New book essential guide to NCEA for students and their families

Understanding NCEA: A relatively short and very useful guide for secondary school students and their parents

This new book by Irena Madjar and Elizabeth McKinley explains NCEA to students and families. It is essential reading for those new to NCEA and will be a must-have for every school library. It's written in plain language and it is full of relevant stories drawn from the real-life experiences of students who have followed different NCEA pathways. There are chapters for students interested in pursuing science, social sciences, business or an apprenticeship, and a section specifically written for parents.

Price: $19.95 (includes GST). It is available from our website or ask at your local bookstore.

We launched the book at Manurewa High School on 25 May — here are the authors Irena Madjar and Elizabeth McKinley at the launch. Thanks also to students Nicole Wiremu and Mark Talaese for their on-the-spot book reviews.

Information for school newsletters

The Understanding NCEA book has been written specifically for students and their families and we would welcome your help in letting your parent community know about it. Below are some words which can be cut and pasted directly into school newsletters.

Book to help students and families understand NCEA

Understanding NCEA: A relatively short and very useful guide for secondary school students and their parents is a new book about NCEA. It is a plain language guide to understanding the qualification system and the decisions that need to be made each year. The authors did lots of research with schools, students and their families, and the book contains stories drawn from real-life experiences. The purpose of the book is to help students make the most of NCEA. It is also intended to give parents more information so they can help their children make the best decisions.

Price: $19.95

You can buy it from the publisher at  http://www.nzcer.org.nz or ask at your local bookstore.

Learning organisation ideas for schools

In May we held a sucessful conference on learning organisation ideas in schools. One of the speakers was NZCER chief researcher Rose Hipkins, who drew from recent research to discuss the ways in which school leaders and teachers became connected to each other via professional learning networks as they worked to implement The New Zealand Curriculum. Her paper, Learning to reinvent the school curriculum, is available on our website.

Ideas for a safe and caring school

NZCER is working on a contract for the Ministry of Education developing a Wellbeing@School website, which will contain tools to help schools take part in a whole-school self-review process. The website is scheduled to be available to schools in March 2012. As part of that project, we have published a booklet which summarises an extensive review of literature in this field. It will be of particular interest to school leaders and those working with schools, such as educational psychologists and police education officers.

Booklet: Wellbeing at school [390KB PDF]

Thoughts on primary education science for the 21st century

Researchers in our science education team have written another paper, following on from the work they did for the Prime Minister’s Science Advisor. That work, entitled Inspired by Science, was published as part of Looking Ahead: Science Education for the Twenty-First Century (Office of the Prime Minister’s Science Advisory Committee, 2011).

The second report, Primary science education for the 21st century: How, what, why?, sets out to both inform NZCER’s ongoing work in the area and to contribute to a wider debate about how primary science education in New Zealand might best be strengthened.

Shifting thinking 2: participating and contributing

Tired of conferences where you simply sit and listen? NZCER's Shifting Thinking is like no other education conference. The first event in 2009 used a theatrical metaphor and included keynote speakers, a play, TED talks and dilemmas to solve. This year Shifting Thinking will be transformed into a highly interactive two-day workshop at the St James Theatre in Wellington on the theme of participating and contributing. We are promising an inspiring, knowledge-generating event. The theme of participating and contributing will shape the way this workshop unfolds and we will be drawing on your knowledge, interests and talents as well as those of a diverse NZCER team. You will be encouraged to learn different ways of operating as a teacher, leader and learner by taking part in learning groups which will grapple with 21st century ideas and will generate something to share with others. This event is for leaders and teachers from across the education sector who want to challenge their thinking and their practice.

What: Shifting thinking 2: participating and contributing
When: 25-26 August 2011
Where: St James, Wellington
Email us on shiftingthinking@nzcer.org.nz if you want to be sent registration details in July.

Producing green graduates

A new book from NZCER Press advocates all students whatever their field graduate able to think and act as sustainable practitioners.

The Green Graduate, written by Associate Professor in Information Technology at Otago Polytechnic, Samuel Mann, sets out a framework for making sustainability a core competency for graduates across every kind of tertiary education and training. It also addresses the common barriers and questions likely to be encountered along the way. Samuel Mann was awarded a NZCER/UNESCO Beeby fellowship in 2009 to write a book based on his experience and research into Education for Sustainability initiatives at the polytechnic.

Curriculum implementation study

The final report from the Curriculum Implementation Exploratory Studies project is now available on the Education Counts website.

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/curriculum/curriculum-implementation-exploratory-studies-2

Chief researcher Rose Hipkins spoke about the findings from the project at a CORE Education breakfast recently. The video and the powerpoint are available online. 

Your views on the New Zealand Educational theses database

The New Zealand Educational Theses (NZET) Database is an important Ministry of Education-funded resource, developed by NZCER’s information services and hosted on our website. We’re conducting a survey in order to improve it. We are interested in hearing from people who have used the database and also those who haven’t, as that can give us useful information too.
What do we want to know? It’s a quick online survey which asks what people are using the database for and how it has helped their research. We’re interested in what subjects they’ve searched on and if there are subjects they couldn’t find in the database. We would also like to know what improvements we could make. We’re keen to get responses from as many people as possible, so please check out the database and tell us what you think. There are vouchers to be won.

Book on Māori educational success

Editor Paul Whitinui has reached across the disciplines for research insights, different voices and new models to address the critical question of what constitutes successful schooling for Māori in the 21st century. The subject matter is diverse, exploring topics such as the importance of te reo, Māori pedagogies, culturally relevant assessment, teacher education and creating a culture of care. It is for researchers, policy makers, school leaders, and Māori communities looking at positive, creative and dynamic ways of improving schooling for Māori students.