All Articles
How to effect change
Once you identify that you want to take climate action, how do you get everyone on board? Ako asks educators who have succeeded how they created change.
How do we support tamariki as citizens growing up in a chaotic climate?
As a political scientist interested in children’s futures and serving on the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), an international science body that produces regular reports on the state of the world’s climate, I worry a lot about our changing climate and the implications for children and future generations.
E kore au e ngaro / I shall not be lost
Where I come from, the kererū is revered. A food for royalty and women. Our kaumātua describe how the sky would get dark as clouds of kererū flew overhead, sounding like a loud helicopter as they flapped their wings through our echoing valleys. This memory from long before I was born was a sign of abundance.
Looking to the opportunity ahead
I’m not sure if it’s the increase in grassroots movements, or the current government’s desire to highlight climate change, but in the education sector there’s a real thirst to be lifting our game.
Summer 2021: Book reviews
Reviews of eleven brilliant new books for children and adults with an environmental theme.
Spilling the beans
Ally Kemplen is a teacher aide at Newton Central School in Auckland. She shares her memories of her favourite year at school, before talking with the current principal.
Why now is a good time to rethink the purpose of ECE
Professor Linda Mitchell and her colleagues surveyed 156 managers from Early Childhood Education (ECE) providers on the initial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Early childhood teachers are shovel ready
Last Friday, ECE kaiako and their supporters across the country showed that ECE is primed for investment, by sending their ‘shovel-ready’ photos to key decision-makers in a day of action.
Member memories: The school in my backyard
Erin Dalton Steel recalls her childhood at Oranga Primary School, before talking with current principal Bridget Lummis.
The journey to pay equity for teacher aides
Ako speaks with Annie Te Moana and Ally Kemplen, members of the teacher aide pay equity negotiation team about the journey to mana taurite
Member memories: Riselaw Road School and Macandrew Intermediate, Dunedin
Alison Kroon who has retired, but is still a highly sought after relief teacher, recalls her own schooling more than 50 years ago.
Member memories: Rural Manawatū schools
NZEI Te Riu Roa member Kylie Parry, a teacher aide and librarian at St Mary’s School in Carterton, reminisces about her time at Rangiwahia School, a rural school in Manawatū that opened in 1895 and closed for good in 2013.
A cloud looming
The effects of Covid-19 will linger long after the country is clear of symptoms. AKO talks to schools in popular tourist centres Queenstown and Rotorua about the impact on their economies and communities.
Q&A with Api Nathan, Otari School’s Māori immersion strand leader
AKO catches up with Api Nathan, deputy principal and Māori immersion strand leader at Otari School in Wellington, and hears how they supported immersion learning while the country was in lockdown.
Reflecting on ECE professionalism post Covid-19 and Budget 2020
Dr Carmen Dalli reflects on the positives for the early childhood sector as we head toward the end of Level 2.
Counting the friendly frogs: welcoming children back to early learning centres
Parents experienced a mix of emotions when their children returned to schools and centres at the end of Alert Level 3. Two kindergartens share their stories of transition with AKO.
Q&A with Mark Jensen, drama teacher at Northcross Intermediate
Mark Jensen, the drama teacher at Northcross Intermediate School in Auckland, talks about how performing arts activities have been used by staff across the school as a positive way to reconnect with their thousand-plus students in the first days of reopening at Level 2.
“Another way of doing it”: being a beginning teacher during Covid-19
The disruption caused by Covid-19 has been particularly felt by hundreds of beginning teachers. Barely settled into their classrooms, they have suddenly found themselves having to work in a different way. Ako spoke with three new teachers about meeting the challenge.
In the deep end: new principals leading through a pandemic
The Covid-19 crisis has tested everyone involved in our education system. But for scores of new principals, the challenge has been particularly fraught. AKO talks with three beginning principals in the Auckland region about how they have managed through a crisis, while still coming to terms with their new role.
Tuakana, teina, whānau: lockdown learnings in Kawerau
AKO catches up again with Ripeka Lessels, tumuaki of Te Whata Tau o Pūtauaki in Kawerau, as she reflects on how her students and their whānau have got on during the lockdown, and what everyone has learnt.Q & A with Liam Rutherford
AKO chats with Liam Rutherford, NZEI Te Riu Roa president, about what it's been like for him working from home, how he's looked after his own wellbeing and what he sees the future holding for our members.
Inequities run deep: supporting our school communities
Recently, AKO spoke with two school principals about their efforts to bridge the digital divide in the lockdown. We caught up with them again to find out how their schools are managing the transition to Level 3 and beyond. They reminded us that behind the digital divide is a greater inequity.