Bougainville Vote Preparations On Track
Desmond Tsianai says work has begun on updating the electoral rolls ahead of the September poll.The Bougainville Electoral Commissioner Desmond Tsianai says work has begun on updating the electoral rolls ahead of the September poll.
The writs are to be issued on 7 July, with polling set to start on 2 September.
Tsianai said his office is committed to delivering the Bougainville General Elections on time, within budget, and in accordance with legal requirements.
He said updating the rolls is the first task, and his team has started preparations for it.
Tsianai said the rolls have been printed and ready for the training of the trainers process.
A list of returning officers and their assistants is being finalised for the region, as well as for five provinces in Papua New Guinea: the National Capital District, Morobe, Madang, Eastern Highlands, and West New Britain.
Despite the magnitude of the task ahead, Tsianai assured that his team remains focused and dedicated to delivering a free, fair, and credible election for the people of Bougainville.
'It gives me great pleasure as the Commissioner to say that we are prepared and we are looking forward to deliver elections as per the schedule.'
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RNZ News
16 hours ago
- RNZ News
Education Ministry says new curriculums are much clearer
The Education Ministry said the new curriculums were much clearer about what needed to be taught each year. Photo: 123RF The Education Ministry says its staff have a clear understanding of what the term 'knowledge-rich' means. A ministry document from March warned its work on the new school curriculum was suffering because it did not have a clear definition of the term, which was central to the entire project. But the ministry's acting curriculum centre hautu (leader) Pauline Cleaver told RNZ's Midday Report it was not a problem. "It's fully understood by our team and our PLD [professional learning and development], alongside the curriculum that we've already produced is working really well and our response from teachers about the English curriculum for Year 1 to 8 and the maths is going really well. People are really seeing what a knowledge-rich curriculum looks like," she said. Cleaver said the already-published curriculums were examples of knowledge-rich. "It's really well structured, it's got clear content. The things that we want young people to know and the things that we want them to know how to do, they're sequenced in a year-by-year way so that the knowledge builds over time and they get a nice coherent learning pathway. That the learning is managed and taught in nice structured ways, such as you see through our structured literacy programmes and their teachers have real clarity on what needs to be taught and what students should be learning at any particular point on the pathway." She said the new curriculums were much clearer about what needed to be taught each year. But Principals Federation president Leanne Otene told RNZ the curriculum changes were chaotic and imploding. She said the government was changing too much, too fast and the training for teachers and principals was insufficient. "We've had multiple announcements, and they're disconnected initiatives and they are creating chaos," she said. Otene said primary schools were teaching new English and maths curriculums without sufficient training and without assessment tools to test children's achievement against the new curriculums. She said the key ideas underpinning the curriculum change, science of learning and knowledge rich were "mentioned everywhere, defined nowhere" PPTA vice-president Kieran Gainsford said at a recent meeting of subject association leaders, many were worried that the government had not provided a clear explanation of what it meant by terms like "science of learning" and "knowledge-rich curriculum". "It leaves schools and teachers in almost a hopeless position. If we're supposed to implement a new curriculum, we want to do a good job. We want to do the best for the young people in front of us. But if we're given such unclear guidance, that leaves us in a very difficult position to be able to do that," he said. Meanwhile, Cleaver told RNZ the ministry was using AI to help with background work on the curriculum. "We have used AI to help us synthesise a range of research, what other countries are doing, how we're comparing with the content we're choosing to make sure we're doing the best job possible. It's not a replacement for our writers. It's information that our writers can use to be more effective at making sure we get this right," she said. "It's not writing the curriculum now. We have real teachers, real educators writing the content." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Loss of flights will impact Christchurch Hospital patients
By Tess Brunton of RNZ The loss of two popular regional flights is a blow to tourism and people needing treatment at Christchurch Hospital. Sounds Air will stop its flights from Blenheim to Christchurch and Christchurch to Wānaka from the end of September due to what has been described as 'out of control' costs. Airline cuts back Chch routes Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford said the airline was flying more passengers than ever but could not keep up with the costs that have remained high since the pandemic, engineer shortages and the weak New Zealand dollar. Sounds Air said it was going back to basics, canning the two routes, selling five smaller aircraft, and expanding its Cessna Caravan fleet for Cook Strait services. Ten staff will lose their jobs. That was after cancelling its services from Wellington to Taupō and Wellington to Westport last December and selling an aircraft. The Minister for the South Island and Associate Minister for Transport, James Meager, told Checkpoint he had spoken with Andrew Crawford recently to reassure him the issue was a high priority. But Crawford said they had reached out to the government numerous times to no avail, and passing the buck on to customers to cover costs was not an option. The airline's fares had gone up by more than 20 percent since Covid - they could go up another 20 percent and it would still not be enough to cover its costs, he said. Marlborough Mayor Nadine Taylor said the council had raised the issue with government, and was told market forces would take care of it. It was gutting for the region as the Blenheim-Christchurch route was a critical part of the region's economic recovery, she said. "I am frustrated that Sounds Air was unsuccessful in securing support from central government as regional connectivity is also important for economic growth, particularly tourism," she said. "There is often talk of the regions being our country's powerhouses - to be that we need infrastructure, services, and connectivity." Christchurch Hospital provided a lot of primary care for cancer patients, and Taylor had already been contacted by some of the patients who regularly used the service. "They're just sort of saying 'it's just such a devastating loss for them'. They're back to four or five hours on the road. They need family to transport them and take them rather than just dropping them at the airport," she said. Wānaka local and Queenstown Lakes Deputy Mayor Quentin Smith was disappointed the service was being cut. So instead of being able to take a short flight that was less than an hour, it meant an hours-long drive. "The alternative of either driving, which is about five-and-a-half hours each way or going to Queenstown, where you've got to drive over an hour each way plus you've got to be there a lot earlier for your flights than you do for Sounds Air," he said. His daughter used the service a few weeks ago, and he said it was well used by travellers for business, holidays and appointments. It also presented a problem for healthcare, especially for people coming from Wānaka or Blenheim who need to travel to Christchurch Hospital for treatment. "Healthcare, I think, is a big one because people will fly up to Christchurch and back for a specialist appointment ... we know that access to healthcare out of Wānaka is particularly challenging so that's an issue that concerns me," Smith said. Smith remembered when Air New Zealand used to fly the same route before the service was cut more than a decade ago. "There's been a bit of a history of the offering and loss of this type of service. We've just got to find something that's sustainable that matches the needs. It was disappointing that a service that is really well-patronised isn't successful and there's obviously other reasons for that," he said. Christchurch Airport chief executive Justin Watson was sad to see the flights go. "A number of the regional airlines have been facing big challenges so ultimately it wasn't a complete surprise. We were hoping that they could work through those challenges and that they could find a way to continue to operate. But unfortunately they haven't been able to do that," he said. Both services carried about 10,000 passengers a year. Watson would like to see a collective approach to ensure the wings of important regional services were not clipped. "There's a reality there that says every region can't be connected or it's going to cost so much that people just won't fly on it because it's too expensive," he said. "In some countries, there is support through the likes of government for ensuring connectivity remains." South Island Minister James Meager said the government had already taken action in a variety of ways - including providing investment in regional airport infrastructure, commencing the release of regional on-time flight performance data - and would soon release an aviation action plan. He understood the conditions were tough in the aviation industry and airlines were under pressure - and that the government was actively considering several options to address regional connectivity concerns and improve competition in the sector. Destination Marlborough general manager Tracey Green said Christchurch was a key visitor market for Marlborough. "Recent challenges with Air New Zealand and ferry services have compromised our connectivity and losing Christchurch as a direct link is a significant blow," she said. "The full impact of this loss in connectivity may not be immediately clear, but it's a real shame this is happening just ahead of the summer season, when we rely on those connections the most," Green said. With a renewed focus on the Cook Strait services, Andrew Crawford said he was confident about the future of the business. "We are not alone in this, Air New Zealand and other regional carriers in New Zealand, and world-wide, have been hit by the same cost increases, and the irony is that our passenger demand has never been stronger," he said. "However, aviation is a very price sensitive market and demand would dry up if we tried to pass all of the cost increases to our customers."
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
School curriculum rewrite had 'serious problems'
By John Gerritsen of RNZ Internal Education Ministry documents sighted by RNZ reveal serious problems plagued the rewrite of the school curriculum earlier this year and managers were considering using AI to help with the work. The latest leak from the organisation shows only a few months ago it lacked a clear definition of the core concept underpinning the entire rewrite - "knowledge rich" - even though it had already published primary school maths and English curriculums by that time and had nearly completed draft secondary school English and maths curriculums. It was also struggling with repeated requests for changes. Primary school principals and the secondary teachers union told RNZ they were worried about the curriculum development process. They said they still had not seen a clear definition of the term 'knowledge-rich' as it applied to the New Zealand curriculum. The Education Ministry told RNZ content of the English and maths curriculum was "consistent with knowledge-rich curriculum design principles" but it failed to provide a definition of knowledge-rich despite being asked for one. The latest leak followed a series of disclosures of internal documents that prompted the ministry to hire a KC to investigate where they were coming from. A "programme status report" sighted by RNZ said the introduction of a new process for developing the curriculum posed an "extreme" issue to the work. "The new delivery process is adding complexity to both internal and external delivery and review procedures as we do not have a clear definition of a knowledge rich curriculum and what it looks like in a NZ context," it said. "There is no international comparison we can pick up and use." Elsewhere, the document said lack of an agreed definition was affecting all learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (TMoA), the curriculum for Māori-medium schools. "Both the NZC and TMoA curricula lack a clear design framework for defining a knowledge-rich curriculum. This absence of a design point is impacting the development of all learning areas, as continuous refinement and clarification are required," it said. "Options are now being looked at to bring in overseas experts to help us develop templates and frameworks for the curriculum which we can then apply." The report said the programme was in red status for the month of February. It said the key challenge was the lack of a constant template for the work it was producing. The document said even if the ministry resolved that problem it still faced challenges including having to revise its work due to changing expectations, lack of a clear and consistent understanding of the term 'knowledge rich', and lack of a design framework. The status report warned that governance groups associated with the rewrite were ineffective because they provided conflicting advice and their feedback was not always followed. It said stakeholders had different expectations about the use of mātauranga Māori in the curriculum and contributing groups lacked skills and experience. The ministry told RNZ it was developing the curriculum framework, Te Mātaiaho, to be consistent with a knowledge-rich curriculum. It said since last year its work on defining a knowledge-rich curriculum was informed by several sources and a literature review had been commissioned. However, it did not provide any definition, despite being asked for one. The ministry told RNZ the curriculum rewrite was currently at red status after being in amber status in the previous two months. "Due to the scale and complexity of this work, shifts between Amber and Red status are expected. The Ministry actively manages programme risks using its risk management framework, with mitigation strategies in place, regularly monitored, and escalated when necessary," it said. It said the work had 10 high risks, 25 moderate risks and five low risks. Curriculum being 'built as the plane was flying' - Principals Federation Post Primary Teachers Association vice-president Kieran Gainsford told RNZ teacher subject association leaders met recently and were worried about a lack of clarity about key terms such as the 'science of learning' and 'knowledge-rich curriculum'. Gainsford said teachers had been saying for some time it was critical that the curriculum was clear. "If even officials aren't sure of what they mean by the terms of science of learning and knowledge-rich curriculum, knowledge-rich in particular, then it leads to the question of how on earth are schools and teachers supposed to know what they mean by that," he said. He said the ministry was yet to publish a clear definition of the term knowledge-rich and it needed to be crystal-clear. "At the moment we're trying to respond in many cases to stuff that's poorly-defined and that leads to debate or discussion that isn't particularly fruitful," he said. Principals Federation president Leanne Otene said it was clear to primary and intermediate principals the curriculum was "being built as the plane was flying". She said a knowledge-rich curriculum would define what needed to be taught at each level of learning, but the ministry had not delivered on that. Otene said parts of the published curriculums read like they had been cut and pasted from elsewhere. Association of English Teachers president Pip Tinning said the problems outlined by the ministry documents were not normal for curriculum development. She said the ministry had not explained knowledge-rich in terms of the English curriculum or its definition of the science of learning. Meanwhile, a separate Education Ministry document from December last year titled "Options for change to the curriculum regulatory system" showed plans to allow the Education Minister to set different curriculum expectations for different types of schools. The document said the power could be useful to help schools better support their students. "For example there could be a pedagogy that only schools and kura with technology hubs must use, or a curriculum statement that applies specifically for kura kaupapa Māori," the document said. The document said education sector groups were largely supportive of the plans, which would ensure the curriculum was reviewed and updated regularly. Manager raised possibility of using AI A document about the Science curriculum outlined shortcomings with the existing curriculum which the ministry said resulted in over-crowded lessons and few children enjoying the subject and continuing it at university. It said the curriculum needed to be revised to help students understand science in day-to-day life and other countries were changing their science curriculums for similar reasons. A senior manager's briefing to ministry staff raised the possibility of using AI to write some of the material underpinning the curriculum. The manager said they could use AI to synthesise the curriculums of countries such as Singapore, NSW, British Columbia, with New Zealand information almost instantly. They said it could also ensure the use of consistent language between curriculum documents. Asked about the use of AI, the ministry told RNZ: "The Ministry is exploring how artificial intelligence tools can support curriculum development, particularly by analysing and synthesising information from international curricula and related knowledge frameworks. AI is not being used to directly write curriculum content but may assist with background research and insights." The ministry later added it acknowledged the complexity and scale of the curriculum refresh, which represented one of the most significant changes to New Zealand's education system in decades. "It's natural to see changes in programme status - such as shifts between Amber and Red - as we progress through different phases. While challenges are expected, they are part of a dynamic development process and are actively managed to make sure the programme continues as planned," it said. "The Ministry's definition of a knowledge-rich curriculum refers to a curriculum that clearly specifies what students are expected to know, and be able to do, for every learning area and year level. "It supports mastery over time by providing content that is carefully selected, sequenced, and coherent to make sure students build deep, transferable understandings. The research and reports previously provided have guided the approach taken in designing a knowledge-rich curriculum. "This approach is not only research-informed but also shaped in partnership with educators. It's designed to give all learners - no matter where they attend school - a fair and clear pathway through their education."
