The Ministry of Education was forced to intervene in almost 50 at-risk schools last year, more than four times the amount from 2007.

Parents on remote Stewart Island say the bureaucrats are not making their quest for an early childhood teacher any easier.

Private-school scholarships for poorer students have been attacked as an "elitist" use of taxpayers' money.

A new PM defied the odds as the Govt struggled to deal with the worst recession in decades, and Labour played catch up politics.

Education Minister Anne Tolley has been accused of manufacturing a crisis for political gain over a damning report into basic teaching skills.

Hundreds of Auckland primary school principals want the introduction of national standards to be delayed so they can be tested.

Anne Tolley says she will sack the boards of primary schools which allow teachers to boycott national standards, saying they would be refusing to obey the law.

The nation's largest early childcare provider is being investigated for the way it claims more than $30 million of taxpayer money.

A system of new national educational standards to assess primary school students is doomed to fail, academics across New Zealand say.