Have your say
Professor Paul Callaghan from Victoria University introduces the ‘Think Tech’ site via video. Panelists will look at what sorts of new technologies, in […]
Social issues
education
Education lesson from UK
Last year we saw how unpopular National’s “national testing” policy was going to be. Now a major study in the UK is highly […]
Govt to sell your kids junk food
Education Minister Anne Tolley has just put out a press release announcing the following: ‘As part of the National Government’s commitment to reducing […]
A topic for the NACT talk-fest. Needs a slogan for success.
My favourite indicator for a deep recession is showing up. The applications and enrollments for colleges and graduate programs appears to be significantly […]
Enough already – no more tests please
When I went to my first parent/teacher interview I was amazed at the breadth of markers against which my daughter’s performance was being […]
Shameful
And so the Maori Party’s sell-out of its own people continues. Hot on the heels of the party’s vote to take money out […]
Kids need fun, politicians need to think
It seems like only yesterday that we listened to arguments about how exams unfairly punished some students. The National Party initiated the NCEA […]
Minister of Education lies to teachers
Here’s Anne Tolley telling teachers before the election that they would not be covered by the fire at will legislation. Turns out she […]
Ad rant
I despair at the mentality behind this ad. Why should universities, which are all publically-owned, be advertising to try and take students off […]
The Bard offers chance for new Minister
This afternoon I read with a degree of surprise that Shakespeare’s days as standard classroom fare could be numbered: Shakespeare’s plays and other […]
Scratch a Tory…
…and you still reveal a bigot, it seems. Here is National’s Immigration spokesperson, Lockwood Smith, (he who likes to swallow dead fish) on […]
Nat vs Nat on National policy
National wants to introduce a 90 Day no work rights period for new employees. Now, in the face of very strong opposition to […]
Video: TV3 on Key’s campaign day 2
Media coverage of the campaign is coming thick and fast – a helpful reader pointed out this excerpt from TV3 on Key’s day […]
Down with literacy
A crusade on illiteracy, surely. Um, I’m not sure we want to entrust these guys with improving language skills. [Update: true to form, […]
Universal allowance – Labour joins rest of Left
Good to see Labour joining the Greens and Progressives with a universal student allowance policy. It has been a crying shame that many […]
Nats testing plan proves unpopular
Just one in 10 school principals support the type of national standards for pupils being proposed by the National Party, a study reported […]
Nats: Pay cuts for you, tax cuts for the rich
Bill English has put out a press release whingeing about Helen Clark’s promise to lift wages for low-paid school support staff, and fearmongering […]
Social Report shows Kiwis better off
MSD released its Social Report today, an annual publication that collates a wide variety of standard of living measures, and produces this awesome graph. […]
What will National do on student allowances?
Spotted in the Waikato Times: Cambridge High School students did their best to get a policy out of him, but National leader John […]
Foss puts foot in it
Craig Foss annoyed some students in Napier when he described early childhood teachers as “glorified babysitters”, according to a recent story in the […]
Lightening the load
A universal student allowance of $350 isn’t going to happen. It’s too expensive and would bar major new spending in any other area. […]
Remarkably unambitious ECE policy
Another one-page excuse for a policy from National, this one on early childhood education. After vehemently opposing 20Free, National would now keep it […]
Hollow politics at work
Brand Key on Waatea news: “A National government will be a lot more demanding about educational standards, a lot more demanding about under-performance […]
Food Police State fails to eventuate
Remember the tories and the Kiwiblog Right getting all flustered about the ‘Food Police’, when guidelines were announced to control junk food in […]
Telling porkies
The Herald and National have started attacking every piece of government spending as pork-barrelling. Here’s some of what they’re calling ‘wasteful, needless spending’: […]
Nats’ school funding policy under attack
Stuff reports that “Principals and teachers have savaged a National Party plan to increase funding for private schools, calling it a thinly disguised […]
Key’s record on Te WÄnanga o Aotearoa
The Herald is really doing its best to help out National. Today it proclaims ‘Key’s wananga visit undoes Brash legacy‘. That nice Mr […]
Student debt, it’s the interest that matters
Today, outstanding student loan debt reaches $10 billion. That’s a fair old swag of money but what has been ignored in the coverage […]
National’s last moderate falls on her sword
Katherine Rich was one of only 2 women on National’s front bench and its last moderate MP. The only surprise in her resignation […]
National Party U-turn on student loans
National have just backed down on their opposition to interest free student loans. Back in 2005 Key called this ‘a policy that tells […]
Students as stakeholders
Interesting to see Onslow College is giving its students a say over the hiring of their teachers. Recognising students as stakeholders in their […]
More confusion from National over bulk funding
Some people just never learn. After National’s conflicting statements on bulk funding the other day you’d have thought they’d get their messages in […]
National doublespeak
It’s happened again. The Nelson Mail reports that: National MP and former principal Allan Peachey has broken ranks with front-bench colleague Katherine Rich […]