Stories by John Gerritsen
News
Kindergarten teachers agree to pay rises; primary teachers remain unswayed by offer
Primary teachers are considering their next move after rejecting an Education Ministry pay offer.
Hundreds of striking teachers join march on Parliament
Hundreds of striking secondary and area school teachers marched on Parliament today to protest for better pay and conditions.
Has sexism suppressed teachers' pay? Ministry launches investigation
Unions say teaching has been undervalued right across the education sector because the education and care of children is historically viewed as women's work.
'We've been very lucky with our Covid cases this year, we haven't had many'
School attendance improved dramatically in term one, weekly figures show.
'More stress than Covid' - Principals struggle to fill teaching jobs
Secondary school principals have told the secondary teachers union they are facing a staffing crisis due to a lack of New Zealand teachers.
Te Pūkenga hopeful work-based funding will offset on-campus income drops
Te Pūkenga is hoping increased income from work-based learning such as apprenticeships will more than make up for falling income from other courses this year. Chief executive Peter Winder told...
Teachers complain of racism, bullying, unsafe practices at early childhood centres
A support group for early childhood teachers is gathering evidence of what teachers say are traumatic and horrific experiences at a small number of early childhood services.
Government told in February Te Pūkenga needed to urgently cut spending
A briefing shows the government was told in February that the country's largest tertiary institute, Te Pūkenga, must make savings urgently.
Govt announces schools to prioritise maths and literacy, NCEA changes deferred
Today's announcement follows a series of trials with Year 10 students that found many didn't know how to use capital letters and full stops and didn't know there were 60 minutes in an hour.
'So much harder being a student in 2023' - Higher learning faces higher costs
Universities and students' associations warn rising living costs are hitting students especially hard this year.
Software update will catch misuse of AI but likely only for a short time - senior lecturer
Universities' arms-race against cheats took a step forward today with the activation of software that can detect the use of Artificial Intelligence systems such as ChatGPT.
'Kids were disillusioned' - Pacific teachers worried about new NCEA test rates
Poor results in trial NCEA tests have been heart-breaking for teachers and students in Pacific nations.
New NCEA tests poorly designed for Māori, Pacific students - report
An independent evaluation says it is likely the design of new NCEA maths and writing tests is unfair on Māori and Pacific teenagers.
'Absolutely cuckoo': Principals 'overwhelmed' by planned reviews, rule changes
Teachers and principals are warning they cannot cope with the pace and scale of changes to the school system.
Domestic enrolments drop at North Island universities
All five North Island universities say they have started the year with fewer full-time-equivalent domestic students than the same time last year. Audio
Maniapoto training centre double-claimed funding for hundreds of students
A small King Country training centre double-claimed government funding for hundreds of students even after it had been told not to.
Unredacted document reveals Te Pūkenga requested $330m from government
The figure was among several paragraphs marked for deletion in a ministerial briefing published by the Ministry of Education.
'Over-worked, over-stressed, under-paid': Striking teachers make voices heard
Thousands of striking teachers rallied, chanted and shouted at Education Minister Jan Tinetti in the first ever strike involving kindergarten, primary and secondary school teachers.
'I'm striking for our children': Striking teachers in their own words
Thousands of teachers are walking off the job over stalled pay talks with the Ministry of Education.
Schools told to ramp up efforts to stop racist bullying
The Education Review Office says schools must do more to stop racist bullying of children from ethnic communities. Audio
Unpaid staff, centres closing, lower quality: Some ECE centres struggle to afford pay parity
Some early childhood centres do not know how they will cover the cost of pay parity for their teachers.
Pay parity 'unviable' for some early childhood centres, body says
The Early Childhood Council warns some early childhood centres have blundered into pay parity for their teachers and cannot afford it.
Schools' rolls will drop in 10 years, ministry predicts
Schools in Wellington and Auckland will suffer the biggest losses as the population of school children drops during the next 10 years.
Some parents back teachers but say strike timing 'not ideal'
This year's expected strike of about 50,000 school and kindergarten teachers comes after years of pandemic-driven disruptions and soon after cyclone-related school closures.
New NCEA tests should be ditched as downsides so major - deputy principal
Some teachers agree the Qualifications Authority unwittingly made trial NCEA literacy and numeracy tests too difficult last year.