This article unpacks the computational thinking for digital technologies (CTDT) technological area of the New Zealand primary curriculum that became mandatory in 2020. It explores computational thinking (CT), its place in the New Zealand primary curriculum, and elements kaiako can utilise to help implement the teaching of CT. The article ...

This article describes the development of an innovative Year 9 cross-curricula “Festival of Learning” known as Hui Taurima, which resulted in the awarding of a Teacher Led Innovation Fund (TLIF) project grant. The focus is on the elements of a place-responsive approach and the teachers’ perspectives of their journey to ...

This article outlines the development of a leadership programme for senior students involved in co-leading a Year 9 cross-curricula “Festival of Learning” known as Hui Taurima. The focus is on the Māori student leaders’ perspectives of a place-responsive approach to developing leadership that drew on the expertise of school staff ...

In this edition of Assessment News, Charles Darr uses a case study from the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) to highlight how students can benefit from activating deliberate thinking in assessments. The key message underscores the value of using assessment information to generate insights that inform better teaching ...

As part of their kaupapa of catering for the whole child, Pacific Advance Secondary School in Ōtāhuhu has implemented an innovative programme called Tū Tangata to get their talavou physically active. This has led to improvements in mental wellbeing and academic achievements. Tū Tangata is an expression well known to ...

Emotional literacy is at the heart of effective educational leadership. It supports organisational culture and change management, as well as teaching and learning outcomes. The research reported in this article was designed to help explain emotional literacy and its influence on school culture. Interviews with four primary school principals about ...

How do we support learning and teaching about complex issues? Researchers from the University of Auckland worked with 54 students and teachers from three Auckland secondary schools to evaluate health-science learning designed to investigate this question. The instructional strategies based on context familiarity, systems thinking, and narrative pedagogies can be ...

This article draws on doctoral research into conferences for teacher professional learning and development (PLD). It outlines the literature on teacher PLD, and describes the process by which the collective, game-like activity, Plan D, was designed and prototyped. Plan D affords teachers the opportunity to design their own, bespoke, PLD ...

The education system is in a period of significant change. Wellbeing is an increasing priority as schools reintegrate students after COVID-19 lockdowns and climate-related disasters. A large-scale curriculum refresh programme and the implementation of a new Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum are underway. These changes are encouraging schools to expand ...