20 Dec 2024
Top 10 Ako articles for 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.
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4 Dec 2024
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.
13 Aug 2024
A cautionary tale from England: how a future of charter schools could look for Aotearoa
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.
Winter/Spring 202311 Aug 2023
“We were refugees” Displaced by the cyclone
While many schools and centres were damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle, a few were forced into long-term closure with staff and children having to re-establish elsewhere. Ako talked to kaiako from three different institutions that found new premises, or were taken in by a neighbouring school or centre.
Winter/Spring 202321 Jul 2023
The power of collective action
During the recent weather events schools have emerged as first responders to crisis in many close-knit communities. Where local authorities failed, groups of educators joined together as hubs of help. Ako spoke with one group of schools in Tāmaki Makaurau about their joint efforts in the face of crisis.
Winter/Spring 202321 Jul 2023
Surviving Gabrielle
In times of tragedy and crisis, schools are often the glue that holds communities together. At the close of term one 2023, Ako visited one small school in Hawke’s Bay to learn how it became a regional hub after Cyclone Gabrielle.
7 Dec 2022
Whānau day shows the power of a connected community
It’s not every day a Royal New Zealand Air Force helicopter lands on your school field, and then you get to shoot hoops alongside the local policeman, your teacher, and your mum. That’s exactly what happened for students at Richmond Primary, a small school in the heart of Maraenui, Napier, when a desire for teachers to connect with whānau following the COVID lockdowns, turned into a community-wide celebration.
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 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.
Summer 202021 Feb 2020
“A space where children can be Samoan”
A leai se gagana, ua leai se aganuu … A leai se aganuu ua po le nu‘u.
When you lose your language you lose your culture, and when there is no longer a living culture, darkness descends on the village.
– Samoan proverb
Winter 201920 Nov 2019
Empowering students to build community
In a school with dozens of cultures and languages, equipping and empowering students to coach, guide and befriend their ESOL peers has huge benefits for all involved.
At Christchurch’s Ilam School, 12 children in Year 6 are appointed as Cultural Leaders.
Winter 20198 Nov 2019
Kapa haka student leaders
Two student leaders of kapa haka at Kapanui School, Waikanae explain why they like it.
Winter 201918 Oct 2019
Teaching in a community new to you
A new teacher gives some advice to others starting work in a new community.
Winter 20199 Oct 2019
Home has been my classroom
Child of the mist, Tame Iti, says that “history has woven us together. We are the basket, the kete, that holds the future!”
Winter 201930 Sep 2019
Teaching – and reaching – online from Ohura
From her tiny school on the appropriately named Forgotten Highway, Anna Fourie teaches students across the country, using the internet.
Winter 201910 Sep 2019
The community of kapa haka
For nearly a decade, Kapapapanui School in Waikanae has been using kapa haka as a way of building community in and around the school – and the benefits have been extraordinary for both Māori and non-Māori students.
Community, Kapa haka, Kapanui School, Video, Winter 201914 Aug 2019
Kapa haka at Kapanui School
For nearly a decade, Kapanui School in Waikanae has been using kapa haka as a way of building community in and around the school – and the benefits have been extraordinary for both Māori and non-Māori students.
Winter 201910 Aug 2019
Virtually connected
More than a quarter of New Zealand schools have fewer than 100 students. How can their students gain meaningful connections with the wider world and overcome their isolation?
Winter 201926 Jul 2019
Strengthening, growing and reaching out
The interplay between a school and its community is complex and rich with potential – for personal connection, professional support and building capability. A range of schools throughout the country illustrate the myriad ways – and reasons why – school communities come together.
Winter 201925 Jul 2019
People power
School principals from around the country explain how strong communities of staff bring crucial benefits for children and whānau, from South Auckland to Southland.