Aug 7, 2018, Waikato Times: Te Aroha principal: Education in New Zealand at crisis point https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/life-style/106056721/te-aroha-principal-education-in-new-zealand-at-crisis-point
A Piako primary school principal is backing a planned teachers' strike in the hope it'll make Kiwis realise education in New Zealand is at crisis point.
Te Aroha's Stanley Avenue School principal John Byers said it was time people understood the problems teachers were facing.
He and his teaching staff will join primary school educators around the country, to strike for the first time in 24 years, on August 15.
Parents and communities where schools are at the heart of molding the young minds of future members of society were also backing the industrial action. …
"Alarming statistics for me is that 50 per cent of teachers are leaving after five years of joining the profession.
"There is 40 per cent less teacher trainees than there was four years ago.
Special education is severely underfunded, Byers said, and needs a decent sustained boost to provide quality programmes. …
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017