John Gerritsen

Early childhood service owners are wary of plans for a flying squad to investigate potential fraud and safety failures but others in the sector say it is urgently needed.

The Education Ministry is reinstating a special squad to investigate financial fraud and safety breaches in early childhood education services.

The government body charged with attracting foreign students is warning MPs it will take 10 years to rebuild the $5 billion-a-year international education industry.

A study found 48 percent of secondary students represented their school in sport last year - the first time the figure's dropped below 50 percent.

Primary school principals have warned that the system for deciding how many teachers each school gets is blunt and even damaging.

People who work with international students are warning that redundancies and funding cuts are putting them under increasing pressure.

The national polytechnic, Te Pūkenga, says domestic enrolments at its 16 polytechnics have jumped 20 percent.

Some Auckland secondary schools are blaming the pandemic for a surge in anxiety and behaviour problems among their students.

Most schools are happy with the 600 learning support coordinators the government introduced a year ago, an evaluation shows.

Students and parents have urged MPs to regulate universities' halls of residence and introduce minimum standards for pastoral care.

The University of Waikato has revealed a big jump in local enrolments and an even bigger drop in foreign enrolments.

The Education Ministry has started consultation on a shake-up of enrolment schemes covering more than 8300 children at 10 schools in Mt Maunganui and Papamoa.

Universities will be asking the government for more cash after a surge in domestic enrolments.

Increased domestic enrolments have more than made up for falling foreign student numbers at three universities.

Postgraduate students are blowing the whistle on what they say are massive cuts to tutoring and casual lecturing jobs at universities.

The Ministry of Education last year ordered schools to enrol 205 children because there was no other way of persuading principals to accept them.

There are calls for the government to fund more home internet connections so Auckland school children can learn from home. Audio

The Principals' Federation has suggested schools defy legally-binding directives to enrol violent children who have been kicked out of other schools.

Universities are missing hundreds of millions in student fees this year because they are expecting less than half the normal number of international students.

Academics warn major research projects will be held back by a lack of foreign research students.

Principals are welcoming the Ministry of Education's move to electronically monitor the air quality, warmth and noise in new classroom blocks.

Auckland principals are confident this week's lockdown will have little impact on children's learning - as long as it is only for three days.

The Ministry of Education has reacted swiftly after a senior teacher sent Covid-19 conspiracy theories to at least 40 principals and teachers.

Auckland's ongoing shortage of secondary teachers is forcing some schools into compromises or to abandon some subjects altogether, principals say.

Increased demand for trades and health training has boosted enrolments at Manukau Institute of Technology by more than 70 percent compared to last year. Audio