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Editor Much is happening in education at a political level. Every day the media reveals another reason for the Minister to continue the government’s crusade of radical reform. A recent headline in the Dominion Post drew attention to some examples of school finances not being properly managed. Whether these examples represent tiny or larger transgressions […]
Editor Language is powerful. Without it, we can’t think or communicate. It shapes our world view, and the values we bring to it. Let’s take a look at how it works. Under neoliberalism problems are solved through management. Governments subscribing to this philosophy redefine the cultural as economic. Under restructured public sectors, managerialism is the […]
Editor Another day, and another Novo-no-pay story flashes for the past three months, Ministry staff, including the Secretary across the nation’s television screens! The volume and diversity for Education, have been in denial, despite the daily reports of of problems that have emerged from the new education sector escalating issues with Novopay. payroll system is […]
Editor I recently thumbed through Cathy Wylie’s latest book Vital Connections. It quickly became compelling reading. See review in this issue (p.23). The book is an examination of how effectively the self-management model of schooling has worked over time. What is captivating about Vital Connections is that it gives such insight into the present state […]
Editor If Novopay wasn’t such a serious contractual disgrace, the random madness of its blunders would by now have transported us all to La La Land! Mind you it takes less than Novopay to send educationalists to La La Land in today’s environment. I have the great pleasure of visiting real schools that exist in […]
Editor Spring is an uplifting season. It stirs the spirits and is bursting is what Treasury was advising the Government in respect of with colourful new beginnings. It makes me think of leafy new Education Minister Parata’s ‘ambitious agenda for change in canes rearing upwards from rose bush stumps, of woolly lambs the schooling sector’, […]
Editor As Philip Harding has stated in his president’s column, this in secondary schools will raise performance levels. As highis election year! Brace yourselves for the triennial avalanche of stakes events, they generate more testing, less creative teaching, bribes and baby kissing blitzes. An education ‘lolly scramble’ has obvious grade inflation, less “stretching” of brighter […]
Editor I love NZPF conferences. There are always stirring speakers to ignite and excite hearts and minds. This year there were several (see p.18 of this issue for the full story). We had the rags-to-riches Sir Ray Avery who captivated his audience as he told his life story from living under London bridges as a […]
Editor Our fathers and fore-fathers shed blood for it; our story is quite different. Our democratic participation is on a country was built on it; we continue to vigorously defend it. It is slide, a slippery slide. Our voter turn-out in 2002 dropped to democracy and with it comes the right to be a free […]
Editor As I write this column, ‘Budget Day’ is dawning. Budget Day Bill English has announced that $857m of new money will be always generates an element of excitement, particularly if you allocated to Education over four years. $359m has already been work in Wellington. In part, this is due to the age old tradition […]
Editor Schools where principals have given thought to what That however could be about to end, unless the school’s roll education is and what it is trying to achieve tend to be vibrant, can be increased by two. Halfmoon Bay School, categorised fun, exciting places full of risk taking. Most schools would amongst the most […]
Editor It is heartening for the teaching profession when Key note speakers at the recent NZPF conference in Invercargill mainstream media pick up government policy and give it a (see p.10 for the full coverage) similarly warned against jolly good shake out in public. We expect our media to be at the policies that were […]
