Kōrero

Kōrero is our spot for sharing ideas, conversations and updates. Under each post you can find questions that can guide an in-class student (or teacher!) discussion.

  • What duties do teachers have to students when school is the problem?

    This piece is adapted from a forthcoming article that will be published in the Oxford Review of Education. It asks a question many teachers will already recognise from their own classrooms: what do we owe students when some of the difficulties they face are produced by the ordinary operation of schooling itself? Most teachers accept…

  • How does Civics, Politics, and Philosophy fit into the Knowledge-Rich Curriculum?

    It is difficult to think about our new subject without also thinking about the curriculum into which it is being introduced. Civics, Politics and Philosophy (CPP) is arriving at a moment when New Zealand education is undergoing significant change. Curriculum content is becoming more specified, literacy and numeracy are receiving increased emphasis, assessment arrangements are…

  • What will the new subject look like?

    I wrote the following as a “next steps” takeaway for the Step Up to the World | Tū māia ki te ao: Civics, Politics and Philosophy forum held in August at the National Library of New Zealand to launch and profile the new subject. It gives an overview of the subject and the role Philosophy…

  • Why make young people wait for democracy?

    This piece began as a short closing address given at the end of the Step Up to the World | Tū māia ki te ao: Civics, Politics and Philosophy forum held in August at the National Library of New Zealand. One thing this subject gives secondary students is a real way of contributing to the…

  • The examined life: why does philosophy belong in schools?

    In 2022 I published an article in the New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies arguing that philosophy should be offered to secondary school students in Aotearoa New Zealand (you can download it here). Now that Civics, Politics and Philosophy (CPP) is being introduced as a new secondary subject, the argument feels worth returning to. The…

  • Is “better than war” good enough? New challenges in the ethics of war and peace

    On 17 August, I took part in the New Zealand Centre for Global Studies’ 13th Annual Lecture, New Challenges in the Ethics of War and Peace, held in the beautiful old debating chamber at Parliament, in Wellington. Philosophy Teachers Aotearoa New Zealand partnered with the Centre for a conversation between Jeremy Moses from the University…