15 Oct 2020
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.
No Image
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 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 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 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 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.
Covid-19 202022 Apr 2020
Crochet and jam, PPE and showers: living with an essential worker during the lockdown
A mother-daughter pair of NZEI Te Riu Roa members talk about what it’s been like in lockdown – with one of them being an essential worker and the other high-risk.
Covid-19 20207 Apr 2020
Schools confronting the digital divide
AKO talks to two school principals about how they’re addressing the inequities of access to technology and internet as they prepare for online teaching.
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 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?
Summer 201928 Jan 2019
Education for all
Robert Martin has become the public face of why a human rights take on inclusive education is needed. Born with a brain injury that made his early life difficult, he now travels the world asking hard questions of governments about their efforts to comply with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.