Education

Centralism attacks Tomorrow’s Schools

In one area of public policy, New Zealand is much devolved: education. Since the rollout of Tomorrow’s Schools in 1989, our schools have enjoyed relative autonomy and self-governance. That may end if the Government implements recommendations from the Tomorrow's Schools Review taskforce. [...]

Revolutionary common sense

The counterrevolution started in Auckland last night. That is when the Initiative hosted British educator Katharine Birbalsingh for a dinner lecture in front of an audience of almost 300 teachers, school trustees, business leaders and politicians. [...]

London’s Michaela School is an inspiration for all

Michaela School’s approach may not be easily replicated. Nor would it be suited to every community. But its very success should be reason enough to ask if there are some lessons we might learn. [...]

Go Swiss: Learnings from The New Zealand Initiative’s visit to Switzerland

New Zealand has much to learn from Switzerland. [...]

In the mood for policy change

To sum up the Mood of the Boardroom, there is an appetite for change in the business community. Not necessarily in a party-political sense but certainly in policy terms. [...]

Delivering a future of work

There is no doubt there will be jobs in the future. But they will be different from our jobs today. Someone still needs to design, service and repair those robots and drones that bring our pizzas. [...]

Free tertiary education: Some personal reflections

Of course, Labour is right that in a fast-changing labour market, qualifications are important and that education policy should enable New Zealanders to participate in the ‘future of work’. With its proposal to make three years of tertiary education free for all, I just don’t think Labour will get us anywhere nearer that goal. [...]

De-mathematising New Zealand

Changing teaching methods in maths have failed to improve our primary students’ maths performance. But it is not just basic, elementary mathematics that we should be concerned about. [...]

Making mathematics count

If we want students to become good at maths, we first need to teach them the basics. Creativity will follow automatically, especially with good teachers. [...]

Language competence is a benefit

For countries whose official language is English, there may not be the immediate business imperative to learn other languages since world trade is dominated by English. Despite this, other English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia are realising the benefits of language instruction and promoting second languages at school. [...]