This report details the methodology and analysis underpinning a recent research summary produced for a school audience. The summary and the overall study explored students’ experiences of discrimination and how school, teacher, and student practices are associated with, and mitigate, those experiences. 

The study used Wellbeing@School (W@S) student survey data collected between 2023 and 2025 from 108,379 students across 643 New Zealand primary, intermediate, and secondary schools. We explored ...

In 2025, Te Arahou o Aotearoa—the Māori Achievement Collaborative (MAC) commissioned Te Wāhanga, the Māori research unit of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER), to evaluate the MAC kaupapa.  

MAC is a nationwide kaupapa that provides professional learning and support for primary, intermediate, and secondary school principals. It was established in 2013 to help school leaders develop the conditions in which ākonga Māori can thrive and achieve ...

This literature review is the first output of the Curriculum in Practice project and informs subsequent stages of our research. The review had two main aims:

• to understand the New Zealand Curriculum update’s “direction of travel” in relation to selected international jurisdictions
• to synthesise literature about teachers’ and school leaders’ curriculum making and curriculum sensemaking.

It also examines:

• the origins and debates around “knowledge-rich” curriculum approaches
• themes from jurisdictions with ...

This is the second report from the 2025 National Survey of Secondary Schools, and focuses on secondary teacher perspectives (the first report focused on principals and is available here).  

NZCER collected data from teachers in all English-medium secondary schools (including composite schools and teen parent units) between Term 4 2025 and early Term 1 2026.  After data cleaning, 830 teacher responses from 126 schools were included in analysis ...

Teachers as data navigators is a study that aims to provide a national snapshot of primary and intermediate teachers’ data capabilities, and to understand how schools use data when making decisions aimed at improving teaching, learning, and equity. 

The research question that guided our study was: How do primary and intermediate teachers perceive their data capabilities and their use of data when making decisions about improving teaching and learning? 

A ...

This first report from the 2025 National Survey of Secondary Schools provides a snapshot of secondary principals' perspectives amidst a period of significant change for the education sector. A second report covering findings from secondary teachers is available here.  

In this publication, NZCER presents findings from a survey of 106 secondary principals in Aotearoa – a broadly representative sample of the wider population. The next national survey of ...

This report was produced by NZCER for the COVID-19 Lessons Learned Royal Commission | Te Tira Ārai Urutā. It provides an evidence-based view of whether COVID-19–related school disruptions have affected student learning in Aotearoa New Zealand.  

To do this, NZCER has analysed Progressive Achievement Test (PAT) data for mathematics and reading comprehension to estimate the effect of COVID‑19–era school closures on achievement in Aotearoa New Zealand. Auckland is compared ...

How schools report to parents and whānau has a statistically significant impact on schools’ approaches to supporting positive behavior, wellbeing, and attendance – three crucial support systems identified in the 2024 National Survey of Schools.  

In this research brief, NZCER explores how assessment and reporting practices shape and influence these support systems, with a particular focus on attendance – one of the five Common Components (updated from four ...

This research brief examines teacher data from the 2024 National Survey of Primary Schools – specifically, how school leadership practices shape teachers’ interest in becoming a principal. Our findings show that early-career teachers are more open to leadership roles than those later in their teaching careers. This highlights the need to better understand how we can sustain leadership aspirations throughout a teacher’s career. 

We found that strong leadership practices (reflected ...

In 2024, the Ministry of Education contracted Te Wāhanga, the Māori research unit of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER), to carry out a kaupapa Māori research project to inform the development of Tīrewa Mātai. The overarching research question for this study is: What are key issues for the Ministry of Education to consider when developing Tīrewa Mātai?

To answer this question, the Ministry of Education ...