The growing diversity of students in mainstream schools in Aotearoa New Zealand is challenging for educators and policy makers alike. Educational researchers in the 21st century have shown that listening to what students have to say about what works best for them is more important than ever.

New Zealand’s previous examination-based secondary assessment system can be viewed as encompassing cultural values presenting unfair challenges for indigenous and other nonmajority students. The standards-based National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) incorporates enhanced flexibility, student choice and grading practices independent of comparisons with others. These features may be a better match for the educational aspirations of collectivist cultures, yet little is known about the views of Māori and Pacific students and their parents on NCEA.

This article compares the 1997 New Zealand social studies curriculum statement with The New Zealand Curriculum, in terms of the location of Pacific knowledge and experience, and argues that teacher decision making is a political process that has become an even stronger determinant for whether or not Pacific topics will be included in school social studies programmes, given that national curriculum directives for such topic inclusion no longer exist. Such a dislocation raises questions and concerns relating to teacher decision making.

Teachers in a Centre of Innovation reflect about their action research, which focused on how children’s working theories were developed through complex and sustained learning. Overlapping communities of practice support teachers’ professional judgements and dissemination of action research findings.