Set 2019: no. 3

“Respect” is a value that underpins Pasifika ways of being, Pasifika learner success and wellbeing, and strong home–school partnerships with Pasifika families and communities. When teachers acknowledge and respond appropriately to students’ Pasifika values, such as respect, learning is enhanced and cultural identity nourished. To inform our work with student teachers, we asked teachers about their perceptions of respect and how they demonstrated and nurtured respect in their teaching. We… Read more

This article describes a study that captured the voices of six Niuean boys and their views on senior secondary schooling and the pursuit of higher education in New Zealand. Their tutala give insight into their relationships, identity, career goals, family support, and church life. With growing emphasis on culturally responsive pedagogy, this study began with the premise that, while Pasifika students share some similar experiences and expectations, it is important to understand differences… Read more

Pacific students’ success has been under discussion by Pacific scholars for decades and, using traditional academic measures, their academic success does not compare well with other ethnic groups. Despite the identification of this problem, specific and practical actions to counter it appear not to be well understood by classroom teachers. This article explains an action-research pilot programme that was put in place to improve Pacific students’ learning experiences with the hope that it… Read more

If schools wish to be more inclusive by reflecting the communities they serve, paying deliberate attention to embedded values can be helpful. This article describes thinking and actions set in a school with a history of attending to values. It suggests that when consulting on values, the ethics of critical research can enhance the process of inquiry. This happens if the values that are present in how we inquire are brought to the surface to complement the values-based information we learn.… Read more

Common approaches to language teaching in many New Zealand schools typically show a lack of attention to students’ own language-learning strategies. This article argues that the success or otherwise of language immersion programmes, in particular within Māori-medium educational settings, depend as much on the skills and strategies of the student as on those of the teacher. Raising the language-learning skills of the students in non-immersion Māori language programmes would likewise be… Read more

Adding Digital Technologies curriculum content into primary classrooms may feel, to many primary teachers, like a new burden and more work—but many aspects of computational thinking can be explored in the context of our existing mathematics programmes. This article highlights the connection between computational thinking and mathematics, and presents examples of classroom activities that teach computational thinking and mathematics in ways that are meaningful and discourse-rich.

Jade Speaks Up is an Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)-funded programme. It supports teachers to use process drama and other activities to introduce the topic of domestic violence while at the same time developing emotional literacy, trust, and self-calming skills. This article draws on qualitative and quantitative evaluation data to show how process drama can deepen authentic exploration and generation of strategies. Insights from teachers are shared to illustrate the impact of their… Read more

The New Zealand Government has announced a change package in response to a recent review of the National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA). In this article Charles Darr, a chief researcher at the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, outlines several elements of standards-based assessment that can usefully inform NCEA’s future development, especially in regard to the new standards being shaped. The article also explores how NCEA’s revision might provide an opportunity… Read more