set 2013: no. 3

Each year several hundred New Zealand student teachers complete a final practicum before graduating to take on the critical role that teachers play in children’s learning. This final practicum is crucial to determining the student teacher’s suitability for entry into the profession. However, assessment of student teachers’ competence during the practicum appears to be particularly challenging, as making judgments about complex performance, such as teaching, is a sophisticated… Read more

The successful implementation of electronically networked (e-networked) tools to support an inquiry-learning approach in secondary science classrooms is dependent on a range of factors spread between teachers, schools, and students. The teacher must have a clear understanding of the nature of inquiry, the school must provide effective technological infrastructure and sympathetic curriculum parameters, and the students need to be carefully scaffolded to the point of engaging… Read more

The 2007 New Zealand curriculum introduced the idea of a “social inquiry” in the social studies curriculum. However, it appears that the nature and purpose of a social inquiry is still unclear to many teachers. The purpose of this article is to clarify what a social inquiry is, to examine its origins within the social sciences, and to consider the contribution it can make to inquiry learning. The article draws on empirical data from a secondary-school-wide local-community… Read more

Young people have an important contribution to make in helping adults understand what their lives are like and how they learn best. Youth–adult partnerships can provide opportunities for adults and young people to engage in conversations about teaching and learning, and can assist students to share their voices and articulate their learning needs and desires. This article discusses the findings of an appreciative inquiry into enhancing student learning about leadership. The… Read more

Learning mathematics for children in Māori medium is about fulfilling their potential as Māori and as mathematicians. While there has been a strong focus on numeracy in many New Zealand schools in recent years, teachers in Māori-medium settings are trying to provide a mathematics programme for their learners that supports achievement of Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori pāngarau (National Standards in mathematics) across all mathematics strands in the curriculum. This study is… Read more

Inclusive practice in schools for children with special-education needs is an explicit government priority. How children are transitioned from early childhood services can help or hinder a child’s inclusion into school. This research was designed to explore the transitions to school of children who mostly had high and very high special-education needs. Fifteen children across three districts of the North Island were the subject of case studies in which the researchers… Read more

Once we’ve shaped an inquiry into our own teaching, should we share our question with the students in the class?

There are many reasons why teachers might hesitate to share their inquiry questions with their students, from concerns about sharing the needs of specific learners to a desire to keep their professional learning private. Indeed, there might be very good grounds for a teacher to feel students being aware of the question might compromise the… Read more

The New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) has published a new literacy assessment—PAT: Punctuation and Grammar. PAT: Punctuation and Grammar has seven tests, aimed at Year 4 to Year 10 students. The tests assess student ability to recognise and use the grammatical conventions of standard New Zealand English, including punctuation.