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The train-wreck was utterly predictable but we should still look back to see how it happened, how bad it was, and how we can keep it from happening again. This week, The New Zealand Initiative released its decade-on retrospective look at the government’s interest-free student loan policy. Read more

Distance makes the heart grow fonder, so they say. But sometimes distance can also make you see things more clearly – not just if you are farsighted. Read more

Imagine if you were buying your first home and the only information you had was what you could see from the outside and through the windows. It may seem odd, but this is largely what happens in our public schools. Read more

If you found out your local school had a 60% NCEA level three pass rate, would you know whether you should congratulate the principal or demand a sacking? Students come to school from different starting points. Read more

After returning an English exam paper marked “43%”, a teacher asked her 13-year-old student “did you cheat”? To which the student nodded with a “yes”. Read more

I have just returned from a journey of discovery in the UK and the US looking at how they navigate the notion of school choice. As a concept, it remains highly contentious. Read more

Imagine if the New Zealand Rugby Union’s collective agreement with players mirrored the agreements negotiated by the teachers’ unions. The pay scale for teachers has all teachers starting on more or less the same salary, and stepping up in small increments over seven years or so to a fixed maximum. Read more