Scott Kennedy: Refocusing Education On Education

In early November, the New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF) released a media statement criticising the Government’s plan to remove Treaty of Waitangi responsibilities from school boards. The Federation described the move as “extreme” and “far right,” urging boards to continue giving effect to the Treaty in their governance.

It’s hard to overstate how disconnected this concern is from the real challenges facing education in New Zealand. It raises serious questions about whether the Federation is primarily interested in education itself or in promoting a programme of left-wing social engineering.

Scott Kennedy: Persecuted, Underfunded -and Still Winning

Over the last few weeks, Stuff has published articles targeting KingsWay School, a state-integrated Christian school north of Auckland. The catalyst? An ongoing investigation into a teacher accused of assault. But rather than simply reporting on the facts of that case, an investigation that is still ongoing and, at this point, light on confirmed facts, Stuff has used this investigation as a pretext to fire another shot at Christian schools by airing a range of grievances from alleged former students, many of them anonymous, zeroing in on the school’s traditional Christian teaching about sexuality, gender, and sin.