Policy

Summer learning loss suggests that that students’ learning achievement drops over the summer holidays when they are not at school, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The purpose of the studies reported was to investigate the effect summer learning loss has on student achievement in the New Zealand context and to determine whether encouraging Year 3 students from both low- and high-decile schools to read self-selected books over the summer helped stem the summer slide.

Currently it is not mandatory for New Zealand high schools to have written policies on how they will respond to their pregnant and mothering students, despite education being a crucial factor in the later success of young mothers. This article explores existing barriers to, and supports for, pregnant and mothering students’ schooling engagement.

This article is written for primary teachers who are not fluent in the Māori language (te reo Māori), about how and why te reo Māori can and should be used in the classroom. This article aims to help teachers understand the relevance of current policy documents, and to present useful guidelines on ways classroom practice can support the larger goals of the Ministry of Education, the government, and the nation as a whole, for ensuring a bright future for this beautiful indigenous language with which we have been entrusted.