Gifted students are often grouped by ability, across a continuum of inclusive education provisions, in order to facilitate learning with like-minded peers. The literature on like-mindedness is limited; research investigating preferences for how students and teachers perceive like-minded groupings is also limited. This article reports the results of interviews with four gifted students, their parents ...

The current schooling system finds it difficult to truly engage Pasifika learners and bring out their inner giftedness. While Pasifika giftedness is recognised by Pasifika parents, families, and communities, it is not overtly visible in schools. This article supports teachers and schools to explore the notion of Pasifika giftedness. Pasifika learners are gifted when ...

This article describes findings from a study concerning students’ experiences of being in-role as atmospheric scientists and discusses how these experiences facilitated learning about the Nature of Science. Twenty-seven Years 5 and 6 children, their teacher—recently returned to the classroom after a teacher fellowship experience in a local crown science research institute—and teacher educators participated ...

An integrated curriculum has not been a strong tradition within secondary schools. However, since the promotion of curriculum integration in the 2007 New Zealand curriculum, a growing number of secondary schools have begun to implement programmes to promote curriculum integration. This article outlines key findings from recent research into four “early adopter” secondary schools. This ...

Competition appears to have become increasingly discouraged in educational settings in New Zealand in recent years, with a push towards “protecting” our children from being constantly compared with others or experiencing failure. This article reports on a study that explored the lived experiences of gifted and talented young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds. These young ...

This article reports the results of a meta-evaluation of 30 publicly accessible evaluation reports written or commissioned by 20 New Zealand public-sector agencies during the period 2010–2013 to understand how evaluative reasoning is being practised in Aotearoa New Zealand. The reports were examined to find evidence of five key elements of evaluative reasoning, namely, evaluative ...

Whānau Ora, introduced as a government initiative in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2010, was designed to support collaboration and effective service delivery by Māori non-government organisations. The aim of Whānau Ora is to improve heath and social outcomes for whānau. Action research was conducted to support this initiative, with action researchers walking alongside Whānau Ora ...

Wairua (spirit) is threaded through the cultural beliefs, practices, and values of Māori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand. It is an inherent part of the daily life and cultural vitality that is embedded in Māori services and programmes. In a wānanga (forum for discussion and learning) Māori and Pasifika (peoples from the Pacific Islands ...

Practitioner competence is a critical ingredient in the development of a robust, valid and equitable evaluation. In Aotearoa New Zealand the evaluator competencies identify cultural competence as a core capability. There are some particular challenges that Pākehā (New Zealand European) evaluators face in developing this competency. In grappling with these complex challenges, and in the ...

Cultural fit is a concept that can be applied to the effectiveness of one’s evaluation practice as well as the interventions that seek to help people. We argue that there is substantial vagueness about being culturally competent, or culturally responsive, or both, and that the concepts these terms are attempting to embody can be ...