Posts by Hilary Stace
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A skip sideways re the provision of mental health services in the public system which is already fragile and needs major investment. I worry about the effect of Tony Ryall's quest for improvements to 'productivity' in the health system by concentrating on measurables like elective surgery discharges and waiting times for cancer treatment. So what services will have to be cut to meet these targets as there is no more money? Mental health, disability, community health are likely options.
So that psychiatrist from the DHB might not be there for the future non-celebs who need that help.
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There are a lot of really good counsellors and therapists - a clinical psychologist is only one option. So long as they are registered or belong to a professional association.
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Good Listener editorial on National Library rebuilding folly (which includes the Turnbull)
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Russell - thanks for your reference to Jim Traue. He was my first boss when I started working at the Turnbull Library and was quietly building up the internationally significant Millton collection and the Library's other collections, while positioning the Library, as you say, to fight the idealogues. Which happened. But the Library largely survived intact.
After he retired he continued to fight for libraries when the Wellington Public library was under extreme threat of business process reengineering and the other managerial excesses of the 1990s. And at the end of the 1990s the govt of the day was busy selling off the National Library's book stock and running down services before the govt changed and the Library rescued with a new Act and better resourcing.
And now there is another library fight and once again Jim has weighed in on the side of the Turnbull as a premier and unique research library, and for which he is once again getting vilified.
Today's library bosses want to spend $70million on a massive and inappropriate rebuilding project that will see much of the collection unavailable for three years and with no guarantee of the safety of the collections or the jobs of the specialist librarians. (Just think how much digitisation, and back cataloguing could be done with that money!)
The staff and researchers have, of course, hardly been consulted and the staff apparently banned from talking about it. So we need the Jim Traues of the world more than ever.
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the ministry not initiating negotiations with the NZEI for the a new Support Staff agreement even though there old one has expired.
And possibly even worse the Government recently stopped the work on pay equity for school support staff. Support staff are some of the lowest paid workers, earning the minimum wage or not much more, yet they do some of the most valuable work in the education system. A good teacher aide can make a huge difference to the educational inclusion of children with special needs, and the effectiveness of the classroom teacher.
And re the private school thing. Three generations of the males in my family were sent to board at Christs College, but it just seemed to make them incredibly miserable. Is it any better these days?
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I think this just signals a return to the old right wing 'attack the teacher unions' mindset of the 1990s.
The strength of the teacher unions infuriated politicians in the 1990s seeking to implement a market model of education, full bulk funding etc. Much precious school money in those days went on advertising and flash things to impress parents, rather than basic educational resourcing.
But NZ managed to survive that era with an intact and pretty equitable (on world standards) compulsory education sector and a centralised pay system, (at least for teachers if not for the much worse off bulk funded support staff), so teachers were in a strong position to fight for improvements in pay and conditions in the early years of the Labour govt. Nurses on the other hand, had been fragmented in the 90s so first had to fight to reorganise themselves in a MECA across DHBs before they had the collective strength to get their improved pay and conditions.
The real challenge for the teacher unions is how to collectivise themselves across the sector into one big union, pre-school, primary, secondary and support staff, that could resist this new wave of attacks, and be a real force for good equitable and innovative education into the future.
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I don't believe that the decile-10 schools actually provide a better education or have better teachers.
I agree. There are a lot of aspects to a good education and all the research I've read puts it down to good relationships between kids and teachers. A good friendly inclusive school with a culture that respects diversity is likely to encourage these relationships. It's not to do with decile at all. But more likely to be lower decile schools as they have more diversity in their student populations, and often attract more innovative teachers.
Although I do know a couple of local high decile schools that do this well too - incidentally they also welcome students with special educational needs.
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One of the most significant effects of the 1989 Education Act was legislative right of children to attend their local state school.This particularly means poor kids, brown kids and those with special educational needs. Since then 'bad' schools have tried all sorts of ways to get around this and keep these kids out of their schools while 'good' schools have taken the challenge to be more inclusive and skilled in their teaching to address the diversity of needs and learning styles of their students.
I don't think I'm using 'good' and 'bad' in the same sense as John Roughan.
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Sorry I couldn't find an internet link to this notice (below) so just cut and pasted. Wellington people might be interested in this public talk by David Shand who was a member of the Royal Commission on Auckland - on Friday 17th, 12.30 (lecture theatre is behind the law school).
School of Government and the Institute of Policy Studies
Invite you to a Seminar
The Future Governance of Auckland: The Recommendations
of the Royal Commission and their Implications for Sub-
National Government in New Zealand
Presented By
David Shand
Member of Royal Commission on Auckland GovernanceDavid Shand returned to New Zealand in 2006 after an international career in public sector reform
which spanned some 30 years since he left New Zealand. In Australia he held senior financial and
management positions in the federal government and the Victorian and Queensland state
governments. He worked for 4 years for the OECD in Paris and then in Washington DC for nine
years with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on public sector reform issues in
developing countries.
Apart from his membership of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance he is currently
chair of the Tertiary Education Commission and a director of Meridian Energy Ltd. In 2007 he
chaired the Independent Inquiry into Local Government Rates established by the Minister of Local
Government.In this presentation, David will cover the Royal Commission's conclusions and recommendations,
and possible implications for the rest of New Zealand. The Commission's report and other relevant
documents can be accessed at www.royalcommission.govt.nzFriday 17th April
12.30 - 2pm
Lecture Theatre 1 Old Government Buildings
Stout Street entrance
RSVP to Yvette.blades@vuw.ac.nz -
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It's the difference between saying 'I completely disagree with you, because of x,y,z' and saying 'You are stupid because you think this' . This site does the former very well, while other sites prefer instant web rage.
I am interested in why people think things even though they are apparently irrational and not supported by best scientific evidence. One example from my own work is the strong belief some parents of kids with autism have that vaccines cause autism. Even though there is no scientific evidence for this and the man who started it all, Andrew Wakefield, has been shown to have misrepresented his evidence, and now makes a good living persuading parents that vaccines are to blame. Meanwhile immunisation rates have dropped and there are outbreaks of measles and other diseases in developed countries.
But telling parents they are stupid for their wrong beliefs, is not going to win any converts. So what does work in persuading people to change their fundamental beliefs?