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Research publications

Research publications from our research teams.

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Game coding workshops in New Zealand public libraries
Author(s): Rachel Bolstad
Publication type: Research report

This report evaluates a game coding workshop offered to young people and adults in seven public libraries round New Zealand.  Participants were taken step by step through the process of creating their own simple 2D videogame, learning the basics of coding, computational thinking, and digital game design. The workshops were free and drew 426 people across the seven locations. 85% of participants completed an online evaluation form at the end of the workshop.

We evaluated the project in relation to its key goals and aims of:

Rachel Bolstad Games for learning
5 July 2016

Secondary schools in 2015
Author(s): Cathy Wylie and Linda Bonne
Publication type: Research report

This is a comprehensive picture of the current experiences and challenges for secondary schools in New Zealand. It presents the findings from NZCER's national survey of secondary schools, conducted in July and August 2015.  It includes the perspectives of principals, teachers, parents and board of trustee members on a wide range of issues.

You can either download the full report or by thematic chapter.

Cathy Wylie Linda Bonne National Survey of Schools Policy School governance and management Student health and wellbeing NCEA Implementing New Zealand Curriculum Key Competencies
18 May 2016

Developing primary science teacher expertise: Thinking about the system
Author(s): Ally Bull
Publication type: Research report

This report comes from an exploratory project looking at professional learning and development for primary science teachers.

In recent years there has been increased interest in science in New Zealand for social and economic reasons. However, there has been concern that the primary school system is not preparing students as well as it could in science. Recent research suggests that many primary teachers do not feel confident about either teaching science or being able to access the support they need.

Ally Bull Science education Professional learning
3 May 2016

New Zealand Students’ Mathematics-Related Beliefs and Attitudes: Recent Evidence
Author(s): Linda Bonne
Publication type: Journal article

Internationally, associations between mathematics achievement and students’ beliefs and attitudes related to learning are well established. This article examines five studies to identify patterns in New Zealand students’ mathematics-related beliefs and attitudes, and their relationships with achievement. The studies involved students aged 5-13 years and looked at different aspects of students’ beliefs and attitudes, from ideas about the malleability of intelligence, to confidence in their general mathematics ability, to task-specific mathematics self-efficacy judgments.

Linda Bonne Student engagement Maths education
24 April 2016

All the school's a stage. Schools collaborating with experts in the community
Author(s): Sue McDowall and Jenny Whatman
Publication type: Research report

This report presents findings from a case study at Pakuranga Intermediate on their collaboration with a group of performing and visual artists in 2012-2014. It's part of a wider NZCER investigation into successful and sustained collaborations between schools, communities and professional experts.

Jenny Whatman PLD for facilitators Schools collaborating with community and professional experts Sue McDowall Schooling for the future Curriculum and assessment
21 March 2016

Students' beliefs about themselves as mathematics learners
Author(s): Bonne, L., & Johnston, M.
Publication type: Journal article

This journal article looks at how a group of 7-9 year olds in four New Zealand primary schools thought about intelligence, their beliefs about themselves as maths learners and how that related to their achievement in maths. It also identified strategies that teachers could use to build students' self-efficacy.

The article can be accessed from Science Direct.

Linda Bonne Maths education
14 March 2016

WAPA 2020: Gains and insights from an enduring school network
Author(s): Cathy Wylie
Publication type: Paper

WAPA is a network of West Auckland schools which have worked together since 2009.  NZCER has worked alongside them to look at WAPA's progress and what supports it. The paper contains insights for the new Communities of Learning networks.

Cathy Wylie School governance and management Education leadership practices
3 March 2016

Strengthening the strategic leadership of New Zealand principals: Summary
Author(s): Cathy Wylie and Jacky Burgon
Publication type: Research summary

SpringboardTrust is a non-profit organisation whose aim is to improve student outcomes through improving the effectiveness of principals. NZCER was asked to evaluate the short-term impact of its flagship programme, the Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme (SLPP).

School governance and management Evaluation Education leadership practices
19 February 2016

Developing expertise without certainty in general practice medicine
Author(s): Karen Vaughan
Publication type: Journal article

This article argues that particular experiences in the workplace are more important than others and can lead to transformational learning. This may enable practitioners to cross ‘vocational thresholds’ to new ways of being.  A notion of ‘vocational thresholds’ is developed, aiming to help build an understanding of the most powerful learning experiences of general practitioners (GPs).

Karen Vaughan Knowing Practice Professional learning Careers and transition Learning at work
12 February 2016

My FRIENDS Youth final evaluation report
Author(s): MacDonald, J., Bourke, R., Berg, M., & Burgon, J
Publication type: Research report

A report to the Ministry of Education you can read on the Education Counts website.

In 2013 the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) was commissioned, in partnership with Associate Professor Roseanna Bourke from Victoria University of Wellington, to undertake an evaluation of My FRIENDS Youth in the New Zealand trial schools. This is the final evaluation report of the programme. 

Jo MacDonald Melanie Berg Student health and wellbeing
18 December 2017

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