The Minister’s announcement that she will pay five principals an extra $50,000 on top of their normal salaries to turn around the fortunes of five troubled schools has sounded a warning bell from President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF), Denise Torrey. 

President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF) Denise Torrey, has welcomed the Minister’s announcement that $2.5million will be allocated to support children in classrooms with high learning needs in the next two terms and says this is a great start, chipping the surface of what has become a seriously problematic area of schooling. 

School principals have reacted strongly to the latest announcement that the National Library curriculum service will be phasing out its provision of non-fiction books in favour of providing digital resources. 

‘Digital resources are great for supporting pedagogy but are no replacement for books,’ said Denise Torrey, President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation. 

The legislation for the creation of the new EDUCANZ to replace the former Teachers’ Council body is now undergoing its second reading. Without warning, it was promoted to the top the queue this week. 

President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, Philip Harding, said ‘Given that 1,500 people made written submissions to the select committee and only thirteen of those were in support, it is astonishing that so little in the legislation has changed.’