Charmaine Pountney is a passionate learner and teacher. Here are her 55 years of first-hand experiences of education - in homes, kindergartens, schools, teachers' colleges, universities, polytechnics, and on marae, fars and the internet.
She's been a teacher of English in the biggest secondary school in the country and in a small kura kaupapa Maori, a principal (three times), a university dean, and a community education tutor in her own kitchen and the local fire brigade hall. She's also widely known as a speaker, broadcaster and writer.
One of our staunchest defenders of our young people, their families and the public education system, she's also a fearless critic of outdated exams, poor teaching, mediocre schools, inadequate bureaucrats, politicians and media coverage of schools and education.
In Learning our Living Charmaine shares her own educational journey, her compelling vision of how we could become a 'learning nation' and why we should. Candid, provocative, entertaining, the book offers practical suggestions for changing schools - and lives - and the world.