This report documents findings from 2003 - the second year of a three-year research project. NZCER is investigating changes in senior secondary school subjects, and the factors that influenced students’ subject choices, as New Zealand’s National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA) reforms are being progressively implemented.

The report builds on the findings of the first year:
Learning curves: Meeting student needs in an evolving qualifications regime: From cabbages to kings ...

A learning story is a documented account of a child's learning event. These stories are structured around five key behaviours: taking an interest, being involved, persisting with difficulty, expressing a point of view or a feeling, and taking responsibility. A teaching story, on the other hand, is about evaluating practice.

In this research project, learning stories refers to the framework developed for assessment during the Project for Assessing Children's Experiences ...

An 8-page Key facts summary of the Competent Children at 12 report, 2004.

The main purpose of this research was to find out more about the contributions parent and whānau-led early childhood education (ECE) services are making to children's learning, parent knowledge/skills and social support, and community, in order to provide the Ministry of Education and parent/whānau-led services with information that could be used to support quality in these services.  For the purposes of this research parent/whānau led services were playcentres, kōhanga reo ...

This report describes the unique programmes that have been developed in seven low decile secondary schools to help students to gain qualifications and to experience successful transitions from school.

The Innovative Pathways study is a three-phase research project. It examines non-conventional Year 12 and 13 programmes at seven schools which are viewed as being successful in assessing "at risk" students in their transition from school to the workforce or further ...

The Innovative Pathways from School study was designed to address an information gap about the programmes that support “at-risk” students at low-decile secondary schools to make successful transitions from school to the workforce or further education. This research started in 2002 and tracked a sample of students from seven schools, as they completed vocational Year 12 and 13 programmes, and in the 18 months following their departure from school.

This ...

Findings from a survey conducted by NZCER for the Hutt Valley and Wellington regions of the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) have been published in a report.

A survey of 46 percent of the region's teachers showed that 12 percent of teachers reported that they often experienced severely disruptive behaviour from students.

By 1991, the pace of reform had slowed, but high workloads continued. It was now clear that professionals could work well in partnership with parents on the new boards of trustees. Teaching salaries had been kept separate from operational grants, and pay was not performance-based. Teachers continued to work co-operatively and to enjoy good relations with trustees. But there was little sign of innovation in teaching and learning. Increasingly, resourcing ...

The 1990 survey showed that hard work was required at school level to make self-managing schools a reality. There was tension between people in schools and in the newly formed government agencies. There were constant deadlines which kept changing, along with requirements. The wave of paperwork and the contentious issue of bulk-funding teachers' salaries raised doubts about the reality of school-government partnership. But partnership at school level usually worked. Few ...

This research report evaluates an initiative called The Business of Science, a Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) initiative that ran in the Waikato region in 2003. The initiative was targeted at Year 13 students who have studied science subjects at school, but intend to enter courses such as business, law, or commerce at tertiary level. The aim of the project was to encourage these students to retain some ...