Rosemary Hipkins

Kaihautū Rangahau Tāoki | Emeritus Chief Researcher

Rosemary (Rose) began her working life as a science and biology teacher, followed by several years working in teacher education. Rose joined NZCER in 2001 and over the following years she led, and supported, a wide range of research projects. Most of her work has broadly related to curriculum and/or assessment innovation in New Zealand.

Projects Rose has led or co-led include: exploring the implications of decolonising our research practice; adopting a "knowledge systems" approach to bringing mātauranga Māori and science learning together; teaching for complex systems thinking; and co-editing an edition of Assessment Matters, with all papers written by members of NZARE’s Science Education Special Interest Group. She has also supported work on NZCER’s National Surveys of schools; background research to support Refreshing The New Zealand Curriculum; and background research to support equity in NCEA assessment practices.    

Rose has served on the editorial boards of several journals and particularly enjoys helping teacher-researchers shape their experiences and insights for formal publication. She supported a number of TLIF (Teacher Led Innovation Fund) projects over the years of this fund’s existence. In 2019 Rose was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to science education. In 2022 she was awarded Life Membership of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE). In 2025, Rose retired from NZCER with the title Emeritus Chief Researcher.

Publications

Rich mathematical tasks Journal article 2025
He tōtōpū nō te pakiaka, he hiwa nō te pā—Research on indigenous national monitoring frameworks Research publication 2025
Assessing key competencies: Thinking outside the box Journal article 2024
Decolonising our approaches to educational research—Learning from our shared experiences at Rangahau Mātauranga o Aotearoa (NZCER) Research publication 2024
From key competencies to science capabilities and on to enduring competencies: Tracing the trajectory of an idea Journal article 2024
Making NCEA assessment more equitable: Can UDL principles help? Journal article 2023
Exploring tangled interrelationships between assessment and curriculum Journal article 2022
Could the design of assessment standards be adapted to better reflect curriculum intentions? Journal article 2022
Accommodating diversity in assessment: A snapshot of practice in 2022 Research publication 2022
Secondary teachers’ perspectives from NZCER’s 2021 National Survey of Secondary Schools Research publication 2022
Enduring competencies for designing science learning pathways Research publication 2022
New Zealand Curriculum Refresh: Progressions Approach Research publication 2021
Place-based learning: Reflections on the value of repeated field trips Journal article 2021
Determining How Learning is Progressing – Options for Calibrating Teacher Judgements Research publication 2021
Working with the PLD Priorities: Nine high impact practices Research publication 2020
Making the most of learning from home during times of crisis Journal article 2020
Making the most of learning from home during times of crisis Journal article 2020
Opportunities to reframe moderation practices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic Journal article 2020
Opportunities to reframe moderation practices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic Journal article 2020
Teaching science concepts relevant to climate change without getting lost in the complexity Journal article 2020