Selling our Kids Short
Muriel Newman
11 Nov 07
The new primary and secondary school curriculum was launched this week amidst fanfare claiming that it is leading edge and progressive. However, the new curriculum may well sell New Zealand children – and teachers - short. More >>>

NZ Curriculum: Backward looking and dumbed down
Dr Kevin Donnelly
11 November 07
New Zealand and Australia have a good deal in common: breeding Melbourne Cup winners, the ANZAC legend, Captain Cook and not making rugby world cup finals.  Education is another area where we share many of the same characteristics.  Since the early 90s, both countries have adopted what is termed an outcomes-based education (OBE) model of curriculum development. More >>>

Politics in Schools on Trial
Muriel Newman
7 October 2007
Schools around New Zealand that are using Al Gore’s controversial film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ to promote the Government’s climate change agenda should be warned that a High Court ruling in Britain has just found that the film is unfit for schools. More >>>

A Loss of Confidence
Bruce Logan
6 October 07
I can't resist something from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure:  "liberty plucks justice by the nose; The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart Goes all decorum." More >>>

How good is our Education System?
Muriel Newman
4 June 2007
Record numbers of New Zealanders tuned in to watch TV One’s Dancing with the Stars last Tuesday as the last two finalists squared off against each other. The widespread interest in that contest, as well as other reality challenge shows and sports in general, demonstrates that the love of competition is indeed alive and well in New Zealand society.  More  >>>

Latest NCEA, overhaul does not go far enough
Steve Thomas
3 June 07
If the NCEA was a car would you drive your kids anywhere in it? Based on its performance over the past five years, probably not, since you could not be confident your kids would reach their destination intact—that is, having a qualification that is meaningful and precise. Among the frustrations with the NCEA are extreme variability in pass rates in both external and internal achievement standards, ranging from anywhere between 10 to 30 percent, and simplistic reporting of results to pupils and parents using either “achieved” or “not achieved,” which has had the effect of lumping every pupil into one of two very broad groups. More >>>

'Reasonable Force' in Schools
Muriel Newman
15 April 07
The anti-smacking activists claim that with corporal punishment having been banned in schools, banning it in the home is simply the next step towards eliminating violence against children. But the argument just isn’t credible. More >>>

The Rise of Violence in Schools
Bruce Logan
14 April 07
It's not always a good idea to base an argument on personal experience but I will risk it. In 1989, just before the abolition of corporal punishment in schools, I was a member of the PPTA executive and invited to appear on a TV programme with Russell Marshall, the then Minister of Education. I commented that I was not convinced the majority of teachers were in favour of abolition. More >>>

Education only way for Maori
Alan Duff
27 Jan 07
What’s as disturbing as the murders we’re seeing in increasing numbers and with increasing brutality is the level of family support the alleged offenders get, and the self-justification of both offenders and their family members and advocates. Nathan Fenton, whose frenzied hour and a half murderous attack on his partner is suggested as being down to P is self-justification gone mad. Sure, he no doubt took P before the attack. But note he had a clear enough head to warn witnesses they’d better not say anything or he’d come after them. A man who has truly “lost it” doesn’t give such self-preservation a thought. This evil monster knew exactly what he was doing and let us hope the sentencing judge sets a precedent and tells him, you’re not coming out except in a coffin. Though he won’t, you can bet on that. Liberal judges are part of the problem, but in no way are they any of the cause. More >>>

Strikes, Mathematics and Religion
Muriel Newman
26 August 06
Over the last week, three controversies have served to undermine confidence in the effectiveness of state education: the threat of strike action by secondary teachers, the decline in primary school children’s maths skills, and a religious instruction debacle that looks set to result in a massively unworkable bureaucratic nightmare! More >>>

Maori under-performance
Alan Duff
8 July 06
I’ve yet to hear one person suggest compulsory parenting courses at high school. I’ve yet to hear suggestions of imposing consequences on bad parents. The law of consequence – in other words, taking responsibility for our own actions – has left the lexicon. Well, where Maori are concerned it has. There’s always some professional excuse-monger who leaps up and blames “the system” or “government” or “Child, Youth & Family” or “Western culture” on our every failing. More >>>

Choice Improves Quality
Muriel Newman
24 June 06
A good education is one of the greatest gifts that parents can give to their children: education provides skills that equip people to make their way successfully in an increasingly complex world. More >>>

Harming our Young
Muriel Newman
7 May 06
Our capacity to imagine dire outcomes is infinite. From the creaking of the house in the dead of night evoking vivid images of an approaching intruder, to a delayed arrival bringing fears of dreadful traffic accidents, we commonly imagine the worst. More >>>

Harm Minimisation
Pauline Gardiner
7 May 06
Governments over the past 15 – 20 years have predicated their drug policy on the one single approach of Harm Minimisation, the various interpretations of which have progressed to the current more acceptable definition in the current Draft National Drug Policy 2006-2111, which states: “A harm minimization approach does not condone harmful or illicit drug use.   The most effective way to minimize harm from drugs is not to use them……… It encompasses a wide range of approaches, including abstinence-oriented strategies and initiatives for people who use drugs”. More >>>

Education or Social Engineering?
Muriel Newman
5 Feb 06
This week, in an unusual move, the Ministry of Education agreed that some Northland parents would not be forced to send their children to a poorly performing high school. More >>>

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