Research publications from our research teams.
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The Competent Children project, funded by the Ministry of Education and NZCER, follows a group of about 500 New Zealand children from near age 5, when they were in early childhood education, through until they leave school.
This paper explores some of the more disturbing aspects of research on what was, at the time, the only state-funded alternative secondary school in New Zealand.
Throughout the five years of research, New Zealand's school inspectorate, the Education Review Office, publicly released a series of highly critical reports on the school which resulted in it being closed down.
The introduction of the National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA), as the key school-based components of New Zealand’s National Qualifications Framework (NQF) has been accompanied by controversy around a range of issues.
It seems that much of the debate has centred on surface level symptoms, and has not probed the deep underlying causes of the tensions.
This article provides some insights into patterns of science choices made by year 12 students from six New Zealand secondary schools, and the reasons that they gave for choosing these subjects. Outlines findings from the Learning Curves research project
The full journal article is published in:
New Zealand Science Teacher, 106, 2004. p.27-31
This journal article describes research findings linking early childhood staff qualifications and training with the quality of early childhood education.
It outlines current and future policy requirements for employment of registered teachers in kindergartens and education and care centres, and provides evidence that most education and care centres will be able to meet future requirements.
This article examines the place of environmental education/education for sustainable development (EE/ESD) in the school curriculum. Despite international calls for EE/ESD to form the pillar of a re-oriented approach to school curriculum, teaching, and learning, in most schools the principles of EE/ESD are poorly understood, and it occupies a marginal place in curriculum and teaching practice.
Research on self-regulation of children's learning is seldom set at lower primary school levels. Indeed, there are conflicting views about the ability of young childen to self-regulate their learning. We have found that, with appropriate teacher support, and the use of purposefully constructed learning materials, Year 1, 2, and 3 children were able to demonstrate what we consider to be foundational aspects of self-regulated learning. This paper reports on an exploratory study of a sequence of four lessons in one Year 1-3 class.
Research on self-regulation of children's learning is seldom set at lower primary school levels. Indeed, there are conflicting views about the ability of young childen to self-regulate their learning. We have found that, with appropriate teacher support, and the use of purposefully constructed learning materials, Year 1, 2, and 3 children were able to demonstrate what we consider to be foundational aspects of self-regulated learning. This paper reports on an exploratory study of a sequence of four lessons in one Year 1-3 class.
Developing a sense of agency as a learner is at the heart of Self-Regulated Learning (SLR). If students in mathematics are going to become self-regulated learners they need to be confronted with opportunities that allow them to reveal their thinking and to observe and emulate the thinking of others. In what follows we begin by introducing SRL and exploring its connection with mathematics education.
This paper draws from a background paper prepared for the Ministry of Education: School-based curriculum development: Principles, processes, and practices.
The term "school-based curriculum development" (SBCD) had great currency in 1970s and 1980s educational literature. However, in many countries the term dropped out of use during the late 1980s/early 1990s.
