Hot Topic
Hot Topic 40
03 October 2011
In this video interview Nereev Kingsland discusses New Orleans' transition from centralised state-run education to a system of independent charter schools.
Hot Topic 39
06 October 2010
The Education (Freedom of Association) Bill was last month given the green light by a select committee and is due for a second reading this month. In this hot topic, we highlight reaction to the bill's progress.
Hot Topic 38
06 October 2008
The Labour government has this week announced a universal student allowance as part of its election campaign. In this hot topic, we highlight the proposal, look at reaction to it and provide information on student funding.
Hot Topic 37
06 May 2007
With the Opposition National Party last month announcing ideas on public private partnerships (PPPs) in school building and maintenance, and with government ministers seemingly at odds with each other over PPPs, it's timely to highlight the latest in news and commentary on PPPs from around the world.
Hot Topic 36
06 March 2007
The NCEA (National Certificate of Education Achievement) is again making headlines with a number of prominent schools saying they are looking for alternatives to the government-run assessment scheme.
Hot Topic 35
29 May 2006
Milton Friedman, a Nobel laureate free market economist and one of the first advocates for education vouchers, died on 16 November at the age of 94.
Hot Topic 34
27 May 2006
Education Minister Steve Maharey has recently signalled an intention to review the board of trustees model for schools in a move opponents say is nothing but a government move to get more control of schools.
Hot Topic 33
22 May 2006
In its Budget this year, the government announced a policy that will mean that students will not be eligible for student loans if they are undertaking courses that are not government subsidised.
Hot Topic 32
10 May 2006
The Early Childhood Council's annual conference last week saw senior politicians and early childhood experts from New Zealand and around the world converge on Rotorua to give presentations on early childhood education.
Hot Topic 31
06 April 2006
The Labour government this month announced what some are calling the biggest shake-up to tertiary education since the present system was introduced in 1991, with plans to move -in 2008 - to more differentiation between institutions and to make their funding more driven by outcomes than student numbers.
Hot Topic 29
06 November 2005
Labour's election promise of interest-free student loan legislation has been tabled. Students have praised it but many others say it will cost New Zealand dearly.
Hot Topic 28
06 October 2005
All state schools - primary and secondary - in England are to be encouraged to become "trust schools" with greater autonomy to run their own affairs. And private companies are lining up to run them.
Hot Topic 27
06 October 2005
Public-private partnerships and education contracting schemes are increasing around the world. In this hot topic, we look at some of the schemes and also a recent conference discussing the topic that featured many of the world's foremost education policy economists, political scientists, policymakers and practitioners.
Hot Topic 26
25 September 2005
The Labour government said its policy of no-interest on loans for graduates in New Zealand would cost around $300 million a year but estimates of the policy by Treasury - released in September - predict possible annual costs of close to $1 billion.
Hot Topic 25
17 September 2005
Private tutoring companies - such as Kip McGrath, Numberworks and Kumon - are changing the face of education in New Zealand. Their tutoring services are mushrooming as more families turn to after-school tuition for their primary and secondary school children.
Hot Topic 24
11 August 2005
Interest-free loans for graduates who stay in New Zealand were announced as an election sweetener in late July by the government.
It's a move that brought instant and polarised reaction from a large number of people and organisations. We look at some of the reaction and also highlight research that looks at ways to finance tertiary education.
Hot Topic 23
06 August 2005
Putting Children First is a major new report prepared for the Early Childhood Council (ECC) by the NZ Institute of Economic Research.
Hot Topic 22
06 July 2005
In October last year, following the settlement of the teacher pay round, we published a hot topic explaining how best to structure teacher pay. Following a new survey showing most parents want teachers to be paid for performance, and recent reports showing performance pay gets the best results, we have updated the hot topic.
Hot Topic 21
06 June 2005
Evidence of strong demand for parental choice in New Zealand education has surfaced again, this time in a survey from the Maxim Institute. And the findings echo in recent NZ Herald research showing widespread disgruntlement with the state education system.
Hot Topic 20
22 May 2005
Freeing up schools to better allow them to meet the needs of the local community - including initiatives such as more self-management, less red tape, freedom from a national wage scale and a return to bulk-funding - was at the core of the National Party's recent education policy announcement.
Hot Topic 19
22 April 2005
The Education Forum thinks it is a forward-looking package that focuses well on policies that give parents and students more choice. In doing so, it falls squarely in to the mainstream of successful strategies adopted in a number of well-performing OECD countries.
Hot Topic 18
01 March 2005
Following last month’s announcement of a State Services Commission inquiry into wide and unbalanced variations in Scholarship pass rates, the Government has recently widened the inquiry into pass rate variations in NCEA levels two and three.
Hot Topic 17
01 February 2005
It's been a funny old start for our secondary schools' new Scholarship exams: King's College student Benedict Tompkins passed geography without a single lesson in the subject. Marsden School's Robina Ang, an internationally-recognised science student, was surprised to fail her chemistry paper.
Hot Topic 16
01 October 2004
The annual round of pay negotiations between the government and teachers was completed recently with primary teachers getting a 8.74 per cent pay rise over three years and, in September, secondary teachers also accepted a three-year package.
Hot Topic 15
01 June 2004
In this year’s Budget the government announced a scheme to start in 2007 giving 20 free hours childcare per week to three- and four-year-olds but only to those who attend ‘community-based, teacher-led’ centres.
Hot Topic 14
01 April 2004
Education minister Trevor Mallard has recently hit out at school funding policies that favour parental choice or - in the minister's words "the much hated V-word" - vouchers.
Hot Topic 13
01 February 2004
The Ministry of Education is planning increased regulation of integrated schools, a recent discussion paper has revealed, including one option giving the Minister of Education the power to close such schools.
Hot Topic 12
01 September 2003
In April 2003, the Education Forum put online a hot topic on School Choice, showing the wide diversity of countries who have implemented it, the varying forms it takes and the large number of studies that says it works to get disadvantaged children into good schools.
Hot Topic 11
22 August 2003
The government confirmed its 'fee maxima' scheme for tertiary education on August 21. The scheme sets tertiary education fee levels for 2004 and the amount institutions can increase them by up to 2006.
Hot Topic 10
01 August 2003
Bank of New Zealand chief economist Tony Alexander has described anti-student-loan outrage as "ill-founded hysteria whipped up by students because they don't want to pay".
London School of Economics (LSE) researcher Nicholas Barr earlier this month called tax-payer subsidies on higher education beyond a certain point as "like subsidising champagne - nice for those who can get it, but not what the budget is for".
Hot Topic 9
22 May 2003
In the Budget, announced on April 15, that Finance Minister Michael Cullen has described as "careful", education was one of the big movers in terms of increased spending.
Hot Topic 8
06 May 2003
The Australian Budget on 13 May 2003 announced many reforms for the tertiary education sector that place it on a more market-based footing.
Hot Topic 7
03 May 2003
Around the world, choice and competition across a range of sectors have been shown to deliver lower costs, better quality and increased innovation. While evidence in the school sector is more tentative, a growing body of research is emerging that choice and competition can play an important role in improving its performance.
Hot Topic 6
22 March 2003
A recent article from California, which implemented across-the-board reductions in class sizes in 1996, suggests it’s not so black and white — Size matters, or does it? — “amid budget crisis, parents and teachers fight for small classes. Some studies dissent”.
Hot Topic 5
22 February 2003
In early February, Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton released a consultation document about New Zealand’s approach to GATS negotiations. The negotiations, being carried out by the World Trade Organisation, include discussion on education.
Hot Topic 4
05 February 2003
Following months of public debate and speculation over the direction of higher education policy, the British government in January unveiled radical reforms designed to make universities “more open to all students and more competitive in the world economy”.
Hot Topic 3
22 December 2002
Not just in New Zealand, but also throughout the OECD, governments are struggling with the burgeoning costs of tertiary education and the twin challenges of broadening tertiary education participation and properly resourcing tertiary institutions.
Hot Topic 2
07 December 2002
The government wants to set a levy on education exports for an industry development fund, worth $3.9 million annually by 2005. It proposes setting the levy at 0.5% of gross foreign fee-paying student tuition fee income and invited submissions by 15 November.
Hot Topic 1
06 December 2002
The Education Forum regularly features a 'hot topic' of current interest to policy makers and educationalists throughout New Zealand and overseas.