The views that early childhood teachers have of children and childhood are informed by the rhetoric and theories of early childhood, their cultures, life stories, philosophies, and ongoing practices as teachers. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Whāriki, the legislated national curriculum for early childhood education, further guides early childhood teachers’ practice and frames teachers’ ...

Many ideas from the discourse of 21st-century learning are already present in much secondary school music teaching in New Zealand and have been for some time. The adoption of these ideas has resulted in many positive changes in students’ experiences of music at secondary school. On the other hand, there have been some unintended ...

As the tenth anniversaries of The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa approach it is timely to consider how we should prepare the next generation of New Zealanders for their digital future. In this article I explore what should be included in a curriculum if we would like all citizens of the ...

Primary teachers in New Zealand schools are required to teach dance education as part of a balanced classroom programme. This responsibility requires that teachers have positive beliefs about their own competence and capabilities to teach dance to achieve desired outcomes for their students. This article presents qualitative findings from a mixed-methods study which investigated teachers’ ...

This article reports on aspects of an interpretative qualitative single case study that investigated teachers’ and students’ understanding of how self-worth is influenced in the teaching and learning environment. Findings indicate that important determinants in the development of self-worth include personal teacher qualities such as humour, justice (fairness) and trust; teaching strategies associated with meeting ...

This article reports on physical education teacher education students’ perceptions of the pedagogies they have recently experienced in senior secondary school biomechanics classes. Despite the plethora of educational research surrounding pedagogical best practice in the wider field of physical education, there is a paucity of research seeking to understand links between pedagogy, assessment, and achievement ...

There is much international evidence that parental involvement in children’s learning can positively influence achievement. New Zealand policy expects schools to nurture such involvement, particularly in relation to Máori and Pasifika learners. Despite policy imperatives and valuable professional development projects, such involvement has proved challenging to embed within many English-medium school settings. We examined policy, theoretical ...

There is considerable excitement and debate in the educational world around future-oriented education, and a trend towards innovative (or modern) learning environments. This buzz is an international phenomenon. A trend towards innovative, open, and flexible learning environments is underpinned by ideas about 21st-century or future-oriented education. It is supported by International Organisation for Economic Cooperation ...

This article presents findings from a qualitative document analysis of selected resources for and about social justice in senior social studies, and argues that effective resources can facilitate transformative social-justice learning. During the study, analytic criteria were formed to examine purposively selected resources. This framework emerged from the work of multicultural education scholar James Banks ...