Name: Simon Collins
Age: 63
Job: Education reporter
Location: Auckland
Number of years as a journalist: 42
The best story I've worked on, and why:
The most important stories I've worked on in the education round were a short series on "Struggling to learn" which looked at how our schools struggle to cope with kids whose brains are "wired differently". I found some inspiring educators who have adapted their teaching to suit the way these kids learn; I hope their example will inspire us all to do better.
The one that got away:
I spent months in 2017 investigating alleged bullying at a school that has lost more than 80 staff since the current principal arrived. I tracked down most of the people who had left, and they told terribly sad stories; they gave me a lot of time and invested hope in me to achieve change. But I decided in the end not to write anything because some people supported the principal and, not being in the school myself, I was unsure whether any story detailing the allegations would be either fair or legally defensible.
