As students look to next year, the Herald begins a week-long investigation into why so many are leaving school without the skills they need.

Catherine Isaac says it is wrong to propose that limiting the concept in such ways could have improved the focus on helping disadvantaged children.

North Shore students have been banned from hugging during school hours because too many of them were consistently arriving late to their classes.

Swotting for NCEA exams has been made easier with the very device parents and teachers hold as the enemy of study - teenagers' cellphones.

The Ministry of Education and the NZQA are being called on to release national school statistics at the same time as students get their marks back.

Two co-educational secondary schools in Dunedin plan to cut teacher numbers as the fall in school-age children starts to affect the secondary sector.

The charter schools advisory group wants those who have no teaching qualifications to be given official registration - a call at odds with Govt policy.

The Cambridge exam system is under spotlight as prestigious schools are called to meeting with the country's largest university.

Pies, hot dogs and cookies feature strongly in school tuck shops, a survey has found, suggesting efforts to improve the quality of the school food supply have failed.

188 schools have not been included in official National Standards information after failing to provide the right details.

Prime Minister John Key says he welcomes the debate generated by the publication of national standards data.

A higher birth rate and an ageing workforce mean hundreds of teachers could be needed to meet a staff shortage as school rolls surge over the next decade.