Summer reissue: She’s head girl, a viral star, a poet. But none of those credentials can ever capture the force of nature that is Aigagalefili ‘Fili’ Fepulea’i-Tapua’i. Portraits by Edith Amituanai. First published September 12 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members … Read more
She’s head girl, a viral star, a poet. But none of those credentials can ever capture the force of nature that is Aigagalefili ‘Fili’ Fepulea’i-Tapua’i. Portraits by Edith Amituanai. The sky above Aorere College is a brilliant blue. Sunlight gets into every corner of the campus, and music spills out into the morning from a … Read more
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The Mind Lab’s new leadership course is designed to replace those aspirations with action. One of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman’s best-known quotes is “the only business of business is business”. For him and many others who believed that the market should decide, doing good was … Read more
Every scholarship exam and approximately every two external assessments are wrapped in their own single-use plastic bag. We’re asking the NZQA to cut it out, writes year-13 student Sophia Honey Every year after an exam, I see the same conversation happen. Friends turn to each other, talk about how difficult that question was, and then … Read more
International students caught out by the closure of the New Zealand National College have had their lives here put on hold, and may be unable ever to return. Don Rowe reports. The closure of the failing New Zealand National College in Auckland has left at least two international students stranded in their home countries after their student … Read more
Unlicensed course materials and substandard teaching at a private tertiary institution connected to New Zealand’s education royalty have left students indebted and fuming. Don Rowe investigates. Take a look up any side street in any main city in New Zealand and you’ll find one: the ‘International College of This’, the ‘New Zealand National Academy of … Read more
Following an outcry, the NZQA has agreed to a review of its policy of publishing exemplar answers that students have been memorising and reproducing. It’s all part of a larger problem, writes AUT lecturer Peter Gilderdale, of ‘academic obedience’ over actual learning. Think of a place where doping is both prevalent and systemic in a … Read more