You’ve Gotta Be Joking

Tuesday, 19 March 2013, 12:35 pm
Article: Scoop Blogwatch

This just in….

To President

New Zealand Reading Association

Dear Wendy,

I am the Convener of the Wellington Children’s Book Association and I would just like to alert you to the news that Learning Media have suspended the publication of the School Journal.

Children’s Writers and Illustrators (many of whom are teachers) are appalled at this news and we are trying to get more information about why this has happened and whether Learning Media (as rumours have it) have lost the Government contract to supply resources to support the NZ Curriculum.

This notice was posted on the Learning Media website and was picked up by The New Zealand Society of Authors who alerted their members on Friday.

A message from Learning Media

School Journal and School Journal Story Library.

These pages have been temporarily archived. At present Learning Media have no contract in place with the Ministry of Education and have therefore implemented a change to their publishing process. They request until further notice that no freelance submissions are sent to Learning Media.

Please check their website regularly for updates about if and when we might accept freelance submissions again.

As you can imagine this has hit all of the contributors to the School Journal hard and we are aware that there is nothing comparable to replace it, if it does get replaced. Learning Media has over 105 years of providing quality reading resources directly sent to schools, paid for by the tax payer and is where many famous New Zealanders began their career including Margaret Mahy, Dick Frizzel, James K Baxter, Rita Angus, Joy Cowley… the list goes on.

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We hope that you will add your voice to ours, the NZSA and independent children’s literature groups around the country in asking Why? And What will replace this resource? We are planning to write to all MP’s and the MOE and ask journalists to take a look at this for us…as we haven’t been able to find out anything from Learning Media itself.

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards,

Maureen Crisp

Convener Wellington Children’s Book Association

The School Journal is one of those iconic educational tools we have all grown up with. It was the first introduction to topics outside our own childhood interests, and I know it sped my reading ability and that of my kids.

The formula has been a winner for 100 years, and now it is just going to be axed? Either Learning Media is shit at customer relations, or something major is afoot.

If it’s a Government decision, then it’s one of the stupider ones. Here’s hoping it is just a temporary glitch.

ENDS

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