Discussion Paper | The Case for Character Skills

By Kieran Madden

“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King Success early on in life is about…

Catching the tide for “the lockdown generation”

By Rowan Light

As the COVID-19 pandemic grinds on, we must attend to the needs of our young people, our taiohi. “Taiohi” in…

Educational hubs or babysitters clubs

By Kieran Madden

The Alert Level 3 announcement that schools would be opened was met with a collective sigh of relief from some…

Vocational surgery required

By Kieran Madden

Our vocational educational system is on life support— haemorrhaging badly in desperate need of surgery. Four of New Zealand’s sixteen…

The status of our own history

By Danielle van Dalen

While many of us are raised with storybook histories of pharaohs, kings, queens, and notable events from all over the…

Learning Support funding should bridge to work

By Danielle van Dalen

School can be difficult for everyone, but for students with disabilities the difficulties are generally heightened. The Prime Minister acknowledged…

Excessive tertiary education sends the wrong signals

By Kieran Madden

The higher education system is a colossal waste of time and money—far more about signaling to future employers than gaining…

Changing the way we educate

By Danielle van Dalen

Nelson Mandela is credited with saying: “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” It…

Read our column on The Spinoff and RNZ

By Alex Penk

This week, Alex Penk and Julian Wood’s column Triumph or disaster? A guide to the minimum wage increase featured on The…

Our politicians must learn what actually makes a difference in education

By Danielle van Dalen

I can clearly remember my favourite teacher. He was a jovial and portly history teacher, who would get incredibly excited…

Supporting the village raising our children

By Danielle van Dalen

An African proverb claims that “it takes a village to raise a child.” Labour’s School Leavers’ Toolkit Policy seems an…

Death to deciles

By Kieran Madden

The Government is about to drive school deciles out of town. Good riddance. What will replace the much-maligned decile system?…

The future is not (only) digital

By Kieran Madden

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution” is upon us—the exponential rise in technology that is set to disrupt every aspect of our…

‘Cash for class’ a bankrupt idea

By Guest Author

According to PISA, 42% of New Zealand students are skipping school at least once every two weeks. Why are kids…

The trust trade-off

By Kieran Madden

The Government is going all in on its Social Investment strategy for fixing social ills, but the big data it…

Our insecure future of work

By Kieran Madden

Many pinned Trump’s election and the Brexit vote as being fueled by people’s fear of losing their way of life….

Sir John Graham Lecture 2016 | Achieving Change

Using evidence to empower educators and help students succeed Every parent, teacher, principal, policy expert, and education leader wants an…

Free tertiary policy lacks precision

By Julian Wood

I never knew the “glory days” of tertiary education where everything was free. After high school I was ushered into…

Social skills to pay the bills

By Kieran Madden

Modern workplaces are like preschool. Our schools and homes should be too. At preschool “children move from art projects to…

Is education the great equaliser?

By Kieran Madden

Last week, New Zealand got a glowing report card from the OECD for our economic performance and the policies set…