Set 2021: no 3

This Q&A is based on a conversation with primary school teacher Dianne Christenson about her use of place-based learning in science. The idea for the column took shape as Rose Hipkins listened to Di report back to her co-researchers in a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project team meeting. Di was talking about her experiences of taking her class to a neighbouring beach, not once, but multiple times. This pricked up the ears of Rose, who was writing a book about… Read more

When children and young people participate in education visits to green spaces such as parks, zoos, and nature reserves, little is known about the connections they make to sustainability issues or how they conceptualise sustainable futures. This article uses insights from interviews with children and young people who visited Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, a predator-free conservation environment in the heart of Wellington, New Zealand. It suggests three place-based approaches to using nature… Read more

This article addresses the question: What would it take for collaborative teacher–librarian partnerships to flourish in Aotearoa New Zealand secondary schools? We provide a three-part model that explores how professional expectations and local (school) conditions can influence whether the school librarian is siloed or integrated within a school. Our analysis is based on Patricia Montiel-Overall’s 2005 categorisation of teacher–librarian partnerships. The article concludes by discussing how… Read more

Teaching in superdiverse multicultural classrooms: Ideas from New Zealand secondary school teachers
Increased migration in recent years means that New Zealand classrooms are growing in cultural diversity—and in some communities, the extent and complexity of this has reached levels of “superdiversity”. This article reports on how teachers (n = 23) in four superdiverse secondary schools in New Zealand were responding to the growing cultural diversity in their classrooms. Four key… Read more

This article tells the contrasting stories of two Auckland secondary school principals who faced different challenges in leading their schools through a number of COVID-19-related lockdowns. It explores the extent to which leadership practices have been shaped by school closures. The focus is on community priorities, system changes, strengthening community connections and communication, and distribution of leadership. Connections with existing research and implications for leadership… Read more

In 2019, the Earthquake Commission (EQC) New Zealand with a stake to raise awareness of natural disasters and their impacts, commissioned the LEARNZ  Our Supervolcanoes virtual field trip (VFT) to teach about volcanoes around Lake Taupō in Aotearoa New Zealand. The involvement of kaupapa Māori researchers in the project facilitated an authentic opportunity to develop bicultural educational resources. We share insights from this collaboration that can inform the engagement process with… Read more