Dr Kevin Shore has been appointed the new Chief Executive Officer of the NZ Catholic Education Office, replacing Mr Paul Ferris QSM, who is retiring at a date to be set later this year. Dr Shore will be Chief Executive of both NZCEO and the Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools (APIS). Dr Shore is [...]
Summer barbeques are a great place for generations to mix and share ideas as families gather and relax together. In 2017 the election result challenged many of my generation because of the way MMP seemed to shift the will of the largest group of voters to elect a group of minority parties to become the [...]
A recent speech by a Dunedin Principal, which challenged parents to “step up” in their parenting and not leave so much for schools to do, met with much support and media attention. The Principal of Kings High School, Dunedin, said that it was unreasonable for parents to expect schools to deal with all aspects of [...]
“The Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be the poor.” I heard this antiphon at mass recently and it continued to resonate throughout the following week. If we are his hands how are we hearing the cry of the poor? It occurred to me that if we were really determined to model for [...]
In her book, It’s About Learning, Louise Stoll tells the story of a parent who laments the change in the pedagogy associated with spelling. She complains to her child’s teacher and says, “Why can’t we learn to spell the way I did by using rote learning?” The teacher looks at the parent and says, “I can [...]
As a young person I was raised by parents who saw it as their right and duty to define the beliefs and values that we would take into our adult life. On this basis they chose our religion and they made it clear what our politics should be. They believed they were giving us something [...]
Changes to Guidelines for the Preference of Enrolment At the end of 2016 the NZCBC made a change to preference of enrolment criterion 5.4. This was circulated, and then a further update was provided in February 2017 to Bishops/diocesan administrators. Schools and parishes should already have copies, but if necessary it can be sourced from [...]
As schools return to another academic year people begin to focus on the cost of education to families and the government. There is no doubt that there is a real cost for education. The question is how do we know it is a good investment. Most societies understand that resourcing or investing in education is [...]
In the recent issue of NZ Principal, Emeritus Professor Warwick Elley says that the Minister exaggerates the potential of schools to reduce the gap between high and low achievers. He notes that the opposition from Primary Teachers is now having an influence on the way the Investing in Educational Success is iterating from its first [...]
In recent years some hospitals have paid particular attention to supporting a culture of "doing no harm". It might seem strange for places that we associate with healing and restoring health to have such a focus when their intention and motivation is to restore people to health and participation in life. In fact this "no [...]
