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In classrooms from Kerikeri to Invercargill, a quiet revolution is taking place. It isn’t defined by the latest gadget, but by a fundamental shift in how ākonga connect with the world. As schools grapple with student engagement and the evolving NZ Curriculum, a critical question has emerged for leadership: How do we generate greater engagement […]
Agency is, at least, two sided. I see it as the degree of freedom and opportunity – the “capability”, to use Martha Nussbaum’s term – you have as principal or tumuaki to act within your school community and in the schooling system as a whole. ‘At the time of writing’ (a necessary qualifier in this […]
The Google Doc that feels locked Imagine a Google Doc that holds your school’s curriculum and key priorities. In most schools, that document is alive. People copy it, comment on it, reshape it, and improve it. Some stay close to the original, others take it further, but the work gets better because professional judgement is […]
The summer break has a way of changing what we notice. When the relentless pace of school life finally eases – the meetings pause, the deadlines recede – space opens for a different kind of thinking. In one of those quieter moments, I found myself listening to Sir Scott Dixon talk about coming home to […]
In 2025, debates about the benefits or harms of our ‘once-in-a-generation’ classroom and system policy changes typically centred on competing claims of progress (by their proponents) or regress (by opponents). In such debates, progress is framed as inherently right and good, regress as inherently wrong and bad. Progress promises to take us ever closer to […]
Foreword from the President The Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill proposes a series of significant changes to the education system that encroach on our teachers’, principals’ and schools’ autonomy. This is not a collection of technical amendments. It is a fundamental reimagining of the relationship between government, educators, and communities; and it is […]
There is a diplomatic challenge that all tumuaki principals encounter from time to time during their ‘leadership of learning’ career. In essence, it is to balance one’s professional obligations as a senior schooling system public servant against those of a servant leader in one’s local education community. The challenge becomes most acute when government ministers, […]
I first became aware of the challenges of dealing with menopause in the workplace when I met Karen. She taught the new entrant class and was loved by kids and adults alike for her sense of humour and dedication to teaching. She was variously described as ‘hard case’ and a ‘bit of a dag’ and […]
In the USA, the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act aimed to hold teachers and schools accountable for their students’ outcomes by mandating standardised tests alongside high benchmark attainment standards. The American philosopher of education and former teacher and public schools curriculum developer, Nel Noddings, explained in the introduction to Happiness and Education in 2003, […]
Building Schools Where Background Doesn’t Dictate Destiny In Britain, I’m often introduced as the binman turned professor. It’s a story that surprises people, particularly in the country known for its rigid class system. But I share it wherever I speak with school and teacher leaders – because it speaks to a truth that sadly, applies […]
I never imagined myself writing the next sentence but here goes. In late January, I felt an overpowering compulsion to buy several bars of soap – one for myself and one for each of my four adult children. Nothing to do with our family hygiene habits, however, the soap bars in question were part of […]
A twelve-year-old girl exploring her Māori roots and an anxious eleven-year-old boy trying to save his rural school are the heroes of two top New Zealand books of junior fiction for 2024. Nine Girls Stacey Gregg (Ngati Mahuta, Ngati Pukeko, Ngati Maru Hauraki) Penguin Random House NZ Blonde, 12-year-old Titch’s world is turned upside down […]
