All Articles
The joys and challenges of teaching on Wharekauri Chatham Island
Working at a school on the Chatham Islands demands resilience, innovation and a deep sense of connection. Kirsten McDougall spoke with staff at Te One School to find out what it means to educate in one of the most remote communities in Aotearoa.
Education superhero: Sally Griffin
In this series, we celebrate the extraordinary mahi of educators across Aotearoa, whose passion and purpose shape the future every day. This month kindergarten head teacher Sally Griffin answers 12 questions about her unique powers.
Why Budget 2025 is anything but a vision
It’s often said that a nation’s budget reflects its values. If that’s true, then Budget 2025 tells us undeniably that children, especially our youngest tamariki, are not a priority.
Five lessons we’ve learned from delivering our own school lunches programme
At Arakura School in Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt, lunchtime isn’t just about food – it’s about community, connection and learning. Instead of outsourcing school lunches, staff and tamariki grow, prepare and serve nutritious kai together. The entire school gathers each day to share a meal, turning lunchtime into a rich learning experience.
Can’t stop the fight: Linda Jordan on 25 years as a teacher aide
After 25 years as a teacher aide, Linda Jordan has just reluctantly retired from her much-loved job. She’s a dedicated member of NZEI Te Riu Roa and travelled the country interviewing teacher aides to build a picture of the role for the pivotal pay equity claim. Anna Bracewell-Worrall finds out what she misses and how she feels about the Government’s abrupt changes to the equal pay act.
Teacher aides are ‘the glue that keeps a classroom humming’
Often supporting students one on one in the classroom, teacher aides are vital to ensuring tamariki get the extra support they need at school, but their funding is precarious at best. Ngāmotu-based writer Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu) visited Avon School in Taranaki to hear from staff, parents and akōnga about the amazing mahi of teacher aides.
One teacher’s mission to revitalise PE
A teacher who supercharged the PE programme at her school has been rewarded with some welcome knock-on effects. NZEI Te Riu Roa member Arti Raju tells Ako how she turned things around for Rhode Street School.
Day in the life series: Jaydn Robson
From managing sports trials and uniforms to liaising with coaches, students and parents, Jaydn shares his busy day as Assistant Director of Sport at Newlands College. Warning: you may get tired just reading this.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories – a healing curriculum
Two years since it was made compulsory in schools, Heeni Collins (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Haumia) finds out about the positive impacts of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum on teachers and students, and the barriers they still face to implementing it.
Te Pūherenga: Preserving pūrākau for future generations
In 2022, Ngāti Rēhia began a partnership with local schools in Kerikeri to incorporate its pūrākau and mātauranga into Aotearoa New Zealand's histories curriculum. Ako Zoomed in to Kerikeri to hear from Riverview Primary School teacher Samantha Roessler and Ngāti Rēhia Matua Taua Kemp about the significance of this collaboration for their students and community.
ECE and support staff scholarships
Did you know NZEI Te Riu Roa awards over $30,000 worth of scholarship funds each year to ECE teachers and support staff? Ako spoke to some of the 2024 recipients about how they used the funds and the impact it has had on their mahi.
Jared Lambert: 2024 scholarship recipient
ECE kaiako Jared Lambert received a scholarship from NZEI Te Riu Roa in 2024 and used the funds to help complete his Master of Psychology. He answered some questions about his experience of the scholarship.
Victoria Goode: 2024 scholarship recipient
Teaching assistant Victoria Goode facilitates a Nurture Group at Nelson Central School. She received a Support Staff scholarship from NZEI Te Riu Roa in 2024 and used the funds to train with Nurture International in the UK. She answered some questions about her experience of the scholarship.
Paul Hartland: 2024 scholarship recipient
Teacher aide Paul Hartland received a Support Staff scholarship from NZEI Te Riu Roa in 2024 and used the funds towards his study to become a qualified counsellor. He is now working as a counsellor at Pukekohe High School. He answered some questions about his experience of the scholarship.
Michelle Dons: 2024 scholarship recipient
Michelle Dons is kaiako matua at Matangi Āwhio kindergarten in Whakatū. She received an ECE scholarship from NZEI Te Riu Roa in 2024 to further her studies in how to promote and support emotional regulation in tamariki and kaiako in kindergarten. She writes about her experiences of the scholarship.
Charting indigenous futures
How can educators tautoko and empower young people to feel equipped to lead in the changing climate they will inherit? Researchers from the University of Canterbury and Ngāi Tahu have been working with rangatahi Māori and Pasifika in Ōtautahi to explore the ways ākonga view climate change. Ako finds out about the project.
Top 10 Ako articles from 2024
Thank you to all our Ako Journal readers and contributors this year. Here’s a roundup of our most-read articles published in 2024.
What’s on your summer book stack?
Is your bedside book stack piled so high it’s about to fall over, or are you wondering what to read this summer? We asked a few NZEI Te Riu Roa members what they are hoping to get into for some downtime over the break. Here are their lists.
Creating change: Students leave lasting legacies
In the past two years, Ōmokoroa Point School in Bay of Plenty has been the centre of two community-changing projects that have impacted the entire Ōmokoroa community. Years 5 and 6 teacher Deirdre Duggan shares her experience of supporting students to stand up for what they believe in.
Music, magic, mana reo: Waiata in early childhood centres
Educators across the motu are building brains through music. It’s unseen and often undervalued work, but that mahi is helping tamariki thrive right across the curriculum. AKO spoke to kaiako who love using music to build communication, wellbeing and impulse control in tamariki.
Enhancing the mana: cultural leadership in Taranaki
Last year, NZEI Te Riu Roa won an allowance for existing teachers who hold cultural knowledge and expertise to recognise the work they are already doing in kura, schools and kindergartens. It came into effect this year and the applications for the funding were overwhelming. Ngāmotu-based writer Emma Hislop (Kāi Tahu) sat down with a few of the kaiako who received the Cultural Leadership Allowance in Taranaki, to find out about their roles – and what receiving the funding meant to them.
poroporoake
A poem for Te Wiki o te reo Māori.
Arohamai, mō taku hē, kei te ako tonu a u i te reo Māori
My journey and personal relationship with my identity is an ever-evolving part of my life. My identity bears the impacts of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Treaty from before I was even born.