anne tolley Archive

  • Catherine Delahunty

    Government cherry-picks research to justify school class size increases - by Catherine Delahunty



    Yesterday, I asked a question in Parliament to Education Minister Hekia Parata: CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) to the Minister of Education: Will she rule out implementing Treasury’s advice to increase class sizes in schools? I was expecting a similar rejection to those we have grown used to from John Key in response to some of the [...] read more
    February 9, 2012 12:55 pm - 14 Comments
  • frog

    John Key’s new Cabinet announced - by frog



    Prime Minister John Key announced his new Cabinet this morning. The line-up is pretty predictable, but some of the portfolio allocations and rankings are interesting: The big winners are Steven Joyce and Hekia Parata, moving up 10 and 13 places respectively in the Cabinet ranking. Parata replaces Anne Tolley as Minister of Education. Paula Bennett’s [...] read more
    December 12, 2011 1:02 pm - 10 Comments
  • frog

    When is civil disobedience justified? - by frog



    Dave Kennedy is the Green Party’s candidate for the Invercargill electorate. He has worked as a primary teacher for 30 years. Dave has his own blog site, which is well worth a regular read. I’ve decided this insightful post by Dave yesterday on how we have reached the stage that at least a quarter of schools are refusing to comply with Education Minister Anne Tolley’s National Standards deserves republishing here in full: read more
    August 18, 2011 9:04 am - 36 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    National Standards rural resistance - by Catherine Delahunty



    Last week, I attended a meeting on National Standards in a small town in the Waikato. It was a cold Thursday evening but about 50 parents and teachers and the three candidates for the Coromandel electorate had a chance to hear Professor Martin Thrupp report from his current research on National Standards in schools. Martin [...] read more
    August 17, 2011 12:07 pm - 3 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    National Standards – fake it till you make it? - by Catherine Delahunty



    Some school principals have revealed that they are getting some interesting advice from the Ministry of Education about how to incorporate the National Standards into their school charters. The suggestion that they should essentially fake it – by inserting the words “national standards” into their charters, even if they are not actively using them – [...] read more
    May 18, 2011 2:30 pm - 4 Comments
  • frog

    All about National’s infatuation with helicopter rides - by frog



    First we had the Tolleychopper. Yep, that’s right!  Education Minister Anne Tolley’s idea of getting a “helicopter view” of tertiary education providers in Auckland (before she was relieved by PM John Key of her Tertiary Education portfolio) was to go up in a chopper and have a look from the air at them. But last [...] read more
    April 20, 2011 8:41 pm - 32 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    School boards join the National Standards debate - by Catherine Delahunty



    It’s always nice to wake up to good news, and this morning it was the news that 225 school Boards of Trustees will today deliver the message to the Government that they have no confidence in National Standards, and will defer setting student achievement targets based on the standards for at least a year. read more
    November 3, 2010 10:32 am - 39 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Cuts to Pasifika learning resources - by Catherine Delahunty



    The Government has announced a completely bizarre decision to “pause” the popular Tupu and Folauga series of Pasifika language learning resources while the Ministry of Education considers ways of improving the achievements and literacy of Pasifika children. If this is really the goal, why on earth have they destroyed the viability of a programme that [...] read more
    October 21, 2010 3:08 pm - 5 Comments
  • frog

    It must be time for a Tolley thread - by frog



    I’m busy for a lot of today, but it must be time for a thread about one of the most incompetent Ministers ever. So, I’ll borrow stuff. What’s your view on the competence of OUR CHILDREN’S Minister of Education? read more
    August 27, 2010 7:32 am - 35 Comments
  • frog

    It’s a shambles, Mrs Tolley - by frog



    Teacher and songwriter Clint Green’s take on National Standards read more
    August 2, 2010 1:24 pm - 56 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    PPPs undermine school foundations - by Catherine Delahunty



    I was alarmed by the Government’s announcement on Wednesday that it has started pursuing Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for school buildings. It sounds innocuous but it is the “not so thin” edge of the privitisation wedge in the public education system. The “business case’ Minister Tolley refers to is irrelevant given that the public education [...] read more
    July 23, 2010 10:49 am - 61 Comments
  • frog

    ToTolleytarianism - by frog



    Anne Tolley turned up, gave a 15 minute lecture to the assembled school principals, and left. Perhaps if she had stayed to listen to the concerns of the principals, instead of making not so subtle threats to remove their right to speak out on the very issues on which they have professional expertise, some progress may have been made. read more
    July 2, 2010 1:59 pm - 21 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    The Minister of Education and the disappearing National Standards research - by Catherine Delahunty



    I’m a great fan of the Parliamentary Library. I think it’s fair to say that without the wonderful research they do, my job as an MP would be nigh on impossible. So I was surprised to read in yesterday morning’s NZ Herald that Education Minister Anne Tolley was dissing the Parliamentary Library for a research paper it had prepared on her National Standards for primary and intermediate schools. read more
    July 1, 2010 9:29 am - 49 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    Early Childhood Education cuts “create opportunity” - by Catherine Delahunty



    Yesterday the Education Select Committee had one hour to question the Minister of Education Anne Tolley on the Budget Estimates for Education. The responses the Minister gave on the cuts to Early Childhood Education fit into the “black is really white” category. She said that the cuts to the centres were an opportunity for those [...] read more
    June 3, 2010 5:44 pm - 16 Comments
  • Catherine Delahunty

    “Reshaping” the Ministry of Education - by Catherine Delahunty



    I’m not a morning person at the best of times, and trying to understand what the Minister of Education was saying on “Morning Report” today about cuts to the Ministry of Education cuts was a true challenge. Is this an opposition beat up? Is the Minister directing the Ministry to cut administration services? Is it [...] read more
    March 11, 2010 11:02 am - 7 Comments
  • frog

    Welcome to a dimmer future - by frog



    The government has failed to listen to the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who have had their lives enriched by night classes. They had no mandate to make these cuts and have ignored the fact that night classes have made a significant contribution to the economy at a minimal cost. read more
    February 24, 2010 8:19 am - 26 Comments
  • frog

    Does anyone know what Tolley is trying to say? - by frog



    Does anyone have any idea what Anne Tolley is trying to say here? Can she say anything sensible without having John Key hold her hand? read more
    February 17, 2010 9:55 pm - 24 Comments
  • frog

    The notional standards of Anne Tolley - by frog



    Education Minister Anne Tolley could do worse than heed her supposed mentor Professor John Hattie’s advice. Scrap the current shambles of “National Standards” and start again. read more
    February 6, 2010 7:06 pm - 65 Comments
  • frog

    Fran O’Sullivan on Tolley and on push-polling - by frog



    David Clendon was his usual diplomatic self in his blog last Friday on Steven Joyce replacing Anne Tolley as Tertiary Education Minister. Fran O’Sullivan was far less tactful in the NZ Herald the next day though, opining that Tolley is clearly out of her depth. O’Sullivan also raised some concerns about the objective of a recent poll conducted on behalf of the National Party. read more
    February 2, 2010 8:09 am - 90 Comments
  • frog

    National/Act unknowingly embark on Cullen creation project? - by frog



    If I was a teacher at a public secondary school I’d be dusting off my CV about now and looking for the ivy covered walls of a private school (confusingly known as public schools in The UK) read more
    October 1, 2009 9:06 am - 2 Comments
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