Real estate agents are among the businesses feeling more upbeat. 

The Herald's latest Mood of the Boardroom survey shows that business owners are more optimistic than pessimistic about their industries, as well as the local and global economy. 

Optimism varies across the different sectors, with the real estate industry topped the list with an average score of 4.33/5, a substantial jump from last year’s 2.60/5. 

Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson told Kerre Woodham that what businesses needed was good news, and that’s what came out of today’s conference. 

He said that they’re already starting to see people come back to their auction rooms, and looking back at the last few months, they’ve seen a big uplift in the number of listings on the market and sales being made. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

Real estate agents are among the businesses feeling more upbeat.&nbsp;
The Herald's latest Mood of the Boardroom survey shows that business owners are more optimistic than pessimistic about their industries, as well as the local and global economy.&nbsp;
Optimism varies across the different sectors, with the real estate industry topped the list with an average score of 4.33/5, a substantial jump from last year’s 2.60/5.&nbsp;
Barfoot &amp; Thompson managing director Peter Thompson told Kerre Woodham that what businesses needed was good news, and that’s what came out of today’s conference.&nbsp;
He said that they’re already starting to see people come back to their auction rooms, and looking back at the last few months, they’ve seen a big uplift in the number of listings on the market and sales being made.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Join Kerre Woodham one of New Zealand’s best loved personalities as she dishes up a bold, sharp and energetic show Monday to Friday 9am-12md on Newstalk ZB. News, opinion, analysis, lifestyle and entertainment – we’ve got your morning listening covered.

Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Peter Thompson: Barfoot & Thompson Managing Director on the growing confidence and optimism of the sector

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/2061330d-2e8c-4e5a-ab1f-b1fe00020043/transcript

There was a headline in The Post: ‘Scathing survey results from teachers on NCEA level 1 roll out’. That was the headline. The story goes on: “A survey of teachers saw the vast majority indicate that the NCEA standards are poorly designed, changes have increased workloads, there's insufficient support from NZQA NCEA, and the provided exemplars often don't align with assessment specifications.”  

So legitimate concerns. Teachers have been dealing with massive changes of curriculum and it's no wonder that many of them have thrown in the towel. In fact, it's a wonder more of them haven't thrown in the towel. So, this government, the clear implication is, has stuffed up right? Scathing survey results from teachers on NCEA Level 1 rollout. That's very, very clear in the headline that the teachers are furious with this government, that is what the story implies. Education Minister Erica Stanford was on this morning talking to Heather du Plessis-Allan and she said no, the fault lies with the previous administration.  

“I get on very, very well with Chris Abercrombie and the PPTA. And to be fair to them, technically the grumblings that they're having at the moment is not with the curriculum, because there is no curriculum, it's with the NCEA changes to Level 1, and that is aimed at the previous government, and I agree wholeheartedly with them.  

“When I came into office last year I saw some results that showed that well over half of schools felt not prepared or only somewhat prepared for next year's Level 1. This is in November I saw this. And then I started fielding calls from principals and teachers saying we don't know what to teach next year because there are no subject learning outcomes, we don't have any exemplars.  

“So we had six weeks to scramble with the Subject Associations to write subject learning outcomes over Christmas — Associations did an amazing job— and push NZQA to get those exemplars ready, that weren't going to be ready till May. This was a disastrous rollout by the previous government of NCEA Level 1.” 

Who do we believe? I mean, there were massive changes to the curriculum under the previous administration, absolutely massive, and I do not blame teachers for being fed up. The coalition government said we are going to correct a lot of those changes, the curriculum that was being rolled out is going to be drawn back in and we're going to rewrite it and get back to the basics.  

There was very little guidance or support over the last six years, despite the huge numbers employed by the Ministry of Education. Remember the number of teachers employed by state schools rose by just over 5% from 2017 to 2022. In that same period, the number of full-time staff employed at the Ministry of Education rose by 55%. So the number of teachers actually at the coalface rose by 5%, the number of full-time staff at the Ministry of Education rose by 55%. There were 1700 more staff at the Ministry of Education than was employed in 2016, so they were undertaking huge projects. There was the building of classrooms, there was the new schools.  

Then there were the changes to the curriculum, and it was a seismic ideological change, incorporating Te ao Māori into mathematics and into science and there was all kinds of debate going on, ideological debate about the relevance. The Royal Academy of Mathematics was, I think, furious. Not just sad, but furious. Te ao Maori has its place they said, in maths? No, no, no. Maths is maths, it's its own language.  

So you have all of these people and the Ministry of Education, each with their own reckon and galloping along on their ideological stallion taking education in one direction. You had consultants up the ying yang, you had ten consulting firms that relied completely and utterly on the Ministry of Education for their funding, while they came up with their own reckons as well, they galloped off on their ideological stallions.  

In came the coalition government who went whoa, come on, Tonto. No, we're pulling you in, come back - herded all the ideological stallions back into the paddock and then said right, we're getting on Dobbin the old cart horse and we're going to trudge along the field, and we're going to plough basic maths, and basic science, and basic English into our kids, this is what they need to learn to get them up the international standards.  

And the teachers, they've been on the galloping horses. They've been going there and here and everywhere, and now they're back wondering what the hell was that? No wonder they need teacher only days. I hope the teacher only days involve lying on couches and having soothing compresses placed on their foreheads because they have been through a lot.  

It's only when you go back and look through the proposed curriculum that was being laid out, especially under Chris Hipkins, as Minister of Education and then when he was Prime Minister, they were extraordinary. And there simply wasn't any underpinning to them to allow the teachers to teach. So, they were given these ideological concepts and very much left to their own devices to come up with their own kind of underpinning to teach it. And now it's all changed again.  

If the teachers are confused, I'm not at all surprised.  I don't know how you make this better and ultimately. You know, and I know that it's the kids who are suffering because it's you and I who are paying for the extra classes after school. Paying through the nose, finding money you don't have to shore up gaps in the knowledge because it's not the teachers. The ideologues are the ones responsible for the mess that education is in. 

There was a headline in The Post: ‘Scathing survey results from teachers on NCEA level 1 roll out’. That was the headline. The story goes on: “A survey of teachers saw the vast majority indicate that the NCEA standards are poorly designed, changes have increased workloads, there's insufficient support from NZQA NCEA, and the provided exemplars often don't align with assessment specifications.” &nbsp;
So legitimate concerns. Teachers have been dealing with massive changes of curriculum and it's no wonder that many of them have thrown in the towel. In fact, it's a wonder more of them haven't thrown in the towel. So, this government, the clear implication is, has stuffed up right? Scathing survey results from teachers on NCEA Level 1 rollout. That's very, very clear in the headline that the teachers are furious with this government, that is what the story implies. Education Minister Erica Stanford was on this morning talking to Heather du Plessis-Allan and she said no, the fault lies with the previous administration. &nbsp;
“I get on very, very well with Chris Abercrombie and the PPTA. And to be fair to them, technically the grumblings that they're having at the moment is not with the curriculum, because there is no curriculum, it's with the NCEA changes to Level 1, and that is aimed at the previous government, and I agree wholeheartedly with them. &nbsp;
“When I came into office last year I saw some results that showed that well over half of schools felt not prepared or only somewhat prepared for next year's Level 1. This is in November I saw this. And then I started fielding calls from principals and teachers saying we don't know what to teach next year because there are no subject learning outcomes, we don't have any exemplars. &nbsp;
“So we had six weeks to scramble with the Subject Associations to write subject learning outcomes over Christmas — Associations did an amazing job— and push NZQA to get those exemplars ready, that weren't going to be ready till May. This was a disastrous rollout by the previous government of NCEA Level 1.”&nbsp;
Who do we believe? I mean, there were massive changes to the curriculum under the previous administration, absolutely massive, and I do not blame teachers for being fed up. The coalition government said we are going to correct a lot of those changes, the curriculum that was being rolled out is going to be drawn back in and we're going to rewrite it and get back to the basics. &nbsp;
There was very little guidance or support over the last six years, despite the huge numbers employed by the Ministry of Education. Remember the number of teachers employed by state schools rose by just over 5% from 2017 to 2022. In that same period, the number of full-time staff employed at the Ministry of Education rose by 55%. So the number of teachers actually at the coalface rose by 5%, the number of full-time staff at the Ministry of Education rose by 55%. There were 1700 more staff at the Ministry of Education than was employed in 2016, so they were undertaking huge projects. There was the building of classrooms, there was the new schools. &nbsp;
Then there were the changes to the curriculum, and it was a seismic ideological change, incorporating Te ao Māori into mathematics and into science and there was all kinds of debate going on, ideological debate about the relevance. The Royal Academy of Mathematics was, I think, furious. Not just sad, but furious. Te ao Maori has its place they said, in maths? No, no, no. Maths is maths, it's its own language. &nbsp;
So you have all of these people and the Ministry of Education, each with their own reckon and galloping along on their ideological stallion taking education in one direction. You had consultants up the ying yang, you had ten consulting firms that relied completely and utterly on the Ministry of Education for their funding, while they came up with their own reckons as well, they galloped off on their ideological stallions. &nbsp;
In came the coalition government who went whoa, come on, Tonto. No, we're pulling you in, come back - herded all the ideological stallions back into the paddock and then said right, we're getting on Dobbin the old cart horse and we're going to trudge along the field, and we're going to plough basic maths, and basic science, and basic English into our kids, this is what they need to learn to get them up the international standards. &nbsp;
And the teachers, they've been on the galloping horses. They've been going there and here and everywhere, and now they're back wondering what the hell was that? No wonder they need teacher only days. I hope the teacher only days involve lying on couches and having soothing compresses placed on their foreheads because they have been through a lot. &nbsp;
It's only when you go back and look through the proposed curriculum that was being laid out, especially under Chris Hipkins, as Minister of Education and then when he was Prime Minister, they were extraordinary. And there simply wasn't any underpinning to them to allow the teachers to teach. So, they were given these ideological concepts and very much left to their own devices to come up with their own kind of underpinning to teach it. And now it's all changed again. &nbsp;
If the teachers are confused, I'm not at all surprised. &nbsp;I don't know how you make this better and ultimately. You know, and I know that it's the kids who are suffering because it's you and I who are paying for the extra classes after school. Paying through the nose, finding money you don't have to shore up gaps in the knowledge because it's not the teachers. The ideologues are the ones responsible for the mess that education is in.&nbsp;

Kerre Woodham: The ideologues are responsible for the education mess

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/c8a9a5d3-0f83-43c8-b3db-b1fd0002be48/transcript

Teachers say they are shocked with how new curriculum material is being rolled out.  

Changes to NCEA Level One are being put in place before changes to Level Two and Three come into force in four years.  

However, a scathing survey by the Post Primary Teachers Association shows the vast majority are dissatisfied with the new material.  

Union President Chris Abercrombie told Kerre Woodham that resources were late and not good enough, with many exemplars being poorly done. 

He said many teachers were worried about how this is going to impact students and their outcomes.  

LISTEN ABOVE 

Teachers say they are shocked with how new curriculum material is being rolled out. &nbsp;
Changes to NCEA Level One are being put in place before changes to Level Two and Three come into force in four years. &nbsp;
However, a scathing survey by the Post Primary Teachers Association shows the vast majority are dissatisfied with the new material. &nbsp;
Union President Chris Abercrombie told Kerre Woodham that resources were late and not good enough, with many exemplars being poorly done.&nbsp;
He said many teachers were worried about how this is going to impact students and their outcomes. &nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Chris Abercrombie: PPTA President on the dissatisfaction with the NCEA Level 1 roll out

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/110c4401-1eb2-4724-b371-b1fc018a5b1b/transcript

I am really not surprised to see more people signing up for health insurance, even though we're going through a cost of living crisis and the premiums are not cheap.  

Southern Cross is the country's largest private health insurer and they've seen eight years of growth in their membership, with almost one in five Kiwis on their books. A Kantar survey for Southern Cross from last month showed that cost of living was the top concern for 91% of respondents, but 84% were concerned about not having access to affordable health care. So yes, they're concerned that there's not a lot of disposable, what disposable they have they're putting into their health and their health care.  

Two thirds of those who responded said they had experienced a long-term impact to their physical and mental health from Covid-19. They were also very concerned about long wait times and the unavailability of health care professionals. Half of Southern Cross members made a claim on their health insurance in the latest year, up from a third prior to the pandemic in 2019.  

The cost of claims has also risen due to the high cost of everything and more claims for expensive procedures, and that means premiums have to go up to pay for this. It's a not-for-profit organisation, it's not there to make squillions for shareholders, it's there to put the money back into its membership. If it's costing more, then members have to pay more and that's the way it works. Southern Cross has been increasing premiums by 10-15% as policies come due, but they are expected to normalize back to around 6-6.5% next year as inflation is brought under control.  

I am so glad I have health insurance. I've had it for years and I've never needed it till the last few years, which is the way of it. When you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s, you generally don't need much more than a general checkup. If you're lucky to have been born with relatively good health, you don't need to spend a lot of money on your healthcare. Once you get into your 50s and 60s, then you start to see a little bit of wear and tear. And if you don't have healthcare, you will be waiting years for elective surgeries, things like knees and hips. If you've done them in because of hard physical labour, you will not get ACC paying for them, they'll just say wear and tear.  

Other things, like me with a constantly blocked nose which I thought was just a head cold, it's acute sinusitis. I would be forever getting head colds thinking it was just being prone to head colds. No, it's something that I need surgery for. It's not life threatening, it's really annoying, it means I have to take time off work. Those of you have listened for a while know when I've got it. In fact, Toni Street’s ear nose and throat surgeon diagnosed me over the wireless and said I needed to get in and see him. As it was, I'd already booked the surgery and I was lucky enough to be able to do that because of the premiums I've been paying for years and years and years.  

It does get more expensive but I will prioritise paying it, paying the premiums even as they rise, as long as I can because why live with this sort of thing if you don't have to? It's painful, it's uncomfortable, it takes me off work, and that could be the same for many non-life threatening ailments that many of us suffer. People with knees, hips, hernias, all of those sorts of things that are deemed not to be urgent, not to be critical, not to be acute but have a huge impact on people's day-to-day lives and their ability to work, their ability to be full members of the family, full members of the community. I am counting the hours till the operation next week as are my colleagues.  

I know that the premiums will only get more expensive, but I know I'm only going to need it more if I'm lucky enough to make it into my twilight years.   

I am really not surprised to see more people signing up for health insurance, even though we're going through a cost of living crisis and the premiums are not cheap. &nbsp;
Southern Cross is the country's largest private health insurer and they've seen eight years of growth in their membership, with almost one in five Kiwis on their books. A Kantar survey for Southern Cross from last month showed that cost of living was the top concern for 91% of respondents, but 84% were concerned about not having access to affordable health care. So yes, they're concerned that there's not a lot of disposable, what disposable they have they're putting into their health and their health care. &nbsp;
Two thirds of those who responded said they had experienced a long-term impact to their physical and mental health from Covid-19. They were also very concerned about long wait times and the unavailability of health care professionals. Half of Southern Cross members made a claim on their health insurance in the latest year, up from a third prior to the pandemic in 2019. &nbsp;
The cost of claims has also risen due to the high cost of everything and more claims for expensive procedures, and that means premiums have to go up to pay for this. It's a not-for-profit organisation, it's not there to make squillions for shareholders, it's there to put the money back into its membership. If it's costing more, then members have to pay more and that's the way it works. Southern Cross has been increasing premiums by 10-15% as policies come due, but they are expected to normalize back to around 6-6.5% next year as inflation is brought under control. &nbsp;
I am so glad I have health insurance. I've had it for years and I've never needed it till the last few years, which is the way of it. When you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s, you generally don't need much more than a general checkup. If you're lucky to have been born with relatively good health, you don't need to spend a lot of money on your healthcare. Once you get into your 50s and 60s, then you start to see a little bit of wear and tear. And if you don't have healthcare, you will be waiting years for elective surgeries, things like knees and hips. If you've done them in because of hard physical labour, you will not get ACC paying for them, they'll just say wear and tear. &nbsp;
Other things, like me with a constantly blocked nose which I thought was just a head cold, it's acute sinusitis. I would be forever getting head colds thinking it was just being prone to head colds. No, it's something that I need surgery for. It's not life threatening, it's really annoying, it means I have to take time off work. Those of you have listened for a while know when I've got it. In fact, Toni Street’s ear nose and throat surgeon diagnosed me over the wireless and said I needed to get in and see him. As it was, I'd already booked the surgery and I was lucky enough to be able to do that because of the premiums I've been paying for years and years and years. &nbsp;
It does get more expensive but I will prioritise paying it, paying the premiums even as they rise, as long as I can because why live with this sort of thing if you don't have to? It's painful, it's uncomfortable, it takes me off work, and that could be the same for many non-life threatening ailments that many of us suffer. People with knees, hips, hernias, all of those sorts of things that are deemed not to be urgent, not to be critical, not to be acute but have a huge impact on people's day-to-day lives and their ability to work, their ability to be full members of the family, full members of the community. I am counting the hours till the operation next week as are my colleagues. &nbsp;
I know that the premiums will only get more expensive, but I know I'm only going to need it more if I'm lucky enough to make it into my twilight years. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Kerre Woodham: I'm so glad I have health insurance

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/08eed62d-1a2e-4bac-87f7-b1fb0184b262/transcript

Peter Thompson: Barfoot & Thompson Managing Director on the growing confidence and optimism of the sector

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