Kia kaha

Unlike traditional leadership programmes Refresh Reconnect Refocus equips leaders to thrive. It’s about rediscovering your ‘why’ experimenting boldly and gaining the clarity and tools to shape the future of learning in your school. Learn more at www.futuremakers.com futuremakers.nz/services/ref...

Waiting for the moment when the lightbulb goes on at Labour HQ & Hipkins stands up and says “ you know the billions this Govt has promised to the oil companies? Well, we’re going end that & invest it in YOU with subsidised solar on every roof in 10 years.”

The junior maths curriculum is being rewritten in England.

Local candidates: it's not much help telling us you're married with 3 kids and have run your own business. I need to know where you stand on issues: fluoridation, cycleways, water, homelessness, climate change mitigation, housing density, libraries, and which issues you care about most.

I’ve signed. Because a strengthened NCEA is our pathway to an inclusive, connected, productive, and ambitious society. The proposed shift to a ‘new’, exclusive, narrow qualifications system puts all those at risk.

We are at a crossroads folks. Back to the past or forward into the future. For the sake of our kids please consider signing and sharing. It's time to strengthen NCEA not to scrap it. our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/sa...

You could safely bet that the people screaming and making death threats against councillors are the same people who furiously opposed Three Waters. They're stuck with the bad solution they loudly demanded. www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/571...

Let's keep it real: If this story was about a Labour-lead Government signing secret deals with Māori and Pasifika providers the political-media shitstorm would be leading every news bulletin and front page for weeks and run clear through to the election. Tell me I'm wrong. Dare you. #nzpol

I'm worried about Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill as it paves the way for a privatisation of our health system. I don't want a system here as in USA. Submissions close on Monday night. I've made a brief submission which I'm happy to share. Those with the same fears as me need to mobilise.

Tautoko

And you wondered why they were wheeling out the Crimson Education guy over the weekend? #NzPol

While you clowns are having your precious little culture war moment, the economy is stalling, inflation is back and the streets are filling with the homeless. www.stuff.co.nz/travel/36077...

He whakahīhī ahau. Just completed Upper Beginner (Level 2) Reo Ora course on my journey to become better with te reo Māori

Refresh Reconnect Refocus was a blast in 2025. Think about signing up for 2026. principalpossum.blogspot.com/2025/07/how-...

Absolutely loved the 2 days at the EdRising Convening and excited about where we will be going with this. principalpossum.blogspot.com/2025/07/edri...

The vigour and savagery of the reactionary back swing over the last 5 or so years actually makes me think maybe we actually were coming close to real societal change and now we’re being firmly put back in our place

I've done my submission to the RSB. Hit me up if you want me to DM a copy to you

My favourite part is near the end, showing her questioning seymour and his rictus-grin fumbling lie-answers while the rest of the press gallery are quiet, letting her keep going, letting him keep sinking. #nzpol

They do not understand the real Pākeha perception.They do not understand that WE ARE NOT BRITISH. We are of AOTEAROA. We moved on a generation ago & our babies are of Aotearoa now. I feel sad for those who STILL DONT GET IT.

NZ Budget under the coalition: we have a serious shortfall here. Would you like us to go after the 100s of millions in lost revenue due to tax cheats? Coalition: OR...hear me out...how about instead going after those hard working women fighting for equal pay?

You have to ask… why do they fear Māori being Māori so much? Every time we build, they attempt to tear it down. Our health system, our rights, our history, our voice in law. #NZPol #ToitūTeTiriti

Luxon in 2024: I'm wealthy and I am sorted Luxon in 2025: We are living beyond our means No shit Sherlock #nzpol www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350...

I'd really like to encourage those who are as stunned and utterly disappointed as I am that in this proud country that was first to allow women to vote we were subjected to the urgent, undemocratic passing of the Pay Equity Amendment Act to email their local MP and relevant Ministers. 1/2

This pay equity change would be outrageous even if it went though the proper scrutiny process Announcing it on a random tuesday and then promptly ramming it though under urgency is just taking the piss, we can't let the public forget about this! #nzpol #nzpolitics

New Zealand needs a #GeneralStrike Too many people do not have a single inkling just how bad this government is. What they are trying to pull with scrapping pay equity is going to negatively affect hundreds of thousands of low paid workers. #nzpol

NO regulatory impact statement. NO Treaty analysis. NO Attorney General report. NO consulting the Minister of Justice. On a RETROSPECTIVELY active agreement. This is against the rule of law. Great outline in the committee stage by a furious @duncanwebbmp.bsky.social #nzpol

@nznationalparty.bsky.social how do your MPs justify standing up in favour of obliterating pay equity today after these speeches. What a disgustingly two-faced, sexist, actively harmful, anti-democratic about-face.

Why are NACTNZ putting significant law through under urgency? It’s like Trump’s ‘Executive Orders’ – tossing out radical, unexamined laws *that they are taking a punt they can get away with.*

Excerpts from Nicola Willis & Erica Stanford’s third reading speeches in FAVOUR of the landmark Equal Pay Amendment Bill. The government should be ashamed of this surprise attack on women under urgency in their fight for equal pay. Link to speeches here: www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansar...

Fondly remembering the days when govts used their mandate to enact campaign policies instead of just fucking trashing the joint, up-ending the legislative furniture, smashing the windows of procedural norms and kicking in the doors of democratic conventions.

If you ran the govt like a business, you'd a) treat borrowing as a business-as-usual way of operating, rather than something to be avoided, b) you'd borrow for investments on their merits, rather than wait for cash to be available, c) you wouldn't cut core capacity in response to short-term shocks.

Loving the use of te reo to kick off the news on TVOne tonight.

Inspired by Derek Wenmoth post on "What's Lighting Our Fire?" I've been thinking about opportunities for us to tend those fires together. #EduNZ principalpossum.blogspot.com/2025/04/how-...

NZ First, the political party of choice for the befuddled, says that, within a health context, it's much clearer if you simply say "women" rather than "pregnant people" when you're referring to pregnant people. Why? Because NZ First and its ilk are "ignorant people"

"The one thing that can stop the rise of the far right is the one thing mainstream parties are currently not prepared to deliver: greater equality. The rich should be taxed more, and the revenue used to improve the lives of the poor...there is no other way."

By announcing “parents should”, you are not solving a societal problem nor are you making a contribution to making our society better. You’re a pointless person and honestly better off shutting up and buying yet another useless plastic junk from Amazon.

I couldn't go to sleep tonight after this hui without writing down my thoughts. principalpossum.blogspot.com/2025/04/how-...

The govt is about to launch a road cone hotline….yes, really. Meanwhile, they’re cutting health & safety protections for workers. Next up: a minister for misplaced traffic signs? Maybe a taskforce for wobbly café tables? This isn’t good government- it’s a joke. #NZPol

"Fear of failure gets in the way of kids in Achiever mode building Explorer muscles and rising to their full potential. Playing it safe doesn't encourage exploring; it hinders it." #DisengagedTeen

"When schools don't create any space for powerful reflection, they undervalue the imagining network and the developmental need for adolescents to begin to make meaning of what they are doing. " #DisengagedTeen

"While kids in Passenger mode need us to support their autonomy-to give them space to make decisions & develop intrinsic motivation-supporting mattering for students in Achiever mode goes a step further..When kids are recognized as a whole person.. they feel free to follow their values & interests "

"The foundation of helping kids stuck in Achiever mode is making sure they matter for who they are, not just what they do in school. " #DisengagedTeen

"For kids deep into Achiever mode, that means developing their own sense of identity, figuring out what matters to them, and building resilience." #DisengagedTeen

"As counterintuitive as it sounds, try giving kids in Passenger mode more, not less, autonomy. Autonomy-supportive teaching approaches boost teens' engagement in learning and achievement in school." #DisengagedTeen

"Most schools spend way more time teaching kids content and less time teaching kids how to learn." #DisengagedTeen

"I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them." Kids who heard these 2x as likely to take their teachers' comments and actually revise their essays". Give support, have high expectations. Respect for the student while freedom to make choices.

This is where I'll be posting my thoughts in relation to transforming schools under my How Might We Lead banner. Maurie’s Substack maurieabraham.substack.com?r=5dtzhf&utm...

Amused as ever at the idea that you can somehow have a civil service that's "not-woke" as if all the woke-workers are taking the place of *checks notes* "individualists who don't give a shit about service or community".

Thinking a bit more about how we support young people to move into the Explorer mode modehttps://principalpossum.blogspot.com/2025/03/how-might-we-reimagine-learning-design.html