Tēnā koutou
Thank you for reading our latest update. There is an array of upcoming events and new research and publications to tell you about in this newsletter. We've also added a special section that includes assessment updates from our Education Adviser. We hope this information will be useful to you in your work.
Noho ora mai rā
The NZCER Team
Events and consultation workshops
The Wellington consultation will take place on 6 March from 10-1pm at Wharewaka Functions Centre.
The Auckland consultation will take place on 10 March from 10-1pm at Te Noho Kotahitanga marae at the UNITEC campus.
Registrations for the Kei Tua hui, co-hosted by NZCER and Te Wānanga o Raukawa, close on Friday 13 March.
The hui will offer unparalleled opportunities to listen, meet and talk with people who understand the unique challenges and questions Māori face today.
Over two days, participants and speakers will discuss diverse viewpoints on rangatiratanga and mātauranga – knowledge and power – in workshops, and kōrero about how we can work together to contribute to Māori well-being. This hui will encourage participants to expand their thinking and will challenge them to apply this thinking to their mahi and day to day life. Participants will leave feeling challenged, stimulated and inspired.
The hui will be of interest to community leaders, educators, students, activists, academics and policy-makers.
Research news
TRLI funding round opens
The 2015 funding round for the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) opens on Monday 2 March. Expression of Interest (EOIs) are due by Thursday 7 May 2015. The fund is open to proposals from all sectors of education and training including early childhood, school, and the post school sector.
Everything you need to know about submitting an EOI will be on the TLRI website from Monday.
The Beeby fellowship is a joint initiative between NZCER and the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO and is worth $30,000.
The fellowship, worth $16,000, enables early childhood education practitioners to travel to study a particular topic.
NZCER at Taipei
New Zealand was the guest of honour at this year's Taiwan International Book Exhibition. NZCER Press Manager, Senior Editor and General Manager Products and Services attended the exhibition to display NZCER Press publications and the new online assessment platform.
New books
Mathematics and statistics in the middle years: Evidence and practice
Bali Haque analyses four major reforms since 1989: Tomorrow’s Schools, the NCEA, the revised New Zealand Curriculum and National Standards. His book explores the role of the Ministry of Education, the PPTA, and secondary school principals, and asks some fundamental questions about how we define and measure school and teacher quality and the extent to which schools and teachers can be expected to overcome socioeconomic disadvantage in homes. It examines how well ERO makes decisions about school quality, how useful our decile system is, and the extent to which NCEA results provide any useful measure of school quality.
Assessment updates from Cathie Johnson, Education Adviser
It’s Term 1 and your teachers are getting to know their learners – what they can do and what they need to learn, ensuring relevant teaching to meet specific needs. Standardised tools like PATs have a useful role in a purposeful assessment programme. NZCER Assessment Services offers you tools, PD and resources for you to be able to use your school data to help support learning.
Online testing
All of our standardised assessments can now be sat online with results immediately available through your subscription to NZCER Marking. As of February 20th, over 28,000 NZ children had sat their assessments online. Just last week we had more than 2500 children sitting at the same time – the capacity is huge!
Spell-Write
We all remember this timeless tool as either teachers or students, and later this term it will be launched as a digital resource. New features such as student accounts, the Treasure Box, and functions that allow teachers to track progress over time support learners to develop independent spelling skills, and teachers to identify learning needs.
Upcoming workshops and webinars
How purposeful are you in your use of standardised assessments? When did you last review your assessment practices to see if they are really achieving the results you expected? Join one of these practical, hands-on workshops or webinars that offer both challenges and support. We will use NZ research to see what works to improve learning. Examine your practice and share ideas and solutions with other schools. All workshops and webinars listed below can also be run in your school or across clusters of schools.
- Learning Network Workshop
- "Drill down into your data" in Auckland on 30 March 2015
- Core Breakfast Workshop
- "Building Better Schools: Interpreting and using the data schools gather" in Auckland 6 March and Dunedin on 11 March
- NZCER online reporting and analysis webinar series
- This series will build teachers and senior management’s capability to find good, diagnostic information, or answers to their questions, quickly and efficiently. There's no limit on numbers, so get your staff to fill the staff room! You do not need to be registered for NZCER Marking to take part. View the details of each webinar in this series.
Contact Cathie
Contact Cathie about her services by emailing education.adviser@nzcer.org.nz or calling her on 04 802 1386.