As I have noted before, the idea of introducing a “free market” into education has strong appeal to conservative governments in other nations. Pasi Sahlberg of Finland calls this idea the “Global Education Reform Movement,” or GERM, characterized by testing, accountability, competition, and choice. GERM is now infesting New Zealand, which has a very successful education system.

One of the leading anti-national testing sites is called the Treehorn Express, a blog written by NZ educator Phil Cullen. While the names and organizations will not be familiar to you, the issues will be. New Zealand officials want to introduce charter schools to New Zealand, and this post sees it as a huge step backward that will mean privatization, funding of religious schools, and eliminating the expectation that teachers in these schools must be credentialed.

If you want to see how the global issues are shaped by American developments, and if you want to learn how your peers in New Zealand are reacting, this is a good place to start.