Since 1996 in Aotearoa/New Zealand, we have had a bicultural early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996). This document was developed with regard to the early childhood field’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty, signed in 1840 by the British Crown and Maori chiefs ...

Prejudice often gets in the way of people living together equitably. Learning to see and work with young children’s prejudices and biases is critical in working for equity in the 21st century. Bringing children’s “knowings” about cultural diversity to the fore is essential to this task. Children’s words and silences ...

Two ERUDITE (Educational Research Underpinning Development in Teacher Education) case studies of teacher-child interactions during a social studies curriculum unit focus on a Samoan boy who is a beginner at learning English, and his class teacher. The case studies explore how the teacher supports his curriculum learning and his English ...

The significance of formative assessment strategies for student learning has been summed up by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam in their review of all research data from 1988 to 1998. Twenty English teachers from a range of New Zealand secondary schools were asked how they understood the relationship between formative ...

What excites primary pupils about writing in school and what switches them off? This was the question explored by one Cambridgeshire primary school in a classroom-based investigation focusing on pupils’ perspectives on effective learning. The investigation gave teachers valuable insights into children’s understanding and responses to writing activities, and helped ...

The author looks at definitions of and research on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and outlines the main forms of intervention, both medical and educational. He describes how the principles of intervention can be applied, in the context of the school or the home.

CLICK!: Computers and Learning In Classrooms: K-6 is a teacher professional development resource in the effective use of technology in the primary classroom, developed by the Department of Science and Mathematics Education of the University of Melbourne, which specifically aims to support “technology leaders”. The case studies describe how primary ...

As the new Director of NZCER, I am delighted to write this editorial for set – a publication which I know very well. Louise Stoll’s metaphor of an iceberg caught my imagination as I read the articles in this issue. In her article on school culture, she argues that “as ...

Zoning was abolished in 1991 with the stated aim of increasing choice for parents. Ministry of Education data show a considerable shift of student populations between schools, leading towards a dual system of higher and middle decile schools for the (mostly Pakeha) middle classes, and lower decile schools for the ...