bCasts

More than 30,000 people are protesting today for a better pay rise for teachers. Today is the first time primary and intermediate teachers are taking action in 24 years. There are dozens of protests taking place across the country.

In Auckland the march started at 11am at Fort St and will end up at Aotea Square, with more than 2000 people turning up to stand next to the teachers in solidarity. The teachers union New Zealand Education Institute say they are protesting to fix the teaching crisis, and need better investment in education so there can be a teacher in every class.

The New zealand educational institute are after a 16 percent pay rise over the next two years, as well as more funds for a special education needs coordinator in every school. The offer the government proposed was a pay rise between 2.2 and 2.6 percent each year for three years and more time to work individually with children or plan and assess learning.

To find out more about this Darashpreet spoke to NZ educational institute lead negotiator Liam Rutherford about the pay rise and Karl Vasau, principal from Rowendale School in Manurewa to get a teacher's perspective on how schools are being affected.

#KuaTaeTeWā

Not quite 'Animal Husbandry', but certainly animal employment - Rob's here with tales of creatures with canny C.V.s.

The Prime Minister's back on the line, and back down to business. Covering leaky opposition travel expenses, the current teachers' strike, and the unfolding saga of Wally Haumaha - it's a busy chat, well met. Welcome back, PM.

This interview is a highly anticipated one. Lillian Hanly got to speak with Dr Cornel West and asked him to introduce himself with a one liner - he called himself a black intellectual freedom fighter. This encompasses his many roles as an American philosopher, political activist, author, social critic and commentator. He has been a professor at Harvard, Princeton and Yale Universities. He calls himself a jazz man in the world of ideas, and often speaks through his love of jazz and blues music. He’s even made a number of spoken word and hip hop albums. Other important things you might want to know about him is that he was in both the Matrix sequels. His work focuses on race, gender and class in American society. He is here in Auckland this week for an event called Polarised, a discussion between himself and Douglas Murray, a well known conservative and critic of Islam whose book The Strange Death of Europe gives firsthand accounts and criticisms of mass Islamic immigration and problems of multiculturalism in the EU. Lillian started by asking Dr. West about this event.

Photo credit: Oklahoma Eagle