Taxpayers funding new charter school inspired by secretive Opus Dei group The 'Catholic ethos' school in Epsom will open near two existing Catholic primaries.

When you open space for charter schools in a school system that already prioritises self-management expect to find extremist views cropping up in publicly funded education.

AI will soon be able to audit all published research – what will that mean for public trust in science? An AI audit of scientific research would likely expose some fraud and widespread inconsequential work. But we need to be careful it doesn’t discredit science in general.

AI can audit published research. What will audit AI? theconversation.com/ai-will-soon...

Please share with colleagues our call for special issue on Generative AI and methodology.

The cover of an issue of the journal methodological innovations

Hi Bluesky!

Methodological Innovations is an international, open access journal and the principal venue for publishing peer-reviewed, social-research methods articles.

journals.sagepub.com/home/MIO

Kiwi kids once led the world in reading – this 1950s primary school syllabus still has lessons for today Compared with today’s structured literacy and standardised testing, the 1953 reading syllabus was a remarkably non-prescriptive blueprint for both teachers and pupils.

Colleague and fellow LitPlus researcher Jayne Jackson led us in some historical work on literacy curriculum. Reading used to be something we did very well.

theconversation.com/kiwi-kids-on...

Grim reading on national reading scores for the United States - ‘Nearly 5 years after schools closed, the nation gets a new report card’ via NPR

“Just 30% of (8th grade) students performing at or above NAEP's proficient standard.”

www.npr.org/2025/01/29/n....

The Alfred Landecker Memorial Lecture : Escaping the Holocaust The Alfred Landecker Holocaust Memorial Lecture is hosted by the Blavatnik School of Government each year to mark United Nations Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year’s lecture, given by author and j...

Finally, if you're in Oxford tonight at 5.30pm, or able to watch online, I'll be speaking about Rudolf Vrba, the man who broke out of Auschwitz to warn the world talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/7e1...

Watch: We test DeepSeek for censorship. It doesn’t go well I’m on a date with DeepSeek and it seems fair to start the conversation with an uncontroversial question. But things quickly get weird.

Testing Chinese AI large language model DeepSeek on human rights issues www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3605...

This is great work and aligns with something I have been saying for a while... humans enjoy working hard toward goals. It gives us a sense of purpose. I think the current emphasis on quick and easy solutions is making people feel lost (with impacts on mental health), including many college students.

‘Rising star’: Europe made more electricity from solar than coal in 2024 Report reveals solar power generated 11% of Europe’s electricity, surpassing coal at 10%

Europe made more electricity from sunshine than coal last year in what analysts called a “milestone” for the clean energy transition. 👍
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

No thoughts and prayers for you, just Moomins.

Spotting Liars Is Hard, but Our New Method Is Effective and Ethical - Neuroscience News The AIM technique is almost 40% more accurate at lie detection than traditional methods.

neurosciencenews.com/aim-lie-dete...

How Moomin books comfort in times of crises, part 1 - Moomin.com The first blog of a two-part series, this blog explores how the Moomin books comfort us in times of crises, decades after their creation.

To anyone feeling off today, and I know plenty who will, it won’t fix things but you might feel a bit better after reading about Moomins. www.moomin.com/en/blog/moom...

Wealth of world’s billionaires grew by $2tn in 2024, report finds Rate of wealth growth last year was three times faster than 2023, Oxfam inequality research reveals

www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ja...

The abandoned ice sheet base at Camp Century, Greenland, in a warming climate The first inventory of wastes in the Greenland ice sheet at the abandoned military base Camp Century Regional climate modeling suggests that these wastes can no longer be considered “preserved for ...

If US annexes Greenland will they be cleaning up their mess? Thanks to Politico news site for linking to the article. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Irawati Karve: India's trailblazing female anthropologist who challenged Nazi race theories Irawati Karve, India's first female anthropologist, led a fascinating life that challenged patriarchal norms.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Iron Age Celtic women’s social and political power just got a boost Ancient DNA indicates women stayed in their home communities and married partners from outside the area.

www.sciencenews.org/article/iron...

Why I'm quitting the Washington Post Democracy can't function without a free press

This is, or should be, a big deal -- Ann Telnaes, an absolute legend, quitting WaPo due to censorship of a cartoon criticizing billionaires

anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-qui...

Completed jigsaw puzzle on round coffee table with two empty black mugs.

Annual summer challenge complete!

It’s an existential issue for academics. Important stuff.

To be clear - Horizon Europe is a programme which gives our researchers opportunities to be funded *by the EU* to collaborate with European researchers, but because of the differences in funding between NZ and Europe our people need top-ups to meet all their costs (1/2)

An example of problems of AI "borrowing" from academic work going beyond non-attribution to creating a new conceptual reality.

Who'd have thought ruthless austerity would be bad for the economy? Nice work, Mr Luxon.

Does Whamageddon count when Last Christmas is sung by someone who is not Wham?

Assistant Professor in Sociology Assistant Professor in Sociology, , <p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>As an equal opportunities employer strongly committed to diversity and inclusion, we encourage applications from women and…

We're hiring an Assistant Professor in the field of #UrbanSociology, who can demonstrate expertise in the social and spatial life of the city, and how planning and/or design impacts urban life.

Applications close Sunday 19th January 2025 (23.59 UK time).

Sharing Leadership Stories in Rural Education This book presents stories from the field with insights into capabilities, approaches, models and strategies for improving practice and outcomes.

I am very happy that this book is finally out! So many great stories and insights into what it means to "lead rurally" in many contexts. Sharing Leadership Stories in Rural Education: Leading Rurally across Australia and the United States #RuralEd

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Open letter on importance of research in the social sciences and humanities Open letter on importance of research in the social sciences and humanities   Tēnā koe Prime Minister, The role of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, as set out in the Royal Society of New Zealand Act,...

The Royal Society Te Apārangi has sent an open letter to the Prime Minister about the importance of social sciences and humanities, following changes to the Marsden Fund terms that explicitly exclude research areas in the social sciences and humanities:
www.royalsociety.org.nz/news/open-le...

Screen on wall with printed fabric swatch image in a square and dot design

Screen on wall with a fabric swatch in seabug design

Fabric designs from Footprints Studio lead designer Joyce Clissold. At Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth

“Miss, can you speak English?”: raciolinguistic ideologies and language oppression in initial teacher education Racism is pervasive within the lives of racially minoritised pre-service teachers in England, but little work has explored how perceptions about language feature here. Based on interviews and works...

there is no empirical relationship between a teacher's accent and their ability to teach. but there is a long-standing ideological relationship which frames non-dominant and non-standardised accents as signs of imagined pedagogical illegitimacy. @bjse.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....