The point and purpose of education isn’t what parents get but what happens day after day in the classroom. And for that to go well you need pros, not programmes.

“Why are they not up in arms at the squandering of their children's vitality, curiosity and their righteous indignation?” This. How much of Ss affect for learning is dictated by framing? Do we teach the curriculum to kids, or teach kids with the curriculum? The framing absolutely matters.

A lot of wasted $$$. All those resources and programs are now gone. Complete 180 to child-focused pedagogy and systems from leaders who actually have backgrounds in education.

The 80% isn’t a research finding — it’s an arbitrary number that everyone, including the people issuing it, knows is arbitrary. 80% is a confession, not a finding. The number exists to make compliance auditable and deviation punishable. It is a loyalty test. open.substack.com/pub/aecnz/p/...

Words 13 -15 year olds didn’t know this week : Facilities / impeccable/and difference in pronunciation between nobly and knobbly. Because no one reads to children and they all get told to use online tools not books. We have to bring back books and JOY into education

How does a student get something to say? By reading and playing and experimenting and talking and imagining and observing and questioning and listening. By being in the world. By feeling. By being wrong. By being right.

Just finished Chloe Dalton’s book Raising Hare. What a beautiful, sympathetic, touching and wise book. www.chloedalton.uk/raising-hare

At what point does information become propaganda? And if you were a listener, would you have wanted to know about the deep connection to the Minister’s office?

The Atlas will have whole teams of lawyers poring over the constitutions and laws of target countries to find vulnerabilities to exploit, and ways of running soft, slow or fast coups against democratic norms and any restrictions or limits on fossil capital.

HOW IT STARTED I was interviewed by @mihiforbes.bsky.social on Mata Reports/TVNZ (Jan 2024), & warned Kiwis of the assault on Maori, the constitution (Treaty of Waitangi) & climate policy to be expected from the oily #AtlasNetwork's infiltration of NZ govt. Pls watch! www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/m...

"As the song ends, a quote appears across the screen. 'I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible' – Peter Thiel, chairman of Palantir." novaramedia.com/2026/06/01/m...

The more this kind of behaviour happens, the stronger the case for ensuring that a regulatory regime for lobbying doesn't just apply to ministers, but also to officials. Got to think about the cost-benefit analysis, but if there's untrustworthy behaviour, possibly friction is a price worth paying?

The coalition is intentionally trying to hide their corruption. They know how bad it is and don’t want anyone to know it #nzpol

Time for us all to brush up on these. snyder.substack.com/p/on-tyranny

Just days before giving a Dame-hood to Elizabeth Rata, Erica Stanford's inspiration, Michael Gove, signs off on this for the magazine he is editor of.

Rata’s version of a knowledge-rich curriculum precludes critical thinking. Having your kids learn from a workbook designed by a corporation, not involving your children’s teachers, is a fucking nightmare. I will never teach to a textbook. They’re a tool, not a curriculum #nzpol

A child won’t tell you what they really need if they don’t trust you. And they only trust you if they feel safe with you. And they feel safe with you when they know that you see and accept who they are. And this happens when who they are – their culture, background, interests – is visible and valued

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Dame Liz.

Correction to my previous post, giving Elizabeth Rata a Damehood for services to Education is like giving Andrew Wakefield a Knighthood for services to Vaccines.

Dame Elizabeth Rata now. White supremacy pays dividends under this government.

At what point does information become propaganda? And if you were a listener, would you have wanted to know about the deep connection to the Minister’s office?

Here’s how I sum up the Budget for education. Hundreds of millions are being spent on things that are lifeless: workbooks, kits, strategies, assessment. Nothing on relationships and connection.

At what point does information become propaganda? And if you were a listener, would you have wanted to know about the deep connection to the Minister’s office?

Kids are really being ripped off when the best the Budget can do for them is music kits and workbooks.

Any reporters asked Nicola Willis if she recognises this toaster?

I’ll never tire of this bike ride to work.

Now my time has freed up considerably, I’m going to give myself a short breather then I’ll be cracking my knuckles to see what I can do and where! #nzpol

I'd add: these people are ripping the wiring out of our country. Inertia in the system has prevented a lot of the damage from showing yet but what they're doing won't be popular and it's not structurally sound. We are will have opportunities to push back IF we're ready to take them #nzpol

It's easy, as democratic backsliding accelerates, to feel overwhelmed and hopeless. This is exactly the time when we need to get tight, get organised, get coordinated. That’s how we gain the power to say No, not on our watch. That’s how we can feel hope.

Stanford said she takes the Treaty very seriously. But in the Bill she has just introduced to the House giving her unlimited power to create curriculum, there is not one reference to Te Tiriti in the section that grants her that power. Nothing that directs her to act as a partner. Nothing.

More tricks from Stanford in the House, this time to sneak in a change that makes all members of the Teaching Council ministerial appointees. What is taught, how it's taught, what counts as good teaching, and who is fit to teach — On 6 July, these are all under direct political control.

A lady asked me if I really needed the glasses I was wearing to see. I said, “No, I just wear them so I can take them off and rub my eyes with my palms in exasperation when someone says something really stupid.” I then proceeded to take off my glasses and rub my eyes with my palms in exasperation.

#ToitūTeTiriti "I'll be back after we file [4pm MON] to explain the depths of this disgrace, but in the meantime send some hugs & karakia to our many Māori Counsel who are on the grind for all of us right now, they are your modern day toa & we're all under the pump." @taniawaikatolawyer.bsky.social

So ... The curriculum had to be rewritten because achievement wasn't high enough, but NCEA has be replaced because achievement is too high?

Sunday Watch: Guy Claxton - Bodies of Learning

⭐ NZEI education union says: "Register to support the claim to the Waitangi Tribunal" ⭐ a plea to Māori, non-Māori, ALL people outside New Zealand to help us to protect our Treaty, land, education, our everything #ToitūTeTiriti plz add your name ⬇️ by SUNDAY 17th nite forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

This new(ish) UI feels very chummy. So chummy that I want to raise my eyebrows each time I open the app.

Despite the Waitangi Tribunal's judgement, the govt is full speed ahead with this because apparently it's too confusing for adults to deal with more than one phrase about Te Tiriti, which is ironic given everything they say they're doing with education.

The only way I can make sense of the way ministers in Cabinet ignore official advice is that they are operating from a position of • I have an idea and it is good, therefore let's get it done. Whereas, good governance requires something more like • I have an idea. Is it good? Let's check.

The first of what hopefully are a few wins coming.

Not to mention munt the system that creates expert knowledge by shifting the goal to making profits. (This is about the public research system and the universities.) #NZPOL

Aotearoa, we’re going through a seismic, systemic shift. Whether it's the courts or the classroom, the goal is the same: bypass the "middlemen" of expertise and local autonomy to create a direct line of Ministerial control.

In June 2024 Erica Stanford endorses Prime Maths in an interview with Newsroom. In August, the Maths Action plan is announced. In September 'Requests for Proposals' are sent to a small group of providers in a closed tender process.

Could it be that an education system founded on the premise that individuals keeping up with excepted levels of achievement is the most important thing, is also an education system that tells students: focus on yourself, don’t let others drag you down.

The saying that knowledge sticks to knowledge isn’t quite right. In my experience, it’s more accurate to say that knowledge sticks to curiosity.

Mind’s in a bit of a fug today. Got all these ephemeral, ghost-like beginnings surfacing that dart away when I try to grab them. They’re insisting on staying formless no matter how hard I try to force them to still. Maybe I’ve overdosed on info and need some settling time.

After a while you run out of words to describe how much of shithole government we currently have.....🖕🏾🖕🏾🖕🏾 #nzpol

oooohhhhh: buried in the appendix to Cleaver’s written responses is a contract for Learning First, signed April 2025. When I OIAed their involvement last November, I was told they provided “insights” and helped with “benchmarking”. hmmmm ... More to come …