Research publications

This article examines a critical incident during research investigating a new assessment system for on-job learning in carpentry. The system was designed to establish clear relationships between supportive learning environments and purposeful, professional assessment of learners’ progress through “naturally occurring evidence” on the building site. However, an unfortunate set of circumstances produced an assessment “perfect storm” for a training advisor’s workplace visit.

A book chapter in The Piketty Phenomenon: New Zealand perspectives 

About the book:

Few books have had the global impact of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. An overnight bestseller, Piketty’s assessment that inherited wealth will always grow faster, on average, than earned wealth has energised debate. Hailed as ‘bigger than Marx’ (The Economist) or dismissed as ‘medieval’ (Wall Street Journal), the book is widely acknowledged as having significant economic and political implications.

This document was developed in 2013 to support teachers and others to engage with findings from the e-in-science research project, carried out by the University of Waikato and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research under contract to the Ministry of Education.

The key competencies are a potentially transformative feature of the New Zealand Curriculum. However, the way in which they have been understood and implemented in schools points to tensions and challenges that may prevent them from acting as agents of curriculum change. One recent researcher /practitioner partnership developed materials that show how a close interweaving of key competencies and traditional subject learning might transform the taught curriculum.