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Newsroom •

Inside an 'Innovative Learning Environment'

Next year a fresh cadre of bright-eyed and refreshed students will enter schools around the country. For many, at both primary and secondary level, they will be walking into a sleek modern building complete with climate control, ergonomic furniture and state-of-the-art technology. Welcome to the Innovative Learning Environment, or ‘ILE’.

The Ministry of Education is committed to giving every school access to ‘a learning environment that best supports educational success’. In their view, that me
The Spinoff •

Queenstown’s Joan of Arc is battling for affordable housing

Former ski patroller Julie Scott has taken on a challenge of a very different kind: finding low-cost homes for families in New Zealand’s most expensive property market.

Not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes they walk among us and perform their magic without needing to transform into someone different.

It’s the seemingly ordinary-looking jobs that can have a tremendous effect. Meet Julie Scott, the executive officer of the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust. Every day she helps families ac
Headland •

Headland Journal | Nights of Everywhere

I remember our first night everywhere cos Māmā always takes us somewhere special to tell us about the whakapapa of a place. She says knowing our history helps us to know ourselves. Our whanau is always on the move. Māmā says we’re explorers, we’re real lucky to be able to go to so many places. I like it best when we end up near the beach and I can build castles. I do tree huts too but they’re never the same, it’s harder without tools. I haven’t done a castle since Opotiki and the tides were fier
Newsroom •

Why pay to work?

It’s time for Queenstown to face the human cost of being a high-turnover, transient tourist town, Poppie Johnson writes.

Living in New Zealand’s tourism hotspot, Queenstown, comes with its benefits – we have world-class restaurants and bars befitting a city 10 times our size. There is every type of cuisine imaginable available, opening hours are the most generous in the country, and there’s always a venue for any event.

All of these restaurants and bars require staff. For many on working holid
Newsroom •

Why we should demand more of teachers

Why we should demand more of teachers

Teacher Poppie Johnson examines performance pay, teacher appraisals and asks: what should New Zealanders be demanding for their education tax dollars?

In my almost 10 years as a teacher I’ve seen most of what goes on in a secondary school. I’ve been a dean, head of department and held myriad other responsibilities that come up on an annual basis. I’m experienced but not yet so established that I’m an institution in my own right. It’s the sweet spot, young

Idiots or idealists: can teachers make a difference?

It might sound a little like a cliche, as though teachers are this rare breed of idealistic individuals who enter the profession with a self-sacrificing mindset, prepared to give everything of themselves and subsume their personality into work. They do, but the reasons why we teach are a little more complex. It’s the prospect of making a difference and having a stable career that is relatively recession-proof that is attractive.