set 2010: no. 1

There is a rich variety of topics in this issue of set: Research Information for Teachers, with research reported from junior primary to senior secondary, and with themes intersecting these sectors: the use of ICT, literacy learning, and student engagement. These themes are particularly topical in the current educational environment.

Virtual classrooms are ICT immersion environments where teachers use technology to teach students from different physical locations—which might mean that they use the opportunities of ICT to enable collaborative Web 2.0 learning. This article looks at how virtual classes operate in reality, and what we can learn about how to move towards 21st century ways of learning.

Few studies have ever shown the improved results of an intervention project continuing after that programme has finished. Is it possible to achieve sustainability and what factors would contribute to it? This article looks at one programme that sustained gains and how it was done.

Drawing on secondary teachers’ experience of standards-based assessment for NCEA, this short article discusses moderation challenges that will face primary teachers as they make overall professional judgments of each student's progress against the new National Standards. Moderation potentially offers rich professional learning possibilities—but only if teachers feel safe to learn, have the time needed, and are given access to robust examples to inform their debates.

There are many children who have interpersonal difficulties at school which affect their enjoyment of and achievement in learning. The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) recognises the critical role that schools have to play in supporting the development of students’ competency in relating to others. This article discusses a junior primary class intervention programme that targets children’s self-control and assertion behaviours.

In literacy learning situations, teachers frequently fix errors before helping children find errors. This can be a source of confusion for students, especially when they are experiencing difficulty or when a task is hazy. This article describes a process of self-monitoring that helps children identify errors. It is based on three crucial steps—noticing, questioning and judging one’s own concrete behaviour in relation to a current task.

In the last 10 years subsidised laptops have been rolled out to classes at all levels and ICT has become more common in the classroom. How are teachers using ICT to teach junior science and what is supporting them to do this?

Talk about Books is an oral language programme that involves intensive work by teacher aides with individual children. The results of the study outlined in this article show that it effectively enhances oral language development in young learners from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Assessment in schools is often concerned with generating student-achievement information in specific learning areas. However, we can use assessment techniques to collect a wider range of information that might reveal important prerequisites for learning or educational outcomes that are important in their own right.