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Woroud Alzaher visits the bFM studio to chat about her research into adults living with cerebal palsy and the challenges they face as they age.

Thanks to the University of Auckland

From 2026 the government will introduce standardised testing for reading, writing and maths across all primary schools.

Year one students will be required to sit phonics tests at 20 and 40 weeks of schooling and years 3-6 will be required to take PAT and e-asTTle. Around 60% of schools already use this type of testing.

The reason for the introduction of testing is to improve education levels which are not up to standard, according to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

Education minister Erica Standford stated testing is important to keep parents informed about their child’s progress. Stanford continued that the tests will allow teachers and principals with the data to track in aggregate their school’s performance.

Producer Elle spoke to Faculty of Education and Social Work PhD student Tom Pearce about the policy.

Rosetta chats to T.G. Shand about her new single and has a yarn to Simon from Audio Culture about Lance Ferguson's Contemporary South Sea Rhythms. Whakarongo mai nei!

Suri reviews The Mark by Frid Isberg on Loose Reads. Whakarongo mai nei!

Pennie chats the origins of flanel & mail order!

This story mentions eating disorders and disordered eating. 

A new study from researchers at the University of Auckland has found that there was an increase in hospital admissions for eating disorders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The study found that 10-19 year old girls with diagnoses of anorexia nervosa had the most significant increase; and that Māori had proportionately more hospital admissions for eating disorders than others.

Admissions for other mental health disorders mostly stayed the same or decreased during the pandemic.

Josef spoke to Dr David Menkes, an Academic Psychiatrist at the University of Auckland and co-author of the study, about the study’s findings and what can be done to avoid similar spikes in the future.

If you need support, talking to someone you know or contacting formal support services can be helpful. For support, call the Eating Disorder Association New Zealand 0800 2 EDANZ or (09) 5222 679. Or you can free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason

Last week, Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced six key changes to housing policy to "flood" the country with new homes. These include freeing up land for development, removing unnecessary planning barriers and relaxing standards. 

Wire host Sofia spoke to University of Auckland senior lecturer of Architecture and Planning, Dr Elizabeth Aitken Rose, about the government’s plans to address the housing crisis in light of Bishop’s announcements last week. 

She started the interview asking her what the key changes Bishop announced were.

Kia ora e te whānau! Sof's got you sorted for your One To Four this Monday 💌 - and what a fun show it was! Fabulous, funky, and soo lush! x

For their weekly catch-up with the ACT Party, Wire host Sofia speaks to ACT MP Cameron Luxton about ACT  invoking the ‘agree to disagree’ provision over the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, the government’s plans to ‘flood’ the country with more housing, and the Easter Trading Bill.

She also speaks to University of Auckland senior lecturer of Architecture and Planning, Dr Elizabeth Aitken Rose, about the government’s plans to address the housing crisis

And she speaks to masters researcher at the University of Auckland and paediatric physiotherapist, Julie Cullen, about advice for children’s digital technology use in kura. 

Producer Oto speaks to youth worker Aaron Hendry from Kickback to discuss the best approaches to tackling youth offending.

Producer Josef speaks to Academic Psychiatrist, David Menkes about the rise in hospital admissions for eating disorders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Whakarongo mai!

Last Tuesday, Broadcasting Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the Government would progress with the former Labour government’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill with amendments to "support our local media companies to earn revenue for the news they produce".

This announcement saw ACT invoke the “agree to disagree” provision of their coalition agreement by opposing the bill. Wire host Sofia spoke to the ACT Party’s Cameron Luxton about why the party opposes this bill, and what agreeing to disagree means for the coalition’s relationships. 

Additionally, she asked Cameron about last week’s announcements about changes to housing policy by "flooding" the country with new homes where Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced six key changes. These include freeing up land for development, removing unnecessary planning barriers and relaxing standards. 

Lastly she asked Cameron about his member’s bill, the Easter Trading Bill, which has been drawn from the ballot. The bill would liberalise easter trading laws, allowing New Zealanders who want to trade over Easter to do so.