The 2016 PIRLS results announced this week are bad.PIRLS (the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) compares the reading ability of Year 5 students.  Ours ranked 33rd among the 50 participating countries. More worrying still, their scores were significantly worse than the last time the test was administered, in 2011.  So far the decline has been blamed on smartphones, and the previous government’s fixation with National Standards. Read more

So far in this Parliament, our fresh-faced new ministers have succumbed to a bit of over-exuberance on GST reform, some misguided Vietnamese-whispers, and some contorting parliamentary questions. But if political amateur dramatics is what you are after there has been little to see here, despite our government’s relative inexperience. Look instead to the UK Conservatives, now into their eighth year in government. First up from the UK this month came sex scandals. Read more

My dad just refitted his small cottage kitchen. He is over 6ft tall, so wanted the worktops raised 6 inches, precluding his need to bend. However, his circumstances may change. Aside from his possible shrinking, he might one day want to sell the house, or even welcome a ‘lady-friend’ who is less than 6ft tall. Needless to say, after acknowledging the trade-offs, a worktop compromise has been made. Read more

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, New Zealand leads the world in ‘educating for the future’.Their latest index, compiled in London, evaluates the extent to which the inputs to education systems prioritise ‘future skills’. New Zealand came out top, followed closely by Canada and Finland.But is this a prize we should be proud of?The Economist’s intelligentsia tells us that ‘workers of the future will need to master a suite of adaptable interpersonal, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills’.The language of future-focused skills... Read more

Imagine a political party deeply committed to social justice. A party that places fairness and caring for the most disadvantaged above everything else. A party led by a politician who would march in the streets, not to rule the country, but to end child poverty. Read more

Last time you booked a hotel or restaurant, you may well have checked it out on TripAdvisor first. Whatever your price bracket, if a place was rated below about a three out of five, then the chances are you’ll have discounted it. The same goes when you buy a book on Amazon, or order an Uber. Ratings are useful for consumers. After all, thanks to TripAdvisor, great restaurants in hidden-away locations can still thrive, and we rarely subject ourselves to... Read more

Despite little evidence of impact, Inquiry Learning is at the heart of New Zealand’s curriculum. Read more

Have you ever wondered why children learn to speak with relative ease, and yet find reading so much harder?This question was answered in the last 30 years by evolutionary psychology. The roots of this discipline are in biology, but it draws also on artificial intelligence, anthropology and archaeology. Within evolutionary psychology, a distinction is made between information patterns which are biologically primary, and those which are biologically secondary. Biologically primary information has facilitated human survival throughout evolution. Read more

Imagine what would happen if a third of the people you worked with were absent at least half a day per week? Most employers would not tolerate it. But it seems that our school system does. Read more

The primary teachers' union NZEI reports that partnership schools attract two to three times as much funding as state schools. But the Ministry of Education, in its role as referee, has always maintained funding is equivalent across both school types. So what exactly is going on? Read more

Over the past week, TVNZ aired a series of interactive programmes exploring the future of society and work. It is an appealing idea: that in the future, life and work will look dramatically different.In fact, so enchanting is this idea that it has been used around the world to justify changing the school curriculum: away from teaching subject knowledge and in favour of ‘21st century skills’.The argument goes that since many of our children will one day work in jobs... Read more

When the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) started testing 15-year-olds in 2000, New Zealand students ranked second in reading and third in maths. Ever since, our scores have perpetually declined. Set starkly against this, pass rates for NCEA level 2, the national qualification typically completed by 16 and 17 year olds, have risen relentlessly.So what is the story?PISA assesses how well 15-year-old students have acquired knowledge and skills deemed essential for participation in society. Read more

It has been two weeks since I started work in New Zealand, at the Initiative. Starting a new job in a new country, there are a few things to get used to. But I would not have guessed that the bus ride home would be such a highlight of my day. For those unaccustomed to Wellington buses, this is what happens: Each time someone alights, they break the otherwise contemplative commuter silence and yell “Thanks driver!” all the way up to... Read more