From 2026 the government will introduce standardised testing for reading, writing and maths across all primary schools.
Year one students will be required to sit phonics tests at 20 and 40 weeks of schooling and years 3-6 will be required to take PAT and e-asTTle. Around 60% of schools already use this type of testing.
The reason for the introduction of testing is to improve education levels which are not up to standard, according to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
Education minister Erica Standford stated testing is important to keep parents informed about their child’s progress. Stanford continued that the tests will allow teachers and principals with the data to track in aggregate their school’s performance.
Producer Elle spoke to Faculty of Education and Social Work PhD student Tom Pearce about the policy.
The Māori Women's Welfare League has filed a claim in the Waitangi Tribunal challenging the policy changes proposed for the care and protection of children and young persons. 95bFM reporter Amanda Robinson spoke with Labour’s Whānau Ora spokesperson Nanaia Mahuta about the claim.
The ways in which Maori deal with palliative care, or known as end of life care, has many cultural and economic differences, I began by asking why this research was important to wider New Zealand.
Our Wire Worry week is sex work. The Swedish model of sex work has been adopted by a number of countries including Ireland quite recently and has been criticised as being unsafe for sex workers. Lachlan spoke with Dame Catherine Healy about the Swedish model and its problems, and why decriminalisation is a better, safer, model.
Model Home come in today for Fancy New Band ahead of their gig tonight at whammy bar, tune in for a couple tunes with some crunchy drums and tasty dynamics.
Tonight's show was actually entirely curated by bFM's own Samuel Harmony, who sent Oto and Jaycee, not just a playlist, but a stack of CDs and Casettes that he collected while he was in Indonesia as part of the New Zealand Delegation attending AXEAN Festival 2025. Whakarongo mai to experience 2 hours of Psych rock, folk, disco and more by Southeast-Asian artists playing at the festival!
Dr. Geoffrey Handsfield chats about his work with the Musculoskeletal Modelling Group at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, where he is uses computational modelling to understand muscle degradation in cerebral palsy. Whakarongo mai!
Thursday Morning Glory host and FQ Fashion Writer of the Year Emma Gleason is up in the studio to chat about what she's been up to during NZ Fashion Week, and judge the outfits of bFM staff and vollies! Whakarongo mai nei!
Run The Jewels – Talk To Me
Kate Tempest – The Beigeness
Cleophus – beezbuzzin
Shiraz & LSJ – Barri
Kaytranada – At All
Soft Hair – Relaxed Lizard
Soft Hair – Jealous Lies
Floating Points – Vacuum Boogie
LarzRanda – Texas Lottery
LarzRanda – Turtles
LarzRanda – Rangers
Princess Chelsea – Morning Sun
Springtime Carnivore – Midnight Run
Black Banshee – Cerulean
Tame Impala – Solitude Is Bliss
Big Beach Ocean Surf King – Post-Wave
Boogarins – Elogio à Instituição do Cinismo
The Coral – Two Faces
LEISURE – Control Myself
Arctic Monkeys – Do I Wanna Know?
Yeasayer – Loan Shark Blues
Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
Nikolai – Ok
Grimes – California
Beastie Boy – Sabotage
Flying Lotus – Never Catch Me feat. Kendrick Lamar
Warpaint – Above Control
Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker
This week on the show, Ximena, Will & Reuben are back with a tonne of great stories for ya, everything from hospitality workers demanding more pay to the media’s influence on mental health. AUT’s Allan Blackman joins the team for Dear Science, chatting today about how ISIS are apparently not very “smart” for failing to build a dirty bomb, as well as about the dangerous mislabelling of ‘synthetic cannabis’. NZ First’s Tracey Martin also has a chat with Ximena about a new survey that shows high living costs are driving significant numbers of teachers away from Auckland.
95bFM