Set 2024: no. 1

This article explores how schools and educators can create learning environments that foster the innate mana of students. Mana is a concept that comes from a Māori worldview and refers to a person’s sense of authority, influence, self-efficacy, purpose, pride, and belonging. The Mana Model contends that student thinking, behaviour, and wellbeing are motivated by the desire to achieve a sense of mana. The mana model explains how student connectedness, belonging to place, cultural… Read more

For partnerships between non-Māori teachers and Māori parents in English-medium education to productively support student learning, parents must first associate positive feelings with three layered interaction types involving their child’s teacher. The first interaction type is the teacher with their teacher self; the second is teacher–student interaction; the final is teacher–parent interaction. Māori parents’ perspectives on how teacher dispositions and actions facilitate positive feelings… Read more

There is often a steady trajectory of curriculum change under the surface of developments that might seem arbitrary or inconsistent. This article traces the change from key competencies to science capabilities and, most recently, to enduring competencies. All these changes (and names) respond to increasing awareness of the challenges involved in weaving curriculum elements together. For the Science learning area, these challenges centre on how best to understand why the Nature of Science… Read more

In 2020, two teachers and seven students participated in an action research project that sought to improve the teaching and learning of fractions in a New Zealand primary school. This research revealed that the collaborative creation of hypothetical learning trajectories was beneficial to the teachers’ practice, content knowledge, and confidence, as well as the learning design and student achievement. The participating teachers employed pedagogical strategies through the hypothetical… Read more

There is concern in Aotearoa New Zealand that Pacific students, families, and communities are underserved by schooling. Of note is the inability of education to encourage and equitably enable Pacific students to follow a successful journey into science. To shed light on this situation, this article presents the stories of two young Pacific scientists who are now engaged in the health sector. Key elements include stereotypes, motivations, sacrifices, and teacher influence. The stories offer… Read more

With the new National-led government now in office, we can expect changes to assessment policy for schools. Given the critical role assessment plays in schooling, it is important that any proposed policy shifts are carefully scrutinised. In this Assessment News column, we identify some possible proposals the new government may be considering and make some brief comments on each one. We conclude with some recommendations.