Teacher wellbeing has gained increasing attention in recent decades, intricately related to the problems of teacher retention, attrition and shortages. In some respects, the emerging debates have been fundamentally disconnected from the everyday lives of teachers, schools and school communities. Teacher wellbeing is repeatedly foregrounded as a…

This paper describes findings related to the effectiveness of secondary school middle leaders as a contributor to within-school variation in academic results for students at department level in urban high schools. The 'high-stakes' academic assessment results for students in 10 urban high schools in New Zealand in English, mathematics and science…

This paper traverses changes in perceptions of the school principal's role, from sole to distributed leadership practices. A brief commentary on selected New Zealand literature is followed by a case study of a secondary co-principalship that identifies adaptive strategies and success factors in this joint role. The potentiality of the national…

This paper is concerned with how teachers manage homophobia at school. It examines how they deal with homophobia directed at students, "and" instances when teachers become the recipients of homophobia themselves. This dual focus, on teachers as both the perpetrators and recipients of homophobia, adds complexity to existing studies…

The aim of this study was to understand why some students avoid seeking help when they find classwork difficult. We employed a qualitative methodology to discover the theories in use that described and explained what high school students did and did not do when they did not understand in math classes. After 5 classroom observations of students'…

Peer learning offers powerful spaces for teachers to reconsider beliefs and change practice. Although productive teacher collaborations have been identified, there are few descriptive accounts explaining the detail of these collaborations and specifying conditions that enabled teachers to learn from each other. This article explores the ways in…

In new generation schooling contexts, the interaction of human activity, space, and objects, co- produce spatialised practices. There is the fluid use and continuous re-design of learning spaces, where dynamic socio-material practices support the ongoing and negotiated development of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Links are forged in this…

The role of middle leaders in New Zealand secondary schools is a complex one, fraught with many challenges. Educational reforms that began in the 1980s have increased pressure on top-level educational leaders, resulting in the delegation of responsibilities to other levels in the school hierarchy, with a considerable intensification of management…

Purpose: Food practices, including associated routines, rituals, and habits, are an unexplored area in school health promotion. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap through exploring how food rituals act as vehicles for young people to establish, maintain, and strengthen social relationships. Design/methodology/approach: Through an…

The aim of this mixed methods study was to explore the relationship between teacher expectations and student ethnicity. Factors that contributed to the achievement gap were also investigated. The study involved 15 mathematics teachers and 361 students from five urban secondary schools in Auckland. Fifteen teachers completed questionnaires and 10…

Factors that contribute to strong teacher-student relationships are vital to understand because of the influence these relationships have on achievement and motivation, particularly for minority group students. This article draws from a substantial quantity of empirical data, grounded in a wide theoretical and cultural base, regarding aspects of…

There is nothing like a good story to capture the imagination and help us engage with other people's experiences. This book is made up of fifteen such stories, written by young New Zealanders as they look back on their individual journeys from school to tertiary education. They come from rural and urban schools located mostly in economically…

Democratic political systems and the democratic way of life is aspired by most people around the world. Democracy is considered to be morally superior to other forms of political systems as it aspires to secure civil liberties, human rights, social justice and equality before the law for everyone regardless of their gender, culture, religion and…

This article describes a participatory action research (PAR) project conducted in a large urban, co-educational secondary school. The project focused on two senior pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who, seemingly as a result of feeling stressed or anxious, displayed behaviours that inhibited communication. Using questionnaires,…