Stories by John Gerritsen
News
Covid-19 will be in 'just about every school' soon - Hipkins
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.
Early childhood centres fear closures as Omicron spreads
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…
'We were gutted': Studies disrupted as Covid-19 spreads at universities
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.
Covid-19 leaves schools short of teachers
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.
Principals fight plan to restrict enrolment of foreign students
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.
Covid-19: How schools are bracing for Omicron
Principals are isolating themselves and making teachers work in separate bubbles in an attempt to slow the spread of omicron in their schools.
Covid-19: School mask mandate tricky for some
Principals say some schools and teachers are ignoring or misinterpreting the mask mandate for school children.
Auckland high schools see varied attendance in first week back
Auckland principals are reporting a mixed turnout as schools reopen for the year.
South Auckland primary schools consider onsite vaccination clinics
South Auckland primary schools are considering whether to host vaccine clinics to help vaccinate the region's 5 to 11-year-olds.
Some playcentres enforce mask rules despite no mandate
Some parents are worried mask rules for playcentres are unsafe and they are wearing them even though they do not have to.
Tertiary Education Union concerned funding changes will 'rob Peter to pay Paul'
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.
'Massive increase': Rapid rise in home-schooling plans surprises principals
Principals say some parents are threatening to take their children out of school because of the mask mandate for older primary school children.
Fears many tertiary institutions face third year without new international students
Tertiary institutions are worried a pause in visa processing means few foreign students will make it into the country next year.
Schools asked to help with vaccinations for under-12s
Primary and intermediate schools could be welcoming children back to class with a Covid vaccination next year.
Covid-19 has fundamentally disrupted teacher supply - Ministry
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.
Number of foreign students in NZ drops by two-thirds
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.
Government refuses to fast-track ECE rules review
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.
Thousands of students skip NCEA exams after months of lockdown
Students in Auckland, Northland and parts of Waikato automatically get an unexpected event grade for any NCEA exams they miss.
About 1400 school teachers refuse Covid-19 vaccination
Education Ministry figures indicate just 2.4 percent of school teachers have refused the Covid vaccination.
Large attendance variations in Auckland schools
Auckland schools are reporting wildly different attendance rates with some families refusing to send children back to class.
Commission pans attempts to close Māori, Pacific achievement gap
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.
Charter schools use govt funding to pay $450k to owners before joining state school system
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.
International language sector says border reopening date for students too late
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.
Exhaustion, strategic choices behind NCEA exam decisions
Auckland teenagers are citing exhaustion, busy-ness and strategic thinking as reasons for skipping some or even all of their NCEA exams.
Allowing unvaccinated parents into school events, classes 'ridiculous'
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…