heavy emphasis on literacy. Those working in this uncertain environment are
usually experienced teachers who have their own views and may pursue lines of
argument or discussion that are more searching than might be expected given the
nature of the programmes they are involved in. But university-based professional
learning is also being sidelined by opportunities provided elsewhere as discussed
below.
27.3 The Declining Influence of the University
and the Rise of Other Influences
The changes to teacher education already mentioned are part of a more general
decline in the influence of university-based teaching and research on New Zealand
teachers when compared to business, philanthropic and media influences. On the
university side there are numerous reasons for the decline. Faculties and schools of
education have often had successive rounds of redundancies, are only rarely
appointing new staff, and workloads have been climbing. Government policy is
pushing universities towards STEM subjects and an increasing vocational empha-
sis. Research funding for university-based education research is falling away both
in terms of the kinds of research that will be funded and the number of RFPs that
are put up for tender. Staff are under pressure to publish, with the Performance
Based Research Fund (PBRF) assessing academic staff on an individual basis in
successive rounds since 2003 and requiring a high number of publication‘outputs’
compared to other countries. Far from respecting their‘critic and conscience role’,
academics who speak out against social or economic policies have been publicly
dismissed by politicians in. Education academics caught up in such insecurities and
pressures are less likely to have time and enthusiasm for critique of GERM.
Meanwhile business and philanthropic or‘charitable’influences on teachers are
on the rise. First, there are numerous small private providers and educational
consultants that offer training or professional learning services to New Zealand
primary schools. Second, there are larger education trusts like‘Cognition’and
‘Core’providing various services including professional development for teachers
and principals. These may technically be charities but act more like businesses and
are able to influence education policy in powerful ways (‘Phoney Philanthropy’
2014 ). Third, there are those like the ‘Next Foundation’ and the ‘Aotearoa
Foundation’which are engaged in‘strategic philanthropy’or‘philanthrocapital-
ism’. For example, both of these foundations fund the‘Springboard Trust’which
‘connects school principals with business mentors, enhancing their leadership and
planning skills, achieving better educational outcomes for schools and their stu-
dents, and dramatically improving life skills for young New Zealanders’
(Springboard Trust 2015 ). The business networks seeking influence here are as
palpable as those discussed in the UK context by Stephen Ball inEducation plc.
(Ball 2007 ). For instance, the chair of the Springboard Trust at the time of writing is
27 Helping Teachers and School Leaders to Become... 405