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Categories under education

Good money after bad into the bottomless pit of charter schools

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, January 29th, 2016 - 73 comments

Yesterday the Nats confirmed the closing of a failed Northland charter school. Turns out we’ll be paying an extra $400,000 for the first quarter of this year, even though the school will not open. Brilliant.

The great big list of John Key’s big fat lies (UPDATED)

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 27th, 2016 - 79 comments

How many more lies will John Key tell today in his so-called State of the Nation address? Virtual chocolate fish to whomever guesses the closest number.

Tertiary fee drop – excellent proposal from Labour

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, January 22nd, 2016 - 139 comments

Education is a public good, but tertiary education in NZ has been undermined by high student fees and debt. So it’s very encouraging to see a proposal from Labour for reducing fees (and not ruling out free education!).

Skill shortages and reaping what you sow

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…

Education mess

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.

John Key’s hedge fund mate behind Teach First (NZ)

Written By: - Date published: 7:36 am, December 9th, 2015 - 195 comments

Julian Robertston, a US billionaire who made his money with hedge fund Tiger Management, Merryl Lynch’s largest customer when John Key was working there, is the man behind privatisation trojan horse Teach First (NZ).

NRT: Compare and contrast

Written By: - Date published: 2:16 pm, November 27th, 2015 - 2 comments

I/S at No Right Turn compares the government’s treatment of two very different schools. “National’s racism and pandering to the rich pervades every aspect of policy.”

The education review

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.

More charter school hypocrisy

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, October 9th, 2015 - 21 comments

Turns out the Education Minister overrode Ministry advice to protect National’s pet charter schools from being evaluated on their actual outcomes. Plus a bonus side order of hypocrisy on class sizes.

Even Catherine Isaac thinks Parata has no idea

Written By: - Date published: 5:15 pm, October 8th, 2015 - 18 comments

When Catherine Isaac (wife of Roger Kerr (deceased) of the former Business Round-table and ACT party stalwart) is at odds with Parata, something must be amiss.

Hekia has gone rogue

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, October 5th, 2015 - 41 comments

Hekia Parata has announced that student achievement and not need caused by poverty will be a central part of any future funding system.

Christianity doesn’t compromise with other religions

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, September 29th, 2015 - 115 comments

Christianity doesn’t compromise with other religions or has the World Finally Gone madder?

A schools league table that we need

Written By: - Date published: 11:09 am, September 4th, 2015 - 15 comments

The Nats have created the (spurious) data for school “league tables” so that parents can be fully informed and make choices, so they tell us. But it seems that parents don’t deserve to be fully informed about the dangerous physical health of schools. That would be just too inconvenient.

Charter $chools

Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, August 22nd, 2015 - 20 comments

Today’s Herald has an excellent piece on charter schools – School cash flows to owners’ pockets. What a surprise!

Sunshine Coast holiday a life changing experience for our Children

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, August 11th, 2015 - 139 comments

…is swimming all day in a pool at the luxurious Denarau suite of high class hotels a learning experience? Spending days in water parks in Queensland life expanding? Is this sufficient to justify thumbing your nose at our education system, its principles (and principals) and making teachers re-teach these children to catch them up? What happened to the notion of “one law for all”?

 

250 to 300 Job Losses at Unitec in Auckland

Written By: - Date published: 10:23 am, August 8th, 2015 - 84 comments

Under Unitec’s new vision students will be known as Customers. Student services will be outsourced (overseas)

Aspiration statement
To be a world leader in contemporary applied learning and an agent of positive economic and social change
.

Well he would wouldn’t he

Written By: - Date published: 1:05 pm, August 3rd, 2015 - 52 comments

Key denies claims that he said Maori language month would be boring. Whatever the phrasing it’s clear that he was insensitive and a 16-year-old girl has been upset. Key should just do the decent thing and apologise.

What’s a charter school gotta do?

Written By: - Date published: 9:23 am, July 30th, 2015 - 7 comments

What exactly does a charter school have to do in order to be held accountable?

Failing Charter School punished by increase in funding

Written By: - Date published: 1:33 pm, July 24th, 2015 - 33 comments

The Friday afternoon bad news dump is on with news that Education Minister was recommended to close a poorly performing charter school.  She has elected not to do so and to instead give the school extra money.

More charter school fiascos

Written By: - Date published: 11:48 am, July 22nd, 2015 - 15 comments

Charter schools continue to hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Right-wingers continue to back them for all the wrong reasons.

Deconstructing the government’s report card

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.

School lunches – Key vs data

Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, July 6th, 2015 - 29 comments

Key claimed that the number of hungry kids in schools was limited to “the odd one or two”. Everyone knew it was nonsense. Now a survey by the New Zealand Principals’ Federation indicates the true extent of the problem.

It’s great to be a charter school!

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, July 2nd, 2015 - 48 comments

A charter school banks an “operating surplus” of $2.4 million, while state schools remain chronically underfunded.

Anti-union rant in The Herald

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.

National standards aren’t

Written By: - Date published: 8:03 am, June 3rd, 2015 - 67 comments

Further evidence that “national standards” are an omnishambles.

Schools under pressure

Written By: - Date published: 2:38 pm, May 31st, 2015 - 12 comments

Schools are not adequately funded for the job we ask them to do.

Students speak on loan cap

Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, May 28th, 2015 - 46 comments

Students speak on the lifetime limit on eligibility for student loans. This particularly affects those committed to a long term course of study, such as medical students. They can’t get loans for their final years of study. It’s crazy.

New appointments to Tertiary Education Institutions Councils

Written By: - Date published: 2:01 pm, April 16th, 2015 - 23 comments

Steven Joyce has today announced his latest appointments to TEI. These are important because after changes to the Education Act 1989 in 2009 the Minister controls the appointment of half of the appointees of Councils. The Council appoints the other half. Think about the possible implications of Government influence. Manukau Institute of TechnologyMs Rachael Tuwhangai, […]

The education horse race

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.

Second “Roast Busters” report released

Written By: - Date published: 12:24 pm, March 19th, 2015 - 120 comments

There are many failings outlined. Police were  found to have largely treated women and girls with respect and compassion but their investigations were not robust or thorough, inadequate follow-up enquiries…

Shame shame shame

Written By: - Date published: 7:12 am, March 19th, 2015 - 206 comments

Last night in Parliament National voted down Harawira / Turei’s Feed the Kids Bill, David Shearer’s Food in Schools Bill, and Phil Twyford’s Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill.