/news/education/rss 九一星空无限 Keep up with the latest in primary, secondary, and tertiary education news with 九一星空无限talk ZB. Wed, 03 Dec 2025 03:09:38 Z en /news/education/teacher-censured-after-snorting-white-powder-at-school-christmas-party/ /news/education/teacher-censured-after-snorting-white-powder-at-school-christmas-party/ A teacher was caught snorting “white powder” from a classroom desk during a Christmas party after being offered a “line” by colleagues. He later told the school’s deputy principal the powder did not affect him, but admitted it was the “most stupid thing” he had ever done. The teacher, who has interim name suppression, has been found guilty of serious misconduct and censured over the incident during an after-hours school function in December 2022, a just-released decision by the NZ Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal detailed. Tribunal deputy chair Catherine Garvey said while there was no suggestion students were present or adversely affected, the fact the conduct occurred on school grounds was relevant, even if it was after-hours. A teacher who "snorted" white powder off a school desk during an after-hours Christmas party has admitted it was the "most stupid thing" he had ever done in his life. Photo / 123rf “The risk of a teacher being observed while on school grounds whether by students or other members of the public exists, and teachers should act accordingly,” she said. Another teacher, who also has interim name suppression, faced a disciplinary charge over the same incident. Party moved from tavern to classroom According to the decision, they were part of a group socialising with colleagues at an end-of-year function on December 13, 2022. It began in a tavern and ended up back in a school classroom about three hours later. About 16 staff members returned to the school, intending to continue the party. It was shut down by the deputy principal after hearing from some staff members that a teacher had been offering “lines” to colleagues seated at a desk in the classroom. Days later, the deputy met with the teacher seen snorting the substance. He said he did not ordinarily smoke or do drugs and explained he had walked to the back of the classroom, where about four other teachers offered him a “line”. The teacher saw five lines of white powder on a desk and used a rolled-up $5 note to sniff some of the powder but said he did not know what happened to the other four lines. He had been drinking beforehand and claimed the powder did not affect him. The charge of serious misconduct followed an investigation by the Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC), which heard how the teacher “deeply regretted” what happened. “I want to make it unequivocally clear that I do not condone the events that transpired, and I continue to be in the dark about the nature of the substance involved,” he said. No proof the substance was illicit The charge was brought on the basis that the CAC could not prove that the white powder was an illegal drug. Agreement was reached that the tribunal should proceed on the basis that the teacher thought he was consuming an illegal drug but did not in fact do so. The tribunal, which had dealt with a number of cases involving the misuse of alcohol or other drugs in a school context, said the case was unusual because of the absence of evidence that the substance consumed was in fact an illegal drug. ‘Lack of professional judgment’ It determined that the teacher’s conduct reflected adversely on his fitness and was likely to bring the teaching profession into disrepute. “That the respondent was on school property and intended to partake in an illegal drug shows a lack of professional judgment, irrespective of whether it was a spur of the moment act and occurred because he was impaired by alcohol,” Garvey said. “The Code expects that teachers will act within the law and as positive role models for students.” The teacher, who was registered in 2011, resigned from the school in June 2024 after an employment disciplinary process in which he received a final written warning. He was now working at another school. He was censured by the tribunal and ordered to disclose the finding to an employer for a period of two years. He was also ordered to pay $1200 towards costs incurred by the CAC and the Teaching Council in handling the proceedings. Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at 九一星空无限. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail. Wed, 19 Nov 2025 07:37:41 Z /news/education/educators-concerned-as-govt-u-turns-on-ai/ /news/education/educators-concerned-as-govt-u-turns-on-ai/ Principals and educators say the Ministry of Education’s U-turn on artificial intelligence leaves too much up to them. The Ministry’s backtracked on last year’s stance - now saying it can be used to help teachers mark work more efficiently. Its new guidance urges caution and human oversight but discourages AI tools for complex content, internal NCEA assessments, or summative marking. Last year’s advice warned teachers against using AI to create or mark work, calling it potentially unfair and discriminatory. It comes as some Universities step away from using AI detection in assessment - like Massey. Canterbury University Associate Professor of Digital Education, Kathryn MacCallum said the latest guidance assumes too much understanding from teachers. “My worry is that we are putting a lot of responsibility on the teacher to take responsibility, to have oversight, to understand how to use these tools appropriately,” she said. MacCallum supports using AI for feedback, but not for final grades. “We shouldn’t ever give a mark that isn’t human, because that’s the final grade - and we need to be confident in that process.” She says it’s concerning the Government wants to expand AI use in NCEA assessments. “I presume it would be for assessments that are very clear when there is a correct or incorrect answer, but if they start to use it more widely into the the assessments that are becoming more judgment based, that’s when there’s a bit of concern.” Ministry Business Operations’ Manager, Claire Eden, said the change reflects growing public debate around AI in education. “Digital technologies are rapidly evolving, public discussion on the use of AI tools in education has intensified.” She said this guidance gives teachers practical direction in what is a fast-moving and uncertain space. Post Primary Teachers’ Association President Chris Abercrombie said the teacher–student relationship must remain central to marking. “AI must support - not replace - teachers’ professional judgements. Human oversight is essential.” He said students should also be told when AI is used. “PPTA has had feedback that young people do not necessarily want their work to be marked by a machine.” Abercrombie said the new guidance conflicts with Education Minister Erica Stanford’s recent suggestion that AI could mark all internal and external assessments by 2030. He said it’s confusing for teachers - especially since AI is discouraged for internal marking but being phased in for external assessments. The PPTA is now seeking clarification from the Minister, the Ministry and NZQA on how AI could accurately assess non-written work - such as media films or drama performances - and whether restrictions on AI use could limit how teachers design assessments. MacCallum adds the guidance raises more questions than it answers. “What specific tools are we talking about? What models sit behind them? How are outcomes validated? Assessment is complex - the policy needs to reflect that complexity.” Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. She joined 九一星空无限talk ZB in 2023, after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star. Thu, 16 Oct 2025 16:00:27 Z /news/education/concerns-raised-as-hundreds-of-learning-support-roles-remain-vacant/ /news/education/concerns-raised-as-hundreds-of-learning-support-roles-remain-vacant/ Hundreds of learning support roles remain vacant across New Zealand, raising questions about whether new government-funded positions will actually reach schools in need. New data shows more than 128 positions have gone unfilled each year since 2020, peaking at 284 nationwide in 2023. This year there are 169 vacancies. Psychologists and speech-language therapists are in highest demand, making up 40% of all openings over the past five years. Auckland has the most gaps in 2025 (45), followed by Bay of Plenty (27) and Waikato (20). The Government is attempting to tackle the shortage, allocating $747 million in this year’s budget to boost learning support. Education Minister Erica Stanford called it the largest investment “in a generation” and has since announced 1,451 schools will have access to a Learning Support Coordinator from next year. Stanford said the role will allow a dedicated staff member to screen for common neurodiverse needs like dyslexia and put strategies in place, giving teachers more time for quality classroom teaching. NZEI delegate and speech-language therapist Conor Fraser said schools welcome the extra support, but doubts the roles can be filled. She said recruiting from the private sector would simply move skilled staff around, creating gaps elsewhere. The Ministry of Education is publishing guidance this week to help schools hire, including suggested interview questions and skills matrices. Learning Support Coordinators must be registered teachers with a practising certificate and relevant qualification. The Ministry said schools can pool resources to support multiple schools or hire part-time staff. Fraser said these measures don’t address long-term workforce concerns. “We need effective workforce planning and conditions that attract and retain specialist workers. Right now, it’s just stretching a thin workforce further, which I think is evident in the number of vacancies,” she said. She added that docking pay for specialists who stick to contracted hours only worsens retention issues. Fraser said Ministry learning support workers will join teachers and principals on strike October 23, warning that waitlists will grow longer without a proper plan. “When kids miss out on support and teachers are unsupported, behaviour and patterns of communication are compounded,” she said. “We might come in a year later and we’ve got a much bigger issue to try and work through with a whanau than we might have if we’d been able to provide an earlier intervention.” She said the investment and learning support from the Government is progress, but believes “there is a significant gap in what they have put forward in the budget compared to what’s needed.” “It needs a significant correction after years and years of underfunding across successive governments.” Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. She joined 九一星空无限talk ZB in 2023, after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star. Sun, 12 Oct 2025 16:00:04 Z /news/education/ministry-considers-first-parent-prosecutions-over-school-absences/ /news/education/ministry-considers-first-parent-prosecutions-over-school-absences/ Months after announcing tougher school attendance rules, the Ministry of Education is now considering prosecutions against parents in about 15 cases - and says the threat alone is working in some instances. Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced the tougher stance in May, targeting parents who won’t send their children to school, rather than those who can’t. Parents face fines of $30 a day, up to $300 for a first offence, and as much as $3000 for repeat cases. It comes after an ERO report found 60% of students attended school regularly - the highest since 2020. The Government aims to lift that to 80% by 2030. Seymour says prosecutions will send a message to parents neglecting their legal duty. “Children who don’t attend school get less opportunities. In some cases it’s actually parents who are costing children their future,” he said. “For some parents, the threat of prosecution will be enough to make them take attendance seriously. For others, it will take actual prosecution.” “Once the first prosecutions are made, I suspect the latter will change their minds.” Ministry operations leader Sean Teddy said no cases have yet been confirmed for 2025, but several are being reviewed. “There have already been cases where the deterrent effect of a potential prosecution has resulted in children being re-enrolled and attending school.” “These were long-running, complex and challenging cases for schools, attendance services and Ministry regional staff,” Teddy added. The Ministry’s new guidance outlines the evidence required before cases can proceed, including attendance records, school support plans and any warning notices issued. Teddy said the Ministry’s role is to support schools and attendance services by working with families to re-engage children in education. “Prosecution is considered a last resort, used only when all other efforts have failed and there is clear evidence of parental or guardian unwillingness to comply with their legal obligation to ensure their children attend school.” Teddy said the rules around prosecutions for non-attendance have not changed. “However, as part of our work to improve attendance, we’ve received feedback from school leaders that they would like the Ministry to take a more active role in leading prosecutions for serious cases of non-attendance and/or non-enrolment.” Seymour and the Ministry were unable to comment on specific prosecution cases. Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. She joined 九一星空无限talk ZB in 2023, after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star. Thu, 09 Oct 2025 16:00:08 Z /news/education/universities-give-up-using-software-to-detect-ai-in-students-work/ /news/education/universities-give-up-using-software-to-detect-ai-in-students-work/ By John Gerritsen of RNZ Several universities have given up using software to detect the use of artificial intelligence in student work. Massey University made the decision recently, and the University of Auckland and Victoria University also did not use it. For Massey, it followed a decision to stop using automated systems to monitor for cheating in online exams after a major tech failure last year. It told RNZ detection was unreliable and it let students use AI responsibly in much of their work anyway. One of the presidents of Massey’s Tertiary Education Union branch, Dr Angela Feekery, told RNZ academics had not used AI detection consistently. Some used the results as a guideline but others would accuse students of cheating if the tool suggested their work consisted of more than a certain percentage of AI-generated content. “There’s been a lot of research coming out basically saying that AI detection doesn’t work overly well. There’s a lot of tools that students can use to check if their work is going to be detected by AI and they can fool it anyway,” she said. “Pretty much a decision’s been made to turn it off because it’s ineffective.”. Feekery said there were other ways to spot AI use, such as checking a document’s version history to see if it was created in two minutes rather than over several days, or simply using professional judgment. “I’ve been teaching for 25 years. I’ve been marking student writing for years. I know what it looks like, and it’s not what they are submitting now. In many of the cases, when you’ve got students who can write better than I can in first year, there is an issue.” Feekery said academics were still trying to figure out the best ways to assess students in the age of AI. “We don’t have the solution yet, but there’s certainly a lot of conversation around it and students are at the centre of those conversations. I can hand on heart say that the student experience is at the centre of the conversations we’re having around this,” she said. University of Auckland graduate teaching assistant Java Grant was organising a conference on AI for the Tertiary Education Union next month. He said Massey’s decision made sense from a technical standpoint. “It’s really hard to differentiate what might be generated by an AI tool, unless there’s some telltale signs, something like ‘I can’t answer this because I’m a large language model’,” he said. He said many academics were choosing to use forms of assessment where AI cannot be used. Academics are choosing to use forms of assessment where AI cannot be used. Photo / 123rf “There is so much sensitivity around falsely accusing students of using the tools and so currently the best solution that we’ve found at the course level, with instructors and tutors working together to think about how we might make sure students are learning the content, we’ve personally gone to in-person, on-paper tests, but it’s increased the workload hugely.” University of Auckland computer science senior lecturer Dr Ulrich Speidel said relying on student honesty for remote assessments was open to abuse. “Absolutely nothing stops them from having a second device floating around or a friend or a helper. With exams like this I would probably look at, depending on the class and the background and the demographics of the class, I would look at probably between 30 and 60% of the class availing themselves to illicit help,” he said. Speidel said the figure was based on his experience and on research. However, he said automated monitoring of digital exams could be hacked, as could supposedly secure on-campus digital exams. Speidel said Auckland debated the use of automated AI detection several years ago and decided it wasn’t worth it because it could not definitively prove whether a student had used AI for their work. Massey University said its online assessments such as online essay submission or quizzes were not scrutinised. “These are part of a wider assessment approach that ensures that students’ work is appropriately validated at key points in their study,” it said. “The impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence [GenAI] means that all universities are reviewing their approaches to assessment. Like many others, Massey no longer uses AI detection as significant concerns have been raised about the reliability of the approach. “Rather than using unreliable detection tools, the university is prioritising preventative measures such as secured assessments for those assessments where GenAI is not allowed. As part of this process, Massey is currently undertaking a process of consultation to determine future approaches to the delivery of examinations.” Massey said students were permitted to use AI in all assessments, except those that could be secured in ways that prevented, rather than detected, AI use. These included laboratory and studio-based activities, oral assessments and examinations. “Turning away from detection does not mean we are simply delegating thinking, reasoning and rigorous academic practice to AI. Rather, it signals that we recognise our environment is shifting, and we must adapt accordingly. “We are working to develop AI literacies across the university so we can effectively support students to use AI as part of their academic toolkit, ensuring they engage with it in ways that are ethical, learning-centred, and uphold academic integrity.” Approaches to AI How the eight universities approach online exam security and detection of AI in student work: Auckland Uses online invigilation for remote exams. Does not endorse AI-detection tools. AUT Does not run remote, online examinations. Unclear whether it uses AI detection software for student work. Waikato Conducts some exams online and some remotely. Uses AI-writing detection tool. Massey Offers remote, online open-book assessments and tests without automated monitoring. Does not use software to check for AI use in student work. Canterbury Uses monitoring tools for online assessments. Lincoln Uses videoconferencing technology to monitor remote online exams. Uses software to check for AI use in student work. Victoria Seldom uses digital exams and does not use online proctoring. Does not use AI detection. Otago Has very few digital exams. Uses plagiarism detection software, but RNZ understands some academics do not use its AI detection function. - RNZ Tue, 30 Sept 2025 01:33:08 Z /news/education/schools-out-teachers-start-a-week-of-strikes-class-cancelled-for-thousands/ /news/education/schools-out-teachers-start-a-week-of-strikes-class-cancelled-for-thousands/ Thousands of senior secondary school students have no classes today as teachers begin a week of industrial action. The union voted last week to reject the Government’s latest offer and begin partial strikes. Year 12 and 13 students up and down the country will not be taught, instructed, or supervised on Monday by union members. The rolling strikes will affect students in Year 11 on Tuesday, Year 10 on Wednesday, and Year 9 on Thursday. The Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) said teachers wanted pay and conditions that would attract and keep staff, and were striking over stalled negotiations. The Public Service Commissioner said its offer was strong and fair, and the union was choosing strikes over students. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has criticised the union for “placing additional pressure on families and schools”. Education workforce leader Anna Welanyk said she was disappointed by the decision to strike, which would disrupt student learning. “Each school will assess its staffing capacity to determine whether it can safely remain open for instruction for affected year levels.” PPTA president Chris Abercrombie said teachers were sending a clear message to the Government that they wanted an offer that met the needs of both teachers and students. He said the union was yet to hear from the Government since the strike’s announcement last Friday, and currently there were no negotiating days booked. Auckland art teacher and union representative Paul Stevens said the job had become increasingly difficult in the decade he’d been in the classroom with more students with complex needs. He said pastoral care was as central to the union’s claim as pay. “The cohort of students that are coming through the secondary system at the moment are also those – that are to a certain degree ... most affected by Covid in terms of their learning. “So, it is fair to say the job has become more challenging that’s absolutely the case – but it’s still really rewarding.” Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche urged the union to return to the bargaining table, and said negotiation, not escalation, was the way forward. “Industrial action affects not only classrooms, but also the overall wellbeing of students and working parents,” he said. “The offer made to teachers was a very good one, and teachers have an opportunity to settle and get extra money into their pockets quickly.” He argued that the offer on the table was strong, fair and addressed cost-of-living pressures without ignoring the fiscal pressures facing the country. It would have cost taxpayers an additional $361 million over four years, he said. It represented a pay increase of 4.7% within 12 months for secondary teachers already at the top of their pay scale, Roche said. “In difficult economic times, pay settlements must be affordable and responsible.” The Commission said secondary teachers received pay advances of up to 14.5% in the past three years. -RNZ Sun, 14 Sept 2025 19:15:33 Z