How do New Zealand schools make substantial changes?  Why do schools feel the need to change?  Do they change simply in reaction to outside pressure, or as a result of their own values?  Does change become an everyday practice or does it need heroic effort?  What kind of change is sustainable over time?  How important are government provision and accountability frameworks?

A significant research report, Sustaining School Improvement: Ten primary ...

New Zealand is facing a crisis concerning the recruitment and retention of school principals, as a significant number of “baby-boomer” principals retire over the next five years. Already there are problems recruiting principals, particularly in small rural, low-decile, full primary schools where the principal is a teaching principal.

This report summarises the present situation regarding principal recruitment and succession planning, by drawing together existing literature and collecting together unpublished new ...

The purpose of this research project is to improve understanding of the key elements of successful home–school partnerships, and how these partnerships operate in different school settings. The project has two parts—a review of evidence, and an empirical research component. 

In 2008–09 the Ministry of Education contracted the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) to undertake research about students’ experiences of learning in virtual classrooms. Virtual classrooms were established to enable secondary schools in New Zealand (particularly those in rural and remote areas, and small schools) to overcome issues of distance and resourcing which might otherwise limit the breadth and quality of the curriculum offered to their students. In ...

This report looks at the impact of student mobility on both students and schools. It is part of a wider project on the effects of mobility on communities.

This is the second phase of the study and backs up the preliminary findings, released in late 2005, which found no statistically significant differences between the students who moved frequently and those who were less mobile. The researchers argue that student mobility ...

This report for the New Zealand Principals’ Federation focuses on stress among New Zealand principals in state and state-integrated schools, and the factors associated with it. It uses their mid–2005 Principals’ Hauora-Wellbeing electronic survey. The response rate for the survey was 61 percent of all New Zealand principals in these schools (n=1,523). Responses were representative of the national profile of schools in terms of socioeconomic decile and location. Primary principals ...

This report identifies and discusses the many interwoven factors that impact on students’ decision making with regard to the ongoing study of sciences, both in the final year of secondary school, and on transition to tertiary level studies.

It addresses two closely related key questions:

• Why do students choose to continue with sciences in Year 13 of their school studies?
• Why do students plan to take up (or not take ...

This report for the Ministry of Education describes the results of a broad survey for the Competent Children project.

By telephone, 767 parents or caregivers were asked about the early childhood education experiences, home experiences, and home resources of children who turned five between late 1993 and mid 1994.

While new graduates of teacher education programmes are employed as provisionally registered teachers, they are still expected to plan, teach, and assess a full classroom programme with support from a tutor teacher.

This small-scale study explores the ways in which beginning teachers learn their classroom assessment roles and responsibilities.

The learning process begins with their initial teacher education programme and is completed by the employing schools, who are responsible for ...

This report informs the Ministry of Education's research programme into the Special Education 2000 provisions.

It is based on the results of interviews with a range of Māori organisations, iwi, and whänau on special education issues for Māori.