Rosemary Hipkins

Kaihautū Rangahau Tāoki | Emeritus Chief Researcher

Rosemary (Rose) began her working life as a science and biology teacher, followed by several years working in teacher education. Rose joined NZCER in 2001 and over the following years she led, and supported, a wide range of research projects. Most of her work has broadly related to curriculum and/or assessment innovation in New Zealand.

Projects Rose has led or co-led include: exploring the implications of decolonising our research practice; adopting a "knowledge systems" approach to bringing mātauranga Māori and science learning together; teaching for complex systems thinking; and co-editing an edition of Assessment Matters, with all papers written by members of NZARE’s Science Education Special Interest Group. She has also supported work on NZCER’s National Surveys of schools; background research to support Refreshing The New Zealand Curriculum; and background research to support equity in NCEA assessment practices.    

Rose has served on the editorial boards of several journals and particularly enjoys helping teacher-researchers shape their experiences and insights for formal publication. She supported a number of TLIF (Teacher Led Innovation Fund) projects over the years of this fund’s existence. In 2019 Rose was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to science education. In 2022 she was awarded Life Membership of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE). In 2025, Rose retired from NZCER with the title Emeritus Chief Researcher.

Rose Hipkins profile
Email
rose.hipkins@nzcer.org.nz

Publications

Interplay of context and concepts in primary school children's systems thinking Research publication 2008
Early experiences of longer learning periods at Alfriston College Journal article 2008
The "something more" in key competencies Journal article 2008
Themes from the curriculum implementation case studies. Milestone report for November 2008 Research publication 2008
Competent Learners on the Edge of Adulthood: A summary of key findings from the Competent Learners @ 16 project Research publication 2008
Putting the Nature of Science strand into the water cycle Journal article 2008
Seeing yourself in science Research publication 2008
Longer learning periods for the secondary school day: What does research say? Journal article 2008
Thinking about the "big picture": how can school science contribute? Journal article 2007
Engaging teachers in re-imagining curriculum Journal article 2007
School planning and reporting: Is it making a difference to student learning? Research publication 2007
Course innovation in the senior secondary curriculum: A snapshot taken in July 2007 Research publication 2007
Assessing key competencies: Why would we? How could we? Research publication 2007
Shifting balances 2: The impact of the NCEA implementation on the teaching of geography and home economics Research publication 2006
Shifting balances: The impact of level 1 NCEA on teaching of mathematics and science Research publication 2006
If "research" is the answer, what was the question? Journal article 2006
Nature of the key competencies: A background paper Research publication 2006
Shaping our futures: Meeting secondary students' learning needs in a time of evolving qualifications: final report of the Learning Curves project Research publication 2005
Time for critical thinking in secondary science? Research publication 2005
The NCEA in the context of the knowledge society and national policy expectations Research publication 2005