Stories by John Gerritsen

Education Minister Chris Hipkins has warned that nearly every school and early childhood centre will have contact with Covid-19 in the next few weeks.

Groups representing early learning service owners and managers say there is already a teacher shortage and many services will not be able to find enough relievers to stay open if staff caught…

Lectures started at some universities this week and the Union of Students' Associations said there had been cases of the virus among students at several institutions.

Cases of Covid-19 among children and teachers are forcing schools to roster entire year groups home or offer online learning for those who want it.

Primary school principals say the proposal does not make sense and comes just as foreign families are lining up to enrol their children next year after borders reopen.

Principals are isolating themselves and making teachers work in separate bubbles in an attempt to slow the spread of omicron in their schools.

Principals say some schools and teachers are ignoring or misinterpreting the mask mandate for school children.

Auckland principals are reporting a mixed turnout as schools reopen for the year.

South Auckland primary schools are considering whether to host vaccine clinics to help vaccinate the region's 5 to 11-year-olds.

Some parents are worried mask rules for playcentres are unsafe and they are wearing them even though they do not have to.

The Tertiary Education Union is worried small polytechnics will not survive a major overhaul of education funding, despite the viability of small polytechnics being a goal of the changes.

Principals say some parents are threatening to take their children out of school because of the mask mandate for older primary school children.

Tertiary institutions are worried a pause in visa processing means few foreign students will make it into the country next year.

Primary and intermediate schools could be welcoming children back to class with a Covid vaccination next year.

A forecast indicates the ability of young teachers to go overseas for work could be the difference between a surplus of teachers next year, or a shortage of nearly 1000.

Immigration New Zealand figures show 19,191 foreign students remain in the country, a little over a third of the number that were in New Zealand at the start of the pandemic.

The government has refused to fast-track a review of core early childhood education rules despite being told they might not be fit for purpose.

Students in Auckland, Northland and parts of Waikato automatically get an unexpected event grade for any NCEA exams they miss.

Education Ministry figures indicate just 2.4 percent of school teachers have refused the Covid vaccination.

Auckland schools are reporting wildly different attendance rates with some families refusing to send children back to class.

The Tertiary Education Commission says hundreds of initiatives aimed at improving Māori and Pacific students' tertiary education pass rates are poorly-targeted distractions that are not working.

Auditor-General John Ryan has criticised the board of two former charter schools for paying $450,000 in government funding to the schools' owners just before they joined the state school system.

The government's decision to let vaccinated foreign students back into the country from 30 April has disappointed and frustrated some in the international education sector.

Auckland teenagers are citing exhaustion, busy-ness and strategic thinking as reasons for skipping some or even all of their NCEA exams.

Just days after blocking unvaccinated teachers and volunteers from work, the Education Ministry advised schools that the same rules did not apply to parents entering classrooms or attending school…