Education

Toeolesulusulu Damon Salesa, who is currently a Pro-Chancellor at the University of Auckland takes up his new role at AUT in March next year.

He is the first person of Pacific descent to head a university in New Zealand.

Toeolesulusulu said the past two years of the Covid-19 pandemic have been the most difficult for education in a long time.

He said part of the reason he chose to take up the new role is that AUT's provides a pathway to education for people of all ages, backgrounds and races, regardless of the life stage or academic credentials.

Fiame was responding to Sili’s claims that there would be budget cuts especially in the health and education sectors.

“There are many ways that the government spends money in communities so it’s either we reorganize how government spends money and put it in package that we are seeing in something that we want to develop but there are different ways of doing it,” Fiame said at a press conference.

“I don’t see that there will be (any) cutting. We will not be cutting anything from the education of health (sectors) and if anything we’ll probably be putting more money there.”

The New Zealand Work Research Institute began a 5-year-long study in October 2019 and this month have started to focus in on Pacific people.

AUT University lecturer Dr Betty Ofe-Grant is leading the Pasifika component of the project and she said Pacific people in Aotearoa are over-represented when it comes to low literacy and numeracy skills.

According to Literacy NZ, one in four adults have literacy difficulties in their everyday life.

Bishop was also instrumental in his commitment to equipping and grooming the youths through the Scouts movement in Samoa.

Caretaker Minister for Works, Transport and Infrastructure Tapunu’u Papalii Niko Lee Hang said Bishop’s milestone accomplishments in his service to Samoa culminated in the conferring of the government of Samoa’s esteemed award – the Samoa Certificate of Excellence in 1993, in honour of his contribution and achievements in education and youth development in Samoa.

The officers, who are part of the newly formed National Tool Development Unit at Samoa’s Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (MESC), are mostly new to the specialised area of assessment work. The unit, a part of the ministry’s Assessment and Examinations Division, focuses on the development of assessment items and test blueprints. A test blueprint is a framework or outline of learning outcomes to be assessed in the test to be designed. 

He added that there will be emphasis on measures to support the learning continuity of the most marginalized.

Tuilaepa made the remarks at the UNESCO-backed Global Education Coalition Event, which is a platform for collaboration and exchange to protect the right to education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the Government approved 18 million Tala as special assistance to support education, including early childhood education and 10 million tala for teachers.

Church-run and private schools, Early Childhood Education and schools for those with special needs will benefit for the Government’s “One Common Grant” initiative, which will have $18 million tala at its disposal.

Savali Newspaper reports the “One Common Grant” initiative is the modernised version of the grant subsidy assistance paid out every year by Government.

Using NAPLAN test results of 5,000 year 3 students, researchers from the University of Melbourne found the delays were equivalent to a child missing about 35 days of a school year.

Melbourne University's Cain Polidano described the findings are relatively small but significant.

"There is already a bit of evidence that shows that caesarean birth is related to a number of negative childhood health outcomes, including risks of ADHD, autism and also asthma", Dr Polidano said.

The amateur detective program was designed by teachers at Penrith Valley School, a facility for children with behavioural problems or complex emotional needs who have struggled with mainstream learning.

"A lot of them have had a lot of poor experiences in the classroom so they've got an expectation of failure that they're bringing in," principal Nic Danta said.

"And so the first stage is just to re-build that trust and connect them with education."

But fast-forward to 2017 and you're now responsible for raising a child whose life will revolve around digital technology, and who will have to be tech-smart, tech-savvy, and tech-safe to survive out there in the wild.

So what are some tips to help you along the way?

We asked for your experiences, and expert Joanne Orlando — an analyst and researcher in technology and learning who has worked as an advisor for the Government, for Apple, and for the children's television show Play School — for her best pieces of advice.