Rosemary Hipkins talks with Julie Roberts about the role of rich tasks in the refreshed mathematics curriculum, and opportunities for teachers to enhance this aspect of their professional practice. Julie also introduces readers to a set of Rich Tasks Planning Cards available from NZCER.

Issue 1 2025 offers a practical compendium to commence the journal’s year for Set: Research Information for Teachers. Each article provides a clear framework for teaching its specific topic with real examples from the classroom.

There is increasing recognition that the underachievement and disengagement of students, particularly Māori and Pasifika, in New Zealand schools is in large part a result of systematic factors that disadvantage these students. In response to the urgent need for change in our classrooms, the dialogic highway is a research-based approach ...

The presence of dogs in schools is increasing, yet there is little Aotearoa New Zealand-based research about the wellbeing and learning benefits of dogs for students. The study aims to provide insight into educators’ perspectives about the purpose, implementation, and impact of dogs in New Zealand schools. Participants in an ...

Effective assessment is ako—a reciprocal relationship in which knowledge and wisdom are shared and mutual learning occurs. For this reason, NZAI (New Zealand Assessment Institute) was established in 2018. It brings together educators from schools, professional learning and development providers, educational agencies and researchers for collective learning through its annual ...

Teaching controversial issues is particularly challenging in today’s world of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news. This article explores how critical thinking can be embedded in such discussions using the street smarts critical thinking model. The study focuses on the contentious use of the poison 1080 as a case study, systematically ...

This mixed-methods small-scale study focused on the nature of the vocabulary in classroom talk in two Year 13 religious education (RE) classes at a New Zealand Catholic school. The main aim was to inform support for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) students who struggle with the linguistic demands ...

This article is premised on a view that early childhood education (ECE) is a public good and a child’s right. As such, there is no place for ECE services to be treated as a private commodity that is bought and sold in the marketplace. Yet, despite policies to transform its ...

Of great concern within the Ministry for Regulation’s 2024 Regulatory Review of Early Childhood Education report was recommendation number 10 that aims for greater flexibility in qualifications within the early childhood education (ECE) workforce. The recommendation directly undermines current policy objectives within the Early Learning Action Plan (2019–2029) which aspire ...