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.
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz Did you have a good summer? I hope so. Mine was both horrendous and wonderful at the same time. I had a cancer diagnosis and surgery but also then a very fortunate outcome. The problem started when a blister on my heel refused to mend, and over 2021 I had various diagnoses, and treatments […]
Principal of Discovery School, Whitby The voices are rising again, this time from an Education hub founder, Dr Nina Hood. ‘Two in five young people are failing in literacy and numeracy!’ In 2008, a similar cry resulted in the most educationally New Zealand had slipped down the rankings. destructive policy of all times. Schools were […]
‘Mum, I’m feeling socially awkward . . . ’ Helen Kinsey-Wightman As regular readers of this column might remember, I have whānau in the UK. Their experience of Covid-19 has been significantly different to my own and not in a good way. Writing this on Waitangi Day, yesterday the UK reported 60,578 new Covid cases […]
Over the Christmas break a short interview with Christopher Luxon on the TV news caught my attention. As National’s new leader he was talking about policy priorities in the future and focussing particularly on education, where he said ‘we’ve let standards slip’. It followed a year where the standard of schooling and teachers in Aotearoa […]
Associate Professor Louise P Ageing Well National Science Kia ora ki ngā tumuaki o Aotearoa Associate Professor Louise Parr-Brownlie Department of Anatomy, University of Otago You’ve had two years demonstrating unwavering, strong, kind leadership to support staff, students and whānau through the challenges that Covid-19 has brought. No one could have predicted – let alone […]
This week we dropped my eldest son down to Wellington to move into his first ever flat. The 27 steps up to the front door are not for the faint hearted, so I was pretty relieved that he has embraced minimalism and moved out with 2 bags of clothes and his gaming PC (which he […]
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz As I write, the Waikato has just joined Auckland in Level 3 general throws you a curveball which is common enough in lockdown and it seems things are about to get messier as Covid these Covid times. travels widely through the country. For the time being, I’m so I know there are numerous discussions […]
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz I have a new love in my life, a bright red fully-electric Mini! which there will be many. For instance, there are the people Marika, my wife, has called it Clifford, after the Big Red Dog. who have already brought EVs, our household included, who I’ve tried to tell her that a car being […]
On Breakfast this week I watched John Campbell interviewing Supreme Court Justice Joe Williams (who has just become Sir Joe) the youngest-ever Māori judge appointed to the Supreme Court and the first Te Reo Māori speaker on the Court of Appeal. John Campbell’s first question was, ‘What were you told as a child about what […]
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz I’ve been thinking for a while now, that I would like to write a column about parents, because dealing with unhappy parents often falls to principals and I think it must be one of the most difficult parts of the role. Don’t get me wrong, many parents are nearly always wonderful and can be […]
Getting beyond the tick box . . . Helen Kinsey-Wightman Having returned from a year of study leave, I find my job looks different and not just because of Covid. Part of my role was to review teacher portfolios prior to renewal of practising certificates, with a staff of 100 that meant more than 30 […]
thrupp@waikato.ac.nz I have been thinking about initial teacher education a lot lately and so I read Perry Rush’s last President’s column in this magazine with great interest. Perry argued that New Zealand’s teacher education providers – many of which are universities – are not serving the teaching profession well, and that the quality of programmes […]
