The Education Review Office (ERO) has slammed alternative education for at-risk teens. The programme is underfunded and under-performs, it says. It wants the system overhauled and additional funding provided. Responding to the need for extra funding, Alan Blackie, chair of the Marist Alternative Education Centre in Glenfield, said additional funding would be very welcome. “Only Read more
Teachers are warning of a gruelling winter ahead for children in poverty, as the cost-of-living crisis takes a major toll on struggling families, says KidsCan. “They say it is affecting learning, with more children arriving hungry, others barefoot in freezing weather, and sickness spreading in overcrowded, unheated homes.,” says a KidsCan spokesperson. KidsCan has seen Read more
ChatGPT seems to be taking over te reo Māori. The new artificial intelligence (AI) has academics and te reo speakers worried. The chatbot is a quick learner. Ever since its launch last November, ChatGPT has ‘learned’ to write in te reo. The quality is “scarily good”, says Waikato University’s Te Taka Keegan (pictured). But he Read more
New Zealand, a country long regarded as a high-trust nation, faces challenges that threaten its social fabric, according to a discussion paper released by Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures. Economic, political and climate-related stresses, coupled with the proliferation of mis- and disinformation, are eroding the cohesiveness of society. The document has shed light Read more
One New Zealand has today become the first telecommunications provider in New Zealand to sign up to Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs’ 11 Voluntary principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. From today, it has also begun blocking Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse material (CSAM) at a network level to prevent Read more
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a polyamorous relationship could be broken into twosomes and considered by the Family Court in a property relationship dispute. The decision relates to a property dispute between a man, Brett, and two women, Lilach and Fiona, who lived at a Kumeu property valued at over $2 million for Read more
Pope Francis has appointed Fr John Adams from the Diocese of Christchurch as the new Catholic Bishop of Palmerston North. The appointment was announced in Rome at 10pm New Zealand time, Thursday 22 June and it fills a vacancy created by the resignation of Bishop Charles Drennan in 2019. Ordained as a priest in 2003, Read more
Contrary to reports in the UK Daily Mail, the Catholic Church in New Zealand says no evidence suggests the teacher involved in the disciplinary tribunal case belonged to a Catholic school. When approached for comment, David McLoughlin, Communications Adviser for the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, said nothing in the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal decision or Read more
Priests are part of the church community; they ‘give savour’ to the community and are not the ‘main course’. The captivating comment that shed light on the role of priests within the Church was made on Saturday, by Monsignor Gerard Burns, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Wellington, during the installation ceremony of Catholic Read more