Stories by John Gerritsen

A national study of primary school children has found a fall in performance in writing for some eight-year-olds but next to no change in reading.

The number of teenagers leaving school with no qualification rose for the second consecutive year in 2019, with boys and Māori worst affected, Education Ministry figures show.

In new guidance to schools, the Ministry of Education also says teachers cannot stop parents taking their children from classrooms during emergency lockdowns.

A quarter of the roughly 4000 early childhood teachers surveyed said they could not endorse the quality of the places they worked.

A thousand early childhood teachers have so little confidence in the early learning centres they work in that they wouldn't send their own children there.

NCEA and Scholarship exams start this morning, involving 140,000 teenagers over the next four weeks.

The Education Ministry expects there will be enough primary teachers to meet demand for the next three years while a shortage of secondary teachers will continue.

An ongoing fight between the secondary teachers' union and the Teaching Council over fee increases for teachers' practising certificates is heading to court.

The Ministry of Education is planning a series of rule changes that will make it easier to crack down on poor-quality early childhood centres.

A public health specialist is backing plans to raise the minimum temperature in early childhood centres from 16C to 18C, saying it will reduce the spread of viruses.

The Qualifications Authority is considering using computer systems to monitor students for possible cheating while they sit online NCEA exams.

The Education Ministry has revealed it is planning for mega schools for up to 4500 students, with modelling suggesting there will be schools that big by 2043.

A population expert is warning that the record growth stretching Auckland schools could get even worse.

Auckland schools have recorded their fastest growth in more than a decade, with figures showing the region had more than 4000 more students than at the same time last year.

Government agencies have written to every foreign tertiary student in the country encouraging them to stay in New Zealand for the summer.

It's being suggested that introducing or altering 135 enrolment zones in Auckland could result in a lot less "white flight" from lower-decile schools.

A plan to introduce or amend 135 school enrolment zones in Auckland looks set to have a huge impact on where tens of thousands of children go to school. Audio

The Principals Federation made the proposal and polled its members during the past week because of dissatisfaction with the Educational Institute.

The pandemic has harmed NCEA results in Northland, Auckland and Tasman more than in other parts of the country.

The Education Ministry has so far allocated $14.9 million from a $50 million fund to help children struggling to return to school or early learning because of the pandemic.

The principal of decile one Windley School, Rhys McKinley, has no doubt his 300 pupils are better off after three years of the Labour-New Zealand First government.

More schools have signed up to the government's donation scheme for 2021 leaving just 99 eligible schools outside the scheme next year.

What difference has the fees-free policy made and what has been the response to the new national mega-polytechnic merger? RNZ's education correspondent John Gerritsen investigates.

Some students are urging the University of Auckland to hold end-of-year exams online rather than on campus.

The Principals' Federation is worried about a big change to the way the schools watchdog, the Education Review Office, monitors schools.