Sometimes this country feels allergic to good news, especially when that good news comes from a government our media class has decided must never be allowed a win. This week, Education Minister Erica Stanford released some of the most extraordinary education data New Zealand has seen in decades…students are making between one and two years of maths progress in just twelve weeks. It should have led every bulletin. It should have been the headline splashed across every front page. Erica Stanford should be being hoisted above shoulders and paraded through the streets as a heroine. Chris Hipkins would have thrown himself a parade if he had done anything except drive our education system into decline when he was in charge. What Stanford’s reforms are achieving is nothing short of extraordinary.
