Education in New Zealand (and indeed the world) is currently facing the greatest period of rapid change it has ever experienced. Challenges such as how to address chronic underachievement, what to do with ultra-fast broadband or mobile devices, the implementation of modern learning environments, developing inquiry or project-based learning, or ...

The New Zealand Curriculum [NZC] identifies an understanding of science that supports informed citizenship as a major goal for the Science learning area. The Nature of Science strand, which explores how science itself works, is the overarching and compulsory strand in Science for Years 1–10. New Zealand primary ...

This article draws on a recent New Zealand study of how young people learn to think critically about the past when they conduct internally assessed course work. The research demonstrated that, although students can develop advanced understandings of historical thinking when they conduct research projects, this development is largely dependent ...

In recent years Learning Languages has become a learning area in its own right in the New Zealand curriculum, and there have been initiatives to facilitate more language learning in primary and intermediate schools. Less has been done to increase the number of students in senior secondary classes. This article ...

Education policy requires that schools and teachers enable Māori students to enjoy and achieve educational success as Māori. Teachers are expected to ensure Māori learners can see and be themselves in their education and can participate in and contribute to te ao Māori (the Māori world). This article discusses how ...

NCEA has potential for the development of assessment frameworks that enable all students to demonstrate success in learning. However, research shows that this potential is not being realised. This article illustrates the way that two teachers developed a course in education for sustainability designed for those students who were not ...

What value do we ascribe to assessment in a climate that seems to be driven by National Standards? How do we account for individual differences in students?

The main purpose for assessment should always be to improve learning (Ministry of Education, 2007). The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) acknowledges that evidence for assessment for learning is often gathered informally, and “analysis and interpretation, and use of information often take place in the mind of the teacher” ...

An early warning system can draw the attention of teachers to students’ learning needs early in the course of study, allow monitoring of progress in student learning, and guide the implementation of instructional interventions. In this article we report on a study in which we examined teachers’ views on using ...

The changing nature of literacy in the senior secondary school means that many common tools do not give subject teachers the detailed information they need to identify and address strengths and gaps in their students’ reading and writing. We illustrate some of the complexities of reading and writing in the ...