Latest news with #educationReform
RNZ News
09-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Government celebrates record increase in teacher numbers
Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The government is celebrating a record increase in teacher numbers. Education Minister Erica Stanford said a 2.5 percent rise last year included 1128 new primary teachers and 736 in secondary schools - the biggest increase since records began in 2009, while first-time domestic enrolments in Initial Teacher Education rose 6.3 percent from 3400 to 3615. She said the increase has affected every region. "Every region has more teachers than it did a year ago, with particularly strong increases in South and West Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and Canterbury. That's a clear sign our reform of the education system is giving people the confidence to choose teaching as a career." She pointed to teacher pay rates and the $53 million in government funding set aside in this year's Budget to cover registration fees as ways the government has encouraged the profession to grow. The registration fee change would not have affected teachers last year, though expectations of it could have encouraged more enrolments. "From scholarships and onsite training pathways to removing financial barriers like registration fees, we've made it easier for people to take that first step into the classroom, and it's working," Stanford said. "We're backing our education workforce - from training to registration to the classroom - because when we support teachers, we support better outcomes for every learner," she said. She noted average total pay was now over $94,000 a year for primary school teachers, and about $101,000 for secondary For principals, the pay increased to $150,000 for primary and $200,000 for secondary, she said. RNZ in April reported the overseas enrolments boosted student teacher numbers after years of low enrolment created a workforce crisis . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
It's Expensive to Become a Teacher in California. This Bill Would Pay Those Who Try
This article was originally published in CalMatters. This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. When Brigitta Hunter started her teaching career, she had $20,000 in student loans and zero income – even though she was working nearly full time in the classroom. 'We lived on my husband's pathetic little paycheck. I don't know how we did it,' Hunter said. 'And we were lucky – he had a job and my loans weren't that bad. It can be almost impossible for some people.' Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Each year, about 28,000 people in California work for free for about a year as teachers or classroom aides while they complete the requirements for their teaching credentials. That year without pay can be a dire hardship for many aspiring teachers, even deterring them from pursuing the profession. A new bill by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance, would set aside money for school districts to pay would-be teachers while they do their student teaching service. The goal is to help alleviate the teacher shortage and attract lower-income candidates to the profession. 'Nothing makes a bigger difference in improving the quality of public education than getting highly qualified teachers in the classroom,' Muratsuchi said. 'This bill helps remove some of the obstacles to that.' To be a K-12 public school teacher in California, candidates need a bachelor's degree and a teaching credential, typically earned after completing a one-year program combining coursework and 600 hours of classroom experience. During that time, candidates work with veteran teachers or lead their own classes. Teacher credential programs cost between $20,000 and $40,000, depending on where a student enrolls and where they live. In 2020, about 60% of teachers borrowed money to finish their degrees, according to a recent study by the Learning Policy Institute, with loans averaging about $30,000 for a four-year bachelor's degree and a credential program. Entering the profession with hefty student loans can be demoralizing and stressful, the report said, adding to the challenges new teachers face. The average starting teacher salary in California is $58,000, according to the National Education Association, among the highest in the country but still hard to live on in many parts of the state. It could take a decade or more for teachers to pay off their loans. Muratsuchi's bill, AB 1128, passed the Assembly on Monday and now awaits a vote in the Senate. It would create a grant program for districts to pay student teachers the same amount they pay substitute teachers, which is roughly $140 a day. The overall cost would be up to $300 million a year, according to Assembly analysts, but Gov. Gavin Newsom has set aside $100 million for the program in his revised budget. Muratsuchi has another bill related to teacher pay, also working its way through the Legislature. Assembly bill 477, which passed the Assembly this week, would raise teacher salaries across the board. Christopher Carr, executive director of Aspire Public Schools in Los Angeles, a network of 11 charter schools, called the bill a potential 'game changer.' Teacher candidates often have to work second jobs to make ends meet, and sometimes finish with debt of $70,000 or more, he said. That can be an insurmountable barrier for people with limited resources. Paying would-be teachers would attract more people to the teaching profession, especially Black and Latino candidates, he said. School districts around the state have been trying to diversify their teacher workforces, based on research showing that Black and Latino students tend to do better academically when they have at least one teacher of the same race. Carr's schools pay their teachers-in-training through grants and a partnership with a local college, which has led to more of them staying on to teach full time after they receive their credentials, he said. That has saved the schools money by reducing turnover. 'This could open doors and be a step toward racial justice,' Carr said. 'California has a million spending priorities, but this will lead to better outcomes for students and ultimately save the state money.' Tyanthony Davis, chief executive director of Inner City Education Foundation, a charter school network in Los Angeles, put it this way: 'If we have well paid, qualified, happy teachers, we'll have happier classrooms.' Muratusuchi's bill has no formal opposition. The California Taxpayers Association has not taken a position. The California Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers union, is a supporter. 'This legislation comes at a critical time as we continue to face an educator recruitment and retention crisis,' said David Goldberg, the union president. 'Providing new grants to compensate student teachers for important on-the-job training is a strong step forward in the right direction to strengthening public education.' Hunter survived her student-teaching experience and went on to teach fourth grade for 34 years, retiring last year from the Mark West Union School District in Santa Rosa. The last 15 years of her career she served as a mentor to aspiring teachers. She saw first-hand the stress that would-be teachers endure as they juggle coursework, long days in the classroom and often second jobs on nights and weekends. But paying student-teachers, she said, should only be the beginning. Novice teachers also need smaller class sizes, more support from administrators and more help with enrichment activities, such as extra staff to lead lessons in art and physical education. 'We definitely need more teachers, and paying student teachers is a good start,' Hunter said. 'But there's a lot more we can do to help them.' This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.
CBC
03-06-2025
- Health
- CBC
Edmonton Public Schools cuts number of seclusion rooms, but confinement continues
Advocates demanding an end to the use of seclusion rooms say they're pleased the Edmonton public school division has decommissioned more than 60 of them in the last year. A new report to the school board last week shows the number of seclusion rooms has dropped by about 37 per cent during the last year, leaving 105 rooms operational in 56 public schools. "We're extremely pleased to see a reduction in the number of seclusion rooms and in the use of those rooms, because quite frankly, the trend over the last few years has been in the other direction," said Trish Bowman, the CEO of Inclusion Alberta. A seclusion room is an empty chamber that can be locked from the outside. Provincial standards dictate that school staff are only to use the rooms in an emergency, when a student presents a danger of harm to themselves or others. Staff are only supposed to put students in the rooms with parents' permission. Division employees have acknowledged that in a crisis, it does sometimes happen without parental consent. For years, Inclusion Alberta and some parents are among advocates for students with disabilities who say the rooms should be eliminated. Parent Rosemarie Jordan says she found out years after the fact that her son, who has multiple disabilities, was put into seclusion rooms, and school staff never informed her. The experience caused him trauma, distress, and affected his willingness to attend school, she said. "He just understood that this is something that adults shouldn't be doing to me," she said in an interview last week. She said her son, who is now in Grade 10, consistently asks to speak school division managers because he wants to tell them to stop the practice. Research suggests that when a school employee feels it necessary to put a student inside one of the rooms, the experience can also distress staff members and other students who witness the event, Bowman said. Use of the rooms became the focus of attention in 2018, when a Strathcona County family launched a lawsuit in response to their autistic child's troubling experience in a seclusion room. The then-NDP government promised to ban school seclusion rooms. After the United Conservative Party won the 2019 election, the government reversed that decision and instead introduced standards for the use of seclusion and restraint. Since then, Edmonton Public Schools has had a stated goal of phasing out the rooms. The division runs many programs for growing numbers of students diagnosed with autism, developmental disabilities or behavioural disorders. As it adapted more school spaces to accommodate these programs, it also built rooms that could be used for seclusion. Data obtained through freedom of information requests showed last year that Edmonton Public Schools had almost two-thirds of the total number of seclusion rooms reported to the provincial government. In the 2024-25 school year, staff in the division put 640 students into the rooms against their will 1,581 times, according to data from the division. Critics said that seemed to be an excessive number of emergency situations and questioned whether every incident warranted the use of seclusion. The numbers do not include incidents where trained staff physically restrain a student who poses a risk of harm. Board chair says goal remains zero rooms Four parents and an Inclusion Alberta representative addressed the school board last week, applauding the decommissioning of rooms and reduction in their use. Parent Sarah Doll called the trend "a ray of light in an otherwise dark year for families of disabled students." Division superintendent Darrel Robertson told the board meeting he is requiring certain staff to take mandatory training in non-violent crisis intervention techniques. A few schools are also piloting a different de-escalation program, which has been "highly impactful." Robertson said the division is working to scale up that training to more schools. "I don't want seclusion rooms in our division at all," he said. "We're working hard to continue to get better." However, the school division and board trustees are making changes to public reporting and meeting procedures that have sullied some advocates' satisfaction with the seclusion room reductions. After five years of producing a standalone report on seclusion room use for the school board, the division will now include the information in a broader annual performance document called the Annual Education Results Report. Trustees, who are elected officials, also decided earlier this month to change the rules about who may address the board at a public meeting. The board will no longer include public comments on its livestream of meetings. Speakers can only address issues on the board's agenda for that meeting date, and it is limiting the number of speakers on each topic to five per meeting. Bowman said the school division's public reporting on seclusion rooms had been instrumental in the push to reduce their numbers. "It's actually deeply troubling that they've taken a step away from this kind of public transparency and accountability," she said. School division spokesperson Kim Smith said trustees changed the meeting rules to align with other school boards, and make better use of meeting time. She said there are other ways the public can contact their trustees. School board chair Julie Kusiek told reporters she thinks the change will strengthen accountability, because the report requires the division to set a goal and outline a plan for achieving that target. "And we have our target for this, which is, we're moving towards zero seclusion rooms," Kusiek said. The division has yet to set a timeline to meet that goal.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Hawaii law to provide free lunch for needy public school students
Thousands of public school students from low-income families will get free school lunches over the next two school years, while new rules also will go into effect designed to reduce cancellations of school bus routes that occurred in each of the past two school years. And statewide boys and girls surfing teams will be created, perhaps beginning next school year. The bills passed by the Legislature were signed into law Friday during a ceremony at the governor's mansion, Washington Place. Two other bills that Gov. Josh Green signed into law are designed to resolve differences in how locally produced food gets to public schools, youth campuses, public hospitals and prisons ; and another requires the University of Hawaii to charge resident tuition for anyone who graduated from a Hawaii high school and pursues an undergraduate degree at any UH campus. Friday's gathering included schoolchildren, teachers and advocates to help Hawaii students get to school, get fed and be better prepared to learn. First lady Jaime Green, who pushed for providing free lunches for needy children, grew emotional as she talked about Hawaii children who don't always know when their next meal will come. 'It is so important to make sure our kids are fed and don't go hungry, ' she said, choking up, as the crowd supported her with applause. During COVID-19, when schools were closed and the Department of Education turned to remote learning, DOE officials also had to figure out how to get meals out to children across the islands, sometimes in remote districts, who relied on reduced-price lunches. 'We saw the real need, and now, even that COVID is over, we are still struggling, our families are struggling, ' Green said. 'If students aren't hungry, they can better focus on their studies, extracurricular activities and personal growth.' So with Gov. Green's signature Friday on Senate Bill 1300, students who are eligible for reduced-price lunches will receive them for free beginning in the fall. And in the subsequent school year, schoolchildren from working, low-income families who earn below 300 % of the federal poverty level also will get free lunches. Significantly, schools are now prohibited from denying a meal to any student who cannot pay. State Rep. Justin Woodson (D, Kahului-Puunene ) chairs the House Education Committee and said legislators heard 'heart-wrenching stories ' of students who waited in the back of the lunch line only to have their food trays taken away. 'They were past embarrassment, ' Woodson said, and sometimes hung around rubbish cans looking for discarded food to eat. 'This should not be in the state of Hawaii, ' Woodson said. 'This reflects our values.' State Sen. Michelle Kidani (D, Mililani Town-Waipio Gentry-Royal Kunia ) chairs the Senate Education Committee and authored the bill providing free school lunches. She and her siblings struggled with food uncertainty as schoolchildren. Today, Kidani said, teachers in her district stock their desks with snacks for their students who are in similar financial situations, Kidani said. 'It's not just about food, ' she said. 'It's about equity.' No child, Kidani said, should sit in class wondering when they'll next eat. The bill appropriates more than $3.3 million to the Department of Education over the two school years to cover the cost of free meals for students of low-income families. 'That means all the families living paycheck to paycheck, ' Green said. House Bill 862 enshrines into state law emergency proclamations that Green issued at the start of the past two school years after the DOE abruptly canceled dozens of bus routes on multiple islands days before the start of the school year, disrupting commutes for hundreds of families. The DOE now has time before the next school year to find companies with vans and other nontraditional buses that can fill routes. The new law also requires DOE staff to accompany students between drop-off and pickup locations to ensure student safety. The DOE—like the rest of the nation—still faces a shortage of drivers with commercial driver's licenses. But combined, the changes are aimed at ensuring that students get to school, get fed and become better prepared to learn, Green and legislators said at Friday's bill signing. The event took on a far less serious tone before Green signed House Bill 133 into law providing $685, 870 for each of the next two fiscal years to establish interscholastic surfing. Out of Hawaii's five high school athletic leagues, only Maui has a surfing league, while individual high schools do have surf clubs. State schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that each league will have to figure out how to proceed, but he expects that some will create boys and girls teams during the next school year in a state that gave surfing to the world. Each athlete will need to get certified as a junior lifeguard, perhaps over this summer ahead of new teams and leagues, House Majority Leader Sean Quinlan (D, Waialua-Haleiwa-Punaluu ) told the Star-Advertiser. In Hawaii, drownings among local children ages 1 to 15 represent the leading cause of death for their age group. The creation of surf leagues was pushed by advocates for water safety who argued they will encourage student surfers to learn how to better protect themselves in the ocean. The new funding for Hawaii surf leagues follows years of unsuccessful efforts, and Green could not readily offer an explanation. 'It's not exactly clear to me why it took us this long, ' he said. Quinlan, who represents the North Shore and pushed for the leagues, said the next world champion or Olympic surfing gold medalist could get their competitive start on a future Hawaii high school surf team. Or, Quinlan joked, it could inspire the next generation of 'mediocre surfers … because I am one of you.'
Free Malaysia Today
30-05-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Sarawak's education reforms: from vision to action
While in Sarawak this week to celebrate Hari Gawai, I would like to take a moment to commend the state government for its courageous and forward-looking approach to education reform. At a time when debates in Peninsular Malaysia continue to circle around whether or not to reform, Sarawak has charged ahead. It has asserted its autonomy and demonstrated clear resolve through a series of landmark educational policies that signal a deep and genuine commitment to uplifting its people. Embracing English Perhaps the most striking move has been Sarawak's decision to diverge from national policy by reinstating English as the primary medium of instruction in all its schools. This isn't just a linguistic shift—it's a strategic move toward global readiness. Proficiency in English remains critical for accessing knowledge in science, technology, and international arenas. By prioritising this, Sarawak is preparing its youth for global engagement, ensuring they are not left behind in an increasingly competitive world. Restoring academic benchmarks Sarawak has also reintroduced Standard 6 assessments, bucking the federal trend of abolishing them. This decision underscores the state's focus on academic benchmarking and early interventions. These exams provide a vital checkpoint to gauge students' preparedness for secondary education, allowing for targeted support where needed. It's a clear statement: excellence must be measurable, and progress must be tracked. Free tertiary education Most transformative of all, Sarawak has instituted free education for all Sarawakians—from primary school to technical colleges and universities. This sweeping policy removes financial barriers and opens doors for every child, regardless of background. It's a bold reminder that education is not a privilege for the few, but a fundamental right for all. A strong education system does far more than produce graduates. It nurtures thinkers, problem-solvers and future leaders. It cultivates resilience, vision, and a sense of civic responsibility—elements essential for building a robust and inclusive society. Blueprint for the future Sarawak's approach is more than a state policy—it's a reformed blueprint for how education can be harnessed as a catalyst for comprehensive development. Economically, a well-educated population forms the backbone of a skilled and innovative workforce. As the world revolves toward a knowledge economy, Sarawak's investment in human capital positions it to attract high-value industries, foster entrepreneurship, and move beyond reliance on traditional sectors like timber and oil palm. By shifting toward the digital economy, green technology, advanced manufacturing, aviation and logistics, Sarawak is staking a claim in the industries of the future. An educated workforce brings with it adaptability, innovation and the ability to command higher wages, ultimately lifting communities out of poverty and into prosperity. Social cohesion through education Education is equally powerful as a social force. It breaks cycles of underemployment and marginalisation. It fosters understanding across ethnic and cultural divides—a vital function in a diverse state like Sarawak. Educated citizens are better equipped to engage in meaningful discourse, to advocate for social justice, and to drive inclusive progress. In essence, education builds not just careers but character—and many a community. Healthy democracy Politically, an educated electorate is the bedrock of a functioning democracy. Informed citizens can hold leaders accountable, insist on accountability, transparency, and contribute to better governance. Sarawak's long-term vision is clear: to cultivate a generation of leaders who are capable, grounded and committed to the people they represent. Education, in this light, becomes the great equalizer. It levels the playing field and opens doors that once seemed sealed and shut. For Sarawak to thrive as a model of inclusive and sustainable development, education must remain central—not just as a policy priority, but as a guiding principle. The returns on this investment—economic, social, and political—are immeasurable. However, I do hope that progress in education does not erase or dissipate the cultural aspects, customs and heritage diversity of its populace. To all Sarawakians, I wish you Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai—a long life, wellness, and a bountiful Gawai. The author can be reached at: rosli@ The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
