John Key was talking up National’s commitment to the environment and the Enviroschools programme: Without a trace of […]
Rhetoric & Reality 4: Tertiary Education
National sure does talk a good game before an election. This time we’re looking at their rhetoric on education, especially tertiary education: Key: […]
Unedifying
The Herald reports Pita Sharples has backed down on his demand to ‘open’ the universities to Maori. Now he says: “he wants Maori […]
Priorities
Noticed this comment in the Dom this morning [offline] about National’s decision to slash funding for night classes in the Budget: Finance Minister […]
Class war
One of the particularly unpleasant parts of the last budget was the cutting of funding for night school classes in conjunction with the […]
Nats slash education
Did anyone else notice that for all this supposed government waste that National was going to get rid of it made only $500 […]
When more is less
Colin Espiner writes: “Another thing that’s being clearly signalled is that Labour’s previous spending promises in health and education won’t be honoured in […]
School support staff fighting for a fair deal
Cut public spending then we can have tax cuts! It’s such a nice, appealing slogan when you say it fast without engaging the […]
Chopper’s vice
Trevor Mallard reminded us in comments of another story that illustrates Anne “Chopper” Tolley’s great intellect. Soon after she became minister, Tolley had […]
The Tolleycopter
Most people have focused on the utter hypocrisy of National’s Anne Tolley flying around Auckland in a helicopter looking at education buildings from […]