Posts Tagged ‘education’

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Man United: Public-Sector Pensions & A City On Strike

In Rory MacKinnon on July 2, 2011 at 1:15 pm

Image by SecretLondong123, used under a CC license.

[First published in the Morning Star, 01/07/2011]

It’s 8am on a Thursday morning in Manchester’s university quarter, smack in the middle of the summer break. But the streets are far from empty.

Teachers and lecturers stand clumped together on picket lines outside their classrooms, while across the canal librarians, parking wardens, civil servants and others are doing much the same. Manchester it seems is closed for business.

It’s only a slight exaggeration: with literally a third of Manchester’s workforce in the public sector, it’s hardly surprising that the government’s plans to raid public sector pensions has raised a bit of a ruckus. And with clear blue skies, a beaming June sun and the warm glow of camaraderie, it’s obvious people are glad to be out and about. But they haven’t forgotten why they’re here. Read the rest of this entry »

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What’chu Talking About, Willetts? AKA The Abel Magwitch Funding Model

In Rory MacKinnon on May 12, 2011 at 4:11 am

David Willets by bisgovuk

David Willett’s staggering suggestion Tuesday that we could top up university budgets by letting people just buy their way in seems to have made a lot of headlines (including my own).

A lot of people were understandably blindsided by his stunning argument that we could make Britain a more equal society by opening universities up to (a) the very hardest-working, brightest, luckiest kids the middle and working classes have to offer, and (b) rich kids who scrape through the entry exams.

Of course the other David has moved quickly to stamp out that forest fire – but another wee gem seems to have slipped past unscathed and relatively unobserved.From the original story:

A third option for expanding university places without cost to the public purse is by encouraging charities to sponsor students. At present, if a charity wished to fund a group of students from poor backgrounds, those places would have to come out of a university’s existing quota because of the risk that the students involved might need public support in future.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Kean On Columbia: An Unapologetic Shill

In Rory MacKinnon on July 13, 2010 at 12:00 pm

[By David Farrar, Keith Ng, Rob Salmond, Tim Watkin (and now me)]

Many people are concerned about the quality of public affairs journalism in New Zealand. Being concerned is a good start, but how can you take the next step? How can you help make it better? Yes, you.

Here is one way. Follow this link and vote for Nicola Kean in the AMP “Do Your Thing” Scholarship competition.

It is an online popularity contest, and the winner gets $10,000 to help them pursue their dreams. Voting is quick, easy, free, and for a good cause. Of course, there are many, many fantastic applicants for this award, and we are not opposed to any one of them winning the money. We’re just especially in favour of Nicola winning, because of the value that her dream holds for all of us. Read the rest of this entry »

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Double Standards: National’s Pyrrhic pragmatism

In Rory MacKinnon on February 3, 2010 at 2:04 am

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/109/303144538_77cafcdd00.jpg
[First things first, some great news: I've now joined Scoop as their new duty editor, which means that in between copy-pasting press releases I'll be writing the odd story and doing weekly segments on Radio Active and bFM. Should you be interested I've already got a couple of things here, here and here.]

So the government’s surprise press conference yesterday wasn’t such a surprise after all. The PM and Education Minister Anne Tolley are sticking to their guns on their national standards policy; the one that guarantees young New Zealanders get a fair go, etc. etc. through regular testing on the three ‘r’s.  They’re so confident, in fact, that they’re refusing to trial it in a few schools first.

Except that they are. As we heard yesterday, they will be trialling the national standards for te reo Maori in some kura kaupapa to make sure they’re appropriate – an eminently sensible decision, but one which makes this battle with the teachers’ unions over the rest of the curriculum all the more absurd. Read the rest of this entry »

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“Some validity” to VSM lobby – MAWSA president

In Rory MacKinnon on September 13, 2009 at 10:26 am

alex sorensenA prominent member of the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations says student unions need to come clean with their constituencies – or risk losing them altogether.

Massey Wellington Students’ Association president Alex Sorenson said Tuesday that Roger Douglas’ Education (Freedom Of Association) Amendment Bill, currently before Parliament, raises important issues of accountability and good faith. Read the rest of this entry »

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BREAKING NEWS: National will back VSM bill

In Rory MacKinnon on September 10, 2009 at 10:41 pm

http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/50662BE8-F047-4F45-A80F-17983A76E91C/0/NationalParty.gif

After our post on Roger Douglas’ VSM bill I took the liberty of emailing a few key players to find out where they stood on the issue. Associate education minister Heather Roy was obviously all for it, since she was the bill’s original sponsor. Education minister Anne Tolley did not respond (again, no surprises there), and nor did her other associate minister Pita Sharples.

But the other other associate minister, Wayne Mapp, was refreshingly frank. His unedited reply is below.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Godwin’s Lawyers: the van Leeuwen scandal revisited

In Rory MacKinnon on September 8, 2009 at 9:50 pm

http://www.nzetc.org/etexts/WhiIllAnci/WaikatoLogo.jpgHonorary Israeli consul and former president of the NZ Jewish Council David Zwartz is demanding that Waikato University apologise for its handling of Roel van Leeuwen’s thesis, which was pulled from the university’s library when its subject, former National Front secretary Kerry Bolton, wrote to the university to complain.

Zwartz may well argue that the university’s behaviour constituted cultural insensitivity – but if any apology is forthcoming, it should really be to the country’s academic community.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Massey announces 5% fee hike

In Rory MacKinnon on September 7, 2009 at 7:44 pm

http://www.addriteservices.com/flying_money.jpgA funny thing happened on the way to the fees forum…

If you’re a student at Victoria University, you’re cordially invited to “constructively engage with the university on the issue of student fees” at a public meeting on Wednesday.

If you’re a student at Massey however, that train’s already left town. Vice Chancellor Steve Maharey will also be hosting a video conference with students tomorrow, but with the express intent of defending a decision the university has already made.

Read the rest of this entry »

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