set 2014: no. 2

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 even how to deliver an increased level of personalisation and student agency in learning, require schools to make significant changes to behaviours… Read more

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 schools vary in their choice of approach to science, but many employ generic inquiry approaches, most commonly aligned to information literacy processes, to address… Read more

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 on how well teachers understand the conceptual nature of historical thinking. Teachers who understand how the discipline of history operates are more… Read more

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 outlines the findings of a study into the number of students studying international languages at National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 3, both nationally and in… Read more

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 this policy can be implemented by drawing from a research evaluation project on the effectiveness of the He Kākano professional development, a project carried out in 80 English-… Read more

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 succeeding in more traditional subjects. The course opened a new pathway for learning and involved studying relevant issues using different learning areas.… Read more

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” (p. 39). At the same time an increasing body of research suggests that assessment for learning isn’t easy for teachers (see, for example, Mansell, James, and… Read more

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 early warning systems to identify students who are “at risk” of failing to complete their NCEA qualifications, and we describe the measures that can be put in place to better support… Read more