Section
Commentary, critique, and advocacy from voices across the New Zealand education sector.
This section publishes opinion pieces on curriculum reform, education policy, equity, standardisation, political change, and the lived realities of school leadership. Contributors include principals, academics, sector commentators, and federation leadership writing in their own voice — not necessarily reflecting NZPF policy. Topics range from the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill to school culture, staff wellbeing, and the place of equity in curriculum design. Use this section to engage with the debates shaping education in Aotearoa, sharpen your own thinking on contested issues, and hear how colleagues are responding to the political and curricular pressures on schools.
First encountered the saying ‘Snitches get stitches’ while working at a girls’ high school. In my experience it is a strategy employed by children and young people seeking to create a sense of personal power and group loyalty. When nobody is brave enough to challenge the belief that ‘snitches get stitches’ a culture of bullying […]
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 place named Swannanoa has to be visited. Turns out an American, John Evans Brown – nicknamed ‘Yankee Brown’ by the locals – settled in the Waimakariri farming District in 1864, and named his land Swannanoa, after the Swannanoa River in Western North Carolina. When he eventually returned to his homeland, he named his home […]
We embarked on a journey in education as teachers, learning our craft through study, practice, and experience. It took time. We learned from our colleagues, our mistakes, our achievements and our experiences in our classrooms, staffrooms, and communities. Through this, we stepped up to the next challenge of school leadership, becoming principals. School principalship is […]
When we think of innovation, names like Steve Jobs, Sir Mason Durie, Peter Beck, and Dame Anne Salmond come to mind – visionary leaders who have shaped their fields. While ‘Thought Leadership’ might sound like a corporate buzzword, its roots run deep, influencing progress across industries, including education. As principals, we are uniquely positioned to […]
Daniel Goleman, a psychologist best known for his work on emotional intelligence, states that, ‘Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances may call for different approaches.’ In his 2000 Harvard Business Review article, ‘,’ he outlines the following six leadership styles which the same leader may utilise depending on the circumstances: Coercive leadership […]
It is an innervating experience to follow in the footsteps of previous NZ Principal columnists Lester Flockton and Martin Thrupp, but I am very grateful to Liz Hawes for the opportunity to try. I have always enjoyed my periodic conversations with groups of principals, prodding and being prodded in equal measure! At the invitation of […]
Over the past two decades as a school principal, I have seen many of our principal colleagues and friends just ‘disappear’. During the early stages of my career, I was so busy learning the role it hardly occurred to me that the circumstances of their departures may have been what you could describe as ‘difficult’. […]
It is my firm belief as an educator with over 40 years of experience, as a teacher, senior lecturer and Principal, that Charter Schools have a place in New Zealand because they offer choice to families regardless of income. Choice is fundamental to a thriving education sector and a healthy democracy. We have a high […]
They came, they went, and they’re back! After a brief life under the Key Government, Charter Schools were revoked by the Ardern Administration only to be resurrected by the present Government. Charter Schools are state funded, private businesses. They were a bottom line for David Seymour, the ACT Party leader, in both the 2008 coalition […]
I grew up in the UK in a home where there was lots of love but not much money. As a consequence, our family qualified for free school meals. In the UK, this was (and still is) a means-tested benefit available to children from low income homes. At primary school, most children ate hot lunches […]
Everywhere is doom and gloom! That’s the general impression given from every evening’s viewing of the TV News. It is really difficult to ignore the terrible things happening in the Middle East and Ukraine, the carnage wreaked by storms and earthquakes, the holiday road toll, the almost daily reports of murder, assaults and child abuse […]
