New Zealand’s previous examination-based secondary assessment system can be viewed as encompassing cultural values presenting unfair challenges for indigenous and other nonmajority students. The standards-based National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) incorporates enhanced flexibility, student choice and grading practices independent of comparisons with others. These features may be a better ...

The Premier New Zealand Scholarship, awarded annually to students performing at a high level in multiple secondary school subjects, has historically been dominated by students with successful results in mathematics and the sciences. Three possible explanations for this dominance are explored in the present article. The first is that greater ...

Before I trot out my starter-kit proposal, however, I need to make sure we are considering the same entity here, so let me first offer a definition of formative assessment and, after that, provide a brief rationale for why more teachers should be using it.

Key messages:

• The need to identify students’ language, phonic and alphabet knowledge early on, and to systematically teach those skills in the early years.
• Schools need more support from reading specialists, and access to it needs to be easier.
• Prereading skills should be taught at preschool.

The skills of oral narrative and phonological awareness are seen as precursors and predictors of reading development. In this study of bilingual Māori primary school students, Fleur Harris found that current methods of assessing these skills are based on the English language and Western modes of storytelling, and cast these ...

Schools and teachers are expected to respond appropriately when they encounter children acting sexually. This article describes the literature on child sexual development and behaviour and the responses of Waikato primary school principals to a questionnaire. Specific issues for New Zealand primary schools and teachers are investigated, with suggestions for ...

Several years ago I was awestruck by the bold vision of Wellington’s Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. Their strategic plan has a 500-year time frame. This is, of course, entirely appropriate when you’re seeking to restore a landlocked “island” to its natural state. Setting an inspirational vision—and in time achieving it—requires a ...

When a teacher let her Years 4 and 5 class chose their own science topic to study, they settled on—what else?—farting. This article shows how letting students pursue their own interests led them to real science learning.

This article makes connections between the findings from an evaluation of the Ministry of Health’s Fruit in Schools (FiS) initiative and recent changes in the New Zealand curriculum, in particular in the Health and Physical Education (PE) learning area. It explores the rationale for actively involving students in health promotion ...

This companion article to “Enabling students to lead the way” explores the rationale for using a whole-school approach to health and wellbeing, and the connection between this approach and the revised curriculum. Some possible changes that could occur to school actions in regard to health and wellbeing are discussed. The ...