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After 12 years of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC), most Kiwi primary schools continue to ignore its main message: they do not weave ‘Key Competencies’ into what or how they teach. The Education Review Office (ERO) confirmed this in recent research. Read more

Imagine if a friend believed cake was more nutritious for children than vegetables, and any time you tried to explain otherwise they closed down the discussion saying the two were a false dichotomy: children should just eat both. This is what happens when the overwhelming evidence in favour of teacher-directed, rather than student-oriented learning achieves air-time in New Zealand. Read more

Last week, an educational resource unveiled by Ministers Shaw and Hipkins was praised by The Guardian newspaper for putting New Zealand “at the forefront of climate change education worldwide”. ACT MP David Seymour judged differently, describing the same resource as “state-organised bullying”. Read more

Standard organisational theory explains the differences between an organisation’s objective (or its goal) and the strategies and tactics it adopts to achieve its objective. If an organisation confuses these concepts, it risks jeopardising its goal. Read more

It can take courage to champion what you believe in. Especially when your views are at odds with those of the crowd. Read more

One of the underappreciated joys of parenthood is lying to your children. Children are full of questions. Read more

Confirmation came this week that New Zealand’s once world-leading school system continues its steady decline. Ever since the OECD began testing the educational performance of 15-year olds in the early 2000s, New Zealand students have performed progressively worse in all three assessed areas of reading, maths and science. Read more

Despite what Education Minister Chris Hipkins would have us believe, you cannot simply google everything. Technology has undoubtedly transformed our ability to access information, but despite what Hipkins told Newshub, memory still matters. Read more