In 2006, we looked at how primary school were getting on with the planning and reporting requirements which came into place in 2003. Thank you to the 180 principals and 279 teachers who took part in our survey. We also asked about it in our 2006 national survey of secondary ...

As we bring you this first issue of set for 2007, a number of key issues for education have already emerged and as the year goes on we will bring you both research and informed comment on these and other issues.

Wadestown Kindergarten became one of the six designated Centres of Innovation in round three of the COI programme in 2006. This article discusses the kindergarten's focus on multiple literacies and its role in communicative competence and meaning making.

In late 2003–early 2004, NZCER researchers surveyed early childhood services around the country, talking to parents, managers, and teachers about all aspects of what was being provided.

Rules are presented as cultural tools that assist socialisation, yet observations revealed that young children subvert adults’ messages. A sociocultural interpretation offers teachers an alternative way of understanding this more challenging aspect of young children’s behaviour.

The connecting role of playfulness in young children’s communication is explored with a specific focus on children’s playful narratives. Such narratives are useful frameworks for teachers’ understanding and interacting with children in meaningful ways to promote learning for teachers and children.

Supporting Parents Alongside Children’s Education (SPACE) programme is a New Zealand early childhood Centre of Innovation (COI) aiming to support first-time parents with newborn infants in a group setting as they share the journey through their infant’s early months.

Strategies to support children’s active participation in research about them or the conditions of childhood are investigated in this article. Some participatory-research approaches used with children in a kindergarten setting are included.

How teachers’ subject knowledge in mathematics enhances documentation of young children’s mathematical learning is explored together with strategies for sharing this learning with parents and whānau.

Exploring children’s views on their outdoor experiences in an early childhood education setting was the focus of this article, as well as the parents’ and teachers’ views on the value and role of the outdoors in young children’s lives.