Suze: NZ Children Treated as Educational Guinea Pigs

A friend commented recently that her working week as a primary school teacher is five days in the classroom, plus several hours per night and most of Saturday at home. She’s diligent but understandably she is planning retirement. The demands of teaching have forced many good teachers out and parents with the financial wherewithal have removed their children from public education to home school or educate them privately.

Adrian Schoone: School of last resort

How to fix NZ’s vital but ignored alternative education system

It wasn’t surprising when last week’s Education Review Office (ERO) report found New Zealand’s alternative education (AE) system suffers from inadequate facilities, a lack of qualified teaching personnel and poor long-term outcomes.

After all, alternative education funding had remained static for its first decade of operation, after which it received only minor increases until this year’s government budget.