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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In schools and centres across Aotearoa, a growing number of kaiako and support staff are sharing with colleagues that they have a neurodivergent diagnosis. In doing so, they’re helping to break down prejudices and promote inclusion. AKO spoke with three members of NZEI Te Riu Roa about their experiences as educators with ADHD.
One in five children and young people need extra support for their learning. Whether it’s teacher aides, classroom and ECE centre teachers, specialist roles including RTLBs, SENCOs/LSCs or school leaders, almost all professionals in education connect on a daily basis with unmet need in learning support. Here, we profile a range of NZEI Te Riu Roa members working as learning support specialists, as part of the inaugural Learning Support Awareness Day, intended to raise awareness of the gaps between learning support need and provision.
After a decades-long career in education that has been focussed on transforming the system in order to uplift Māori students and educators, NZEI Te Riu Roa Matua Takawaenga Laures Park (Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Whānau a Apanui) has been awarded a prestigious international prize. Here, we look back at her life and singular career.
AKO visited Mt Cook School in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington to talk to five NZEI Te Riu Roa members. We heard their reflections on their careers in education and the changes they’ve witnessed over time, and then asked them one powerful question: what advice would you give your past self starting out in the profession, knowing what you know now?
James Kerr, a London-based teacher and national executive member of England’s National Education Union, visited Aotearoa in early August to meet with NZEI Te Riu Roa members – and present to Parliament – about the impact of the UK’s academy schools, a model of schooling similar to our Government’s proposed charter schools. He talks here about how what was promised did not transpire.
Last year, NZEI Te Riu Roa kindergarten members won a new addition in their collective agreement: ten-week-long paid sabbaticals for up to 20 head teachers each year. We are honoured to share excerpts from a generous and insightful diary written during one of the first sabbaticals earlier this year, thanks to Shelley Shennan, the head teacher of Parihaka Kindergarten in Whangārei.
When obsessive compulsive disorder is misunderstood, students and staff living with OCD are alienated from classrooms — how do educators create more inclusive learning environments for all? A psychologist, a teacher living with OCD, a student and his mum share their perspectives.
Bush school, cold dips, and local conservation projects with rats traps, Half Moon Bay School on Rakiura/Stewart Island make sure all the opportunities are possible for their tamariki.
Some tamariki come to school carrying invisible backpacks. Glenview School and Papanui High share the invaluable role learning assistants and support staff play in ensuring all children can feel safe to learn.
Through digital literacy skills, collaboration and teamwork, two intermediate schools in Ōtautahi Christchurch are equipping tamariki exciting new ways to dream of the future.