|
|
|
|
Nau mai, haere mai.
Earlier this month the government issued a tender for a new “standardised tool for assessment” to be used for year 3 to 10 students. This was the first hint parents, teachers and schools had that the government was potentially shifting education policy back towards the much maligned national standards.
Labour has accused the government of trying to reintroduce standardised testing by stealth. Whatever the case, we need to ask what happened when it was first introduced, and why the policy was eventually scrapped.
As the authors of our lead story explain, standardised testing can lead to “teaching to the test” and school ranking. It also ignores the deeper socioeconomic factors that affect a student’s education.
These concerns aren’t just theoretical. In 2017, only 16% of New Zealand’s principals and teachers said national standards had a positive impact on education. According to the authors, “standardised testing didn’t achieve what was promised. Returning to national standards – either in name or just in spirit – should raise alarms for everyone.”
|
|
Debrin Foxcroft
Deputy New Zealand Editor
|
|
| |
Jade Wrathall, University of Waikato; Marta Estellés, University of Waikato
Standardised testing has been tried and scrapped before. But with a tender for a new ‘standardised assessment tool’, the government appears to be trying again.
|
Irene Nikoloudakis, University of Adelaide
Australia has adopted a tougher, more targeted approach than New Zealand to investigating wage theft by employers – and it doesn’t involve the police.
|
Valerie A. Cooper, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
By defunding the Voice of America and other state-funded US media outlets, Donald Trump risks opening the airwaves to the more overt propaganda of rival countries.
|
Christina McCabe, University of Canterbury; Jonathan Tonkin, University of Canterbury
Restraining rivers through stop banks and channels transfers and heightens flood risks downstream. Allowing them to roam free limits flooding and delivers other ecological benefits.
|
Erin O'Brien, Griffith University; Justine Coneybeer, Griffith University
If Donald Trump appears deaf to the protests of other governments over his policies, he may still hear the voice of corporate America should consumer boycotts spread.
|
Sam Egger, University of Sydney; Becky Freeman, University of Sydney; Judith McCool, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau; Lucy Hardie, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
A 2020 study is frequently cited as evidence that vaping reduces youth smoking rates. But the research is flawed. Vaping might be a gateway for teens to start smoking.
|
Juliet Chevalier-Watts, University of Waikato; Frank Scrimgeour, University of Waikato
Donations alone are not enough for many charities to meet the needs of struggling New Zealanders. The cost of ending tax exemptions could be worse than the benefits.
|
Alan Brent, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Isabella Pimentel Pincelli, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
The energy return on investment for wind and solar technologies in New Zealand is becoming comparable to hydropower.
|
Nic Rawlence, University of Otago; Mark de Bruyn, Griffith University; Michael Knapp, University of Otago
Protecting remaining strongholds and minimising human impacts on food sources will be crucial to avoiding further population decline of this remarkable creature.
|
Anna Marie Brennan, University of Waikato
As ‘space tourism’ grows and private companies become more involved in orbital missions, space law has failed to keep up. Urgent reform is called for.
|
From our foreign editions
|
John Hawkins, University of Canberra; Stephen Bartos, University of Canberra
In the Albanese government’s last federal budget before the election, new spending promises are likely to be limited.
| |
Zoe Richards, Curtin University
A marine heatwave has hit Ningaloo Reef hard – and the northern Great Barrier Reef is now bleaching too.
|
Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria, Curtin University
The ICC is often criticised for being ineffective when it doesn’t act, and biased when it does.
| |
Nneka Vivian Iduu, Auburn University
Scientists have described antimicrobial resistance as an overlooked pandemic. Improving surveillance can help prevent deadly outbreaks.
|
Frank A. Blazich Jr., Smithsonian Institution
Trump wants Ukraine to repay the US for the military aid it sent Kyiv. Once upon a time, the US was more generous: It rebuilt Western Europe after World War II.
| |
Alex Balch, University of Liverpool
The act did little to stop modern slavery happening in the first place.
|
Charlotte Al-Khalili, University of Sussex; Melissa Gatter, University of Sussex
Syrian refugees must be able to decide what’s next for them as pressures mount for their return.
| |
Ralph Hertwig, Max Planck Institute for Human Development; Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol
We tend to underestimate the threat of rare events but we can prime ourselves to be more alert to the signs.
|
Jaigris Hodson, Royal Roads University
Knowing how to talk about misinformation can help preserve relationships with friends and loved ones that can be frayed during high-stakes election campaigns.
| |
Jackson K Njau, Indiana University
By 1.5 million years ago, Homo erectus was able to transfer tool-making skills from stone to bone.
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
