The Latest Breaking News from Erica Stanford

Keir Starmer has resisted a national ban on mobile phones in schools, but the education minister in New Zealand who introduced the measure in her country has told The Independent that it is already proving successful

The New Zealand government’s plan to purchase a standardised tool to assess reading, writing and mathematics for school children between Year 3 and 10 has caught parents, schools and education groups by surprise.

Since the start of this year, all New Zealand schools have been required to use structured literacy to teach reading and writing – including the country’s 310 primary and intermediate Māori-medium kura (schools that teach in te reo Māori).

When Prime Minister Christopher Luxon stood in Parliament last week to apologise to survivors of abuse in care, his words were among many fine speeches by government officials and survivors that day.