set 2015: no 2

Dr Sally Peters is a leading researcher in transitions from early childhood education to primary school. She recently co-edited a special issue of set’s sister journal, Early Childhood Folio, motivated by a “desire to enhance the transition experiences of young children moving between home, early childhood, and primary school settings”. We asked Sally about the special issue, current thinking on transitions, and where she’s headed next. She… Read more

New entrants encounter many new routines and different approaches to learning when they start school. This study aimed to identify the role of peer learning in helping new entrants to learn at school. The article reports on strategies the teachers used to foster peer learning in new entrant classrooms. Peer learning was strengthened when teachers provided opportunities for children to work together and paid attention to how children were grouped.

Key strategies and principles for leading transformative change to enable technology-rich learning for students and teachers within the school community are described in this case-study research. The study identifies strategies employed to successfully lead e-learning innovation and integration in a school setting. The investigation was driven by the curiosity of five school leaders who sought to develop their own understanding, capability, and confidence… Read more

The Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum and national curricula identify the need for students to be connected, caring and active contributors to their own, others, and wider community wellbeing. This article draws on findings from a collaborative, inquiry-based research project that aimed to reimagine outdoor education within HPE to better reflect the needs of the diverse students, the school’s vision and curriculum priorities, and the HPE learning… Read more

Many teachers are familiar with the characteristics of culturally responsive pedagogy, which include an ethic of care based on deep relations underlying all classroom interactions, power sharing between students and teachers, challenging deficit theories of achievement, and making students’ cultural and ethnic identities and knowledge fundamental dimensions to curriculum design. These ideas make classrooms more inclusive and challenge teaching practices and… Read more

Ambitious mathematics teaching involves skilled ways of eliciting and responding to each and every student in the class so that they learn worthwhile mathematics and come to view themselves as competent mathematicians. In this article we analyse a beginning teacher’s enactment of a Quick Image activity in order to illustrate how the teacher’s valuing and building on students’ mathematical thinking creates positive and productive learning opportunities for her… Read more

This article reports on a New Zealand study with 5- and 6-year-old children that focused on the use of multiplication and division word problems to build part–whole thinking. Using a design research methodology, researchers and two teachers developed word problems using familiar contexts and materials with groups of two, five, and ten. Children were assessed before and after a series of targeted lessons and showed improvement in basic number knowledge, including… Read more

PAT: Mathematics tests have been around since 1974, and are used in thousands of New Zealand classrooms. In this article we outline the history of the tests, then describe some recent and ongoing work that marks a new era in the evolution of the assessments. Until now, PAT Maths tests were composed solely of multiple-choice items, and could only be administered, marked and analysed manually. The new era has already made tests available online, opening up a new… Read more