Features

Summer 202112 Jan 2021

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.

Covid-19 20207 Aug 2020

Member memories: The school in my backyard

Erin Dalton Steel recalls her childhood at Oranga Primary School, before talking with current principal Bridget Lummis.

Covid-19 20206 Aug 2020

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

Covid-19 202020 Jul 2020

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.

Covid-19 202019 Jun 2020

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.

Covid-19 202017 Jun 2020

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.

Covid-19 20205 Jun 2020

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.

Covid-19 202029 May 2020

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.

Covid-19 202025 May 2020

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.

Covid-19 202022 May 2020

“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.

Covid-19 202020 May 2020

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.

Covid-19 202013 May 2020

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.

Covid-19 20208 May 2020

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.

Covid-19 20206 May 2020

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.