The introduction of the National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA), as the key school-based components of New Zealand’s National Qualifications Framework (NQF) has been accompanied by controversy around a range of issues.

It seems that much of the debate has centred on surface level symptoms, and has not probed the deep underlying causes of the tensions.

In this article I locate the assessment changes of the NQF/NCEA within the “knowledge ...

This article explores the nature of a continuing mismatch between curriculum reform rhetoric in science education and actual classroom practice. 

Lack of philosophical consensus about the nature of science (NOS); lack of appropriate curriculum guidance, classroom materials and pedagogical content knowledge for NOS teaching; teachers' personal theories of learning; and the realities of classroom constraints are all implicated as interacting factors that contribute to the mismatch. 

Because curriculum policy is ...

This study, as part of a larger longitudinal study, "Teachers of Promise", seeks to explore the perceptions and experiences of a group of teachers judged to have the potential to become strong teachers. It is these promising teachers who are needed for a strong and vibrant teaching profession, and it is these teachers who are most likely to leave teaching. Entrants to teaching have been differentiated according to the pathways ...

This article shows how one longitudinal youth transition study has attempted to draw on the idea of 'working the hyphen' of researcher-researched relations by paying attention to a second hyphen-that of policy-research.

The article argues that this second hyphen is equally important in a study which challenges the positioning of young people as both the problem and solution of transition by asking different questions, and telling different stories, about transition.  ...

This article provides some insights into patterns of science choices made by year 12 students from six New Zealand secondary schools, and the reasons that they gave for choosing these subjects. Outlines findings from the Learning Curves research project

The full journal article is published in:
New Zealand Science Teacher, 106, 2004. p.27-31

This article describes the organisation of a teachers' professional network and the teachers' use of 'pedagogical documentation' to analyse, reflect on, and critique pedagogical practice.  It explores ways in which a forum and process were created for teachers to think about assumptions, values, and the purpose of education, explore reciprocal influences of teachers' and children's interactions, and deepen opportunities for parents and children to contribute to the curriculum.  It discusses ...

Reading recovery is a home grown success story, yet fewer schools are opting to offer it than in the past. Sue McDowall argues that there is still astrong case for schools adopting it.

The full journal article published in
New Zealand Education Review 12 (48), 2007, p8.

This paper gives an overview of the secondary sector in New Zealand and its educational reforms of the 1990s. 

This sets the context to describe links between educational research, policy, and practice during this time.  It is argued that much of the research over the past decade has been small-scale and short-term and while this has served the immediate policy agenda it has provided only fragmentary evidence to inform longer-term goals such ...

Searching informational text involves use of text characteristics and task factors. 

• Text characteristics include signalling devices (e.g., headings, subheadings, titles), typography (e.g., fonts, boldface or italic text), and structural features (e.g., organisation, graphics, paragraphing). 
• Task conditions depend on how explicitly or implicitly search requirements have been stated and on whether the search problem involves a single, multiple, or complex formulation. 

Research into young adolescent students' use of text characteristics to ...

Journal article on how schools are implementing the new "Planning and reporting" (PAR) requirement, and how it is impacting on student learning.  

The PAR study explores principals' and teachers' views on how understanding and attitudes towards data gathering and use have shifted considerably in schools in the last three years.

The full journal article published in:
New Zealand Principal, 22 (2), 2007. p. 11-12