Proponents of National Standards in New Zealand have argued that a key benefit of written reporting against New Zealand’s National Standards will be parents who are fully informed of their child’s achievements and thus better placed to support their learning. Using an interpretive, qualitative methodology and drawing on the perceptions and experiences of eight parents ...

This article reports on a research project that investigated the connections between early childhood teachers’ visual arts pedagogies and children’s engagement in the visual arts as a tool for learning. The journey of how one early childhood education centre had developed visual arts practices that were informed by sociocultural/constructivist theories, and how this played out ...

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 ...

Computer-based testing is on the increase, especially for large-scale assessments where there are advantages for manageability, administration, and reporting. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, NZQA has announced plans to move NCEA examinations to an online platform, with a dual-assessment model available for selected levels and subjects from 2016. The dual-assessment approach appears ...

A qualitative approach was used to investigate Year 12 secondary school students’ experiences, understandings and uses of written teacher feedback in classical studies. Participants in this small-scale study were eight students from two schools in a large metropolitan city in New Zealand, all of whom were undertaking a Level 2 ...

There is little research that relates formative assessment to writing, particularly in a foreign-language context. Furthermore, few studies have investigated processes of change when teachers and students use a tool to enhance their skills in formative assessment practices. This article reports on an intervention study where portfolio was used to ...

An increasingly complex and ambitious conception of assessment that aims to enhance learning has seen the move from formative assessment to assessment for learning (AfL). In this study, an interpretive, qualitative approach was used to compare 21 practising teachers’ understandings of AfL prior to and at the conclusion of an ...

This article advances the argument that a priorities-based approach to assessment in early childhood education offers a middle way between inductive and deductive methods of assessment. A developing dialectic in early childhood assessment discourse is discussed as a background to discussion on inductive and deductive assessment strategies. A middle path ...

Students’ grades are altered for a variety of reasons in educational systems worldwide. While there has been considerable research on teachers’ grading practices, very little is known about the circumstances and reasons for grade alteration. This article closely examines eight instances where experienced teachers altered or were asked to alter students’ grades in secondary schools ...