I remember Primary School maths as being about learning to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Once we had learned those things, we took on fractions and decimals. Read more

National recently announced a series of education policies that it will take to the election in October. One is to a develop a much more structured and knowledge-rich curriculum. Read more

During my years as an education academic, Professor Elizabeth Rata of the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland always stood out as a model scholar. She has always argued calmly for her ideas, using logic and evidence. Read more

Once again, the Ministry of Education has shown that it prefers ideology to evidence. Last week, it published a Common Practice Model (CPM) – a model of teaching literacy and numeracy to be followed by teachers across the country. Read more

In September 1969, hippies thronged to Auckland’s Albert Park to stand up for free speech, protest the Vietnam War, and enjoy the grass. It was part of a movement for free love and free minds that was sweeping the English-speaking world at the time. Read more

For a brief moment last year, it looked as if the Ministry of Education was finally going to embrace methods of teaching literacy and numeracy supported by scientific evidence. They published a new literacy and numeracy strategy that made reference to structured teaching methods. Read more

We urgently need a conversation about education. Not the kind of ‘conversation’ the Ministry of Education typically convenes when it consults on new policy ideas. Read more

ast Thursday, most of New Zealand’s teachers were on strike. Teachers’ unions representatives say that the action was necessary to press their claim for better pay and working conditions. Read more

You may recall New Zealand’s sixteen former Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) being merged to form the mega-Polytech, Te Pūkenga. But if you do, it is a false memory. Read more

Last week, documents came to light under the Official Information Act, showing that the Ministry of Education has been putting pressure on NZQA to make new literacy and numeracy requirements for NCEA easier to attain. It's not hard to see why Ministry officials are worried. Read more