Latest news with #Spoonley
Scoop
4 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
King's Birthday Honours Recognise Services To Education
Press Release – New Zealand Government New Zealands education system is world-leading. Dr Hood, Professor Spoonley and the other honourees have played an important part in achieving this. I thank them all for their incredible contribution and service to New Zealand, Education … Minister of Education Education Minister Erica Stanford has congratulated the recipients of the King's Birthday 2025 Honours List who have been recognised for their services to education. 'I'd like to congratulate the people honoured today, who have all made a significant contribution to education in New Zealand and around the world,' Ms Stanford says. The list includes three appointments as Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit, four Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit, eight Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit, three Companions of the King's Service Order, and three recipients of The King's Service Medal. Dr Nina Hood becomes a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education. 'Dr Hood has been instrumental in improving training and support for educators throughout New Zealand. She founded not-for-profit organisation The Education Hub, dedicated to closing the gap between educational research and classroom teaching. Through her leadership, critical issues have been addressed including literacy curriculum design, neurodivergent learning support, and online learning. She's now contributing to curriculum at an international level, establishing a global conversation on education reform, effective pedagogy and rigorous curriculum design. Through 2023 and 2024 Dr Hood helped establish The Teachers' Institute, a charitable trust which offers school-led teacher education and professional development.' Distinguished Professor Emeritus Paul Spoonley is appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. 'Professor Spoonley served 42 years as a teacher and researcher in sociology with Massey University, retiring in 2021. During that time, he served in various roles including Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Co-Director of the National Centre of Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and was appointed as a member of the Independent Panel of New Zealand Police's Understanding Policing Delivery. He has been a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity Germany since 2013 and is a Fellow and Board member of Auckland Museum. He has published 29 books and has more than 300 peer-reviewed academic journal articles. 'New Zealand's education system is world-leading. Dr Hood, Professor Spoonley and the other honourees have played an important part in achieving this. I thank them all for their incredible contribution and service to New Zealand,' Ms Stanford says.
NZ Herald
14-05-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Why New Zealand immigration stance differs from UK's new hardline approach
The US has also strongly turned against immigration in President Donald Trump's second term. Massey University distinguished professor Paul Spoonley told The Front Page that the move comes after nearly 900,000 people arrived in the UK in 2023. " The numbers have dropped by about 40% since that peak. So they were already falling, but they want to reduce them by a further 100,000 a year by 2029," Spoonley said. While anti-immigration sentiment has swept Europe, the UK and the US in recent times, Spoonley said he doesn't think the same can be said for New Zealand. 'There are some important differences in terms of immigration. In most of Europe, the immigrants we're talking about there are actually refugees. In 2015 and again in 2016, over a million people arrived at the borders of various European countries. 'Australia, Canada, and New Zealand target skilled migrants, and we use our point[s] system to identify who's going to be appropriate. We have a very managed immigration system. Most of Europe does not. 'When you approve migrants who are well-skilled, well-educated and, in New Zealand's case, they're better educated and sometimes more skilled than the New Zealand population, the settlement outcomes for those migrants tend to be much better. 'But of course, Europe is dealing with people who are traumatised, who are refugees. Very significant numbers of asylum-seekers. And there are issues around settling those migrants into society. 'I just think New Zealand, Australia and Canada's general approach to migration is much more positive. The way we manage it is very different. And we just don't have those very strong anti-immigrant politics. We have people who are very anxious about it, but they don't represent significant parts of our political constituencies,' he said. Spoonley said people's attitude often changes towards what is perceived to be 'different kinds of migrants'. '[In New Zealand] refugees are always seen as different from migrants more generally and are seen in a more negative light. 'People from the UK, and to some extent, places like South Africa, are rated much more positively as migrants we want compared to those who are from Asia. And unfortunately, migrants from the Pacific tend to be rated as the lowest, the 'least desirable' by New Zealanders answering these surveys,' he said. The latest Stats NZ data released yesterday showed a net migration gain of only 26,000 in the past year, against more than 100,000 the year before. Provisionally, we had almost 150,000 migrant arrivals and more than 123,000 departures.
