The long-running National Survey of Schools project is part of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research’s (NZCER’s) Te Pae Tawhiti programme of research, funded through the Ministry of Education.

NZCER has run a national survey of English-medium secondary schools every 3 years since 2003. For the 2021 National Survey of Secondary Schools, we surveyed a sample of 5,376 teachers, randomly chosen from a stratified sample of Years 9–13 and ...

What do we know about student activism in Aotearoa New Zealand? How do schools view and respond to student activism? And, in what ways does the New Zealand Curriculum support student activism? 

Student activism: Learning through doing explores what student activism looks like in this country. Youth attendance at the 2019–20 School Strikes for Climate marches, and other recent protest events for Ihumātao and Black Lives Matter, suggests that youth view activism as having ...

What is climate justice, and why does it matter? This briefing introduces the concept of climate justice, exploring interconnections with indigenous worldviews, rights-based frameworks, and ecofeminism. We invite educators, learners, and communities to explore these ideas and what they mean for your climate actions.

This briefing is part of a series. Other topics include:

• Climate change: What can schools do?
• Leadership and school-wide responses
• Learning and career pathways for a low-carbon ...

The COMPASS project is part of NZCER’s Te Pae Tawhiti Government Grant programme of research. It is also aligned to the broad goals and aspirations of NZCER, in that its overarching purpose is to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the notion of Whakatere Tōmua—Wayfinding. The COMPASS project has examined the ways kaiako, ākonga, and whānau navigate educational experiences and contexts.  

Using quantitative and qualitative data, the ...

Auckland Council’s Sustainable Schools team supported ten Auckland schools to pilot a school carbon footprint calculator between June and November 2021. NZCER carried out research for Auckland Council, to build knowledge about how schools can use a school carbon footprint calculator, and what support, advice, and resources schools need to use it effectively.

Although the pilot period was affected by COVID-19 lockdown, the findings of this pilot suggested that:

• there ...

NZCER submitted feedback on the Government's Emissions Reduction Plan in November 2021.

Introduction to the study

The Manaakitia ngā tamariki kia ora ai | Supporting children’s wellbeing publication shares themes and narratives from six good-practice primary and intermediate schools that are designing and using approaches to enhance the wellbeing of tamariki. The schools were invited to be part of this study as their Wellbeing@School data showed tamariki Māori, and other learners, all had high wellbeing. These six schools had positive trends over ...

Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories is being incorporated into The New Zealand Curriculum, and Te Takanga o te Wā is being incorporated into Te Marautanga o Aotearoa with the intent that schools and kura will implement this new curriculum content from 2022. 

Draft curriculum documents for Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories and Te Takanga o te Wā were released for public feedback on 3 February 2021. The Ministry of Education wanted to ...

In 2021, NZCER was contracted by the Ministry of Education to analyse and report the findings from the public engagement about the Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories in The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Takanga o Te Wā in Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

People gave feedback about the draft curriculum content in the following ways:

• general online survey (4,323 people)
• ākonga/learners online survey (168 people)
• submissions (488 submissions) 
• over 90 workshops ...

This small exploratory study was carried out in 2021 by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) for the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. The project is part of a wider suite of six studies commissioned by the National Library as part of their Communities of Readers initiative. This initiative foregrounds the benefits of reading for pleasure and the equitable distribution of these benefits ...