In this paper, a site ontological approach to practice seeks to understand how educational development can be accomplished through the practices of 'middle leaders'--educators who exercise their leading 'between' the principal and the teaching staff. Analysis of two vignettes of leading in extraordinary circumstances untangles the web of…

Teacher professional learning provides opportunities to enhance understandings and practices for those directly involved in children's learning. The expectations placed on providers of professional learning are frequently shaped by mandates beyond their control and or expertise. In this paper, we examine how the complex set of philosophies framing…

To the outside observer, physical education in many primary schools, both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, continues be practised in ways that students of the 1970s would recognise. The only significant change would arguably be the introduction of an increased regime of testing, and a narrower focus on physical health agendas. This is…

This paper centres on research that investigated the contemporary policy, curriculum and pedagogical landscape of Health and Physical Education (HPE) in Aotearoa New Zealand, in the light of increasing impressions that provision was moving to an "open market" situation. Publicly available information sourced via the Internet was used to…

One of the challenges in in-service teacher education is how teachers can be given professional development (PD) that enables them to respond to national curriculum and policy change. In recent years primary teachers in New Zealand have been inundated with Ministry of Education-funded professional development programmes to help them implement a…

Pre-packaged curriculum resources that are purportedly designed to support teachers to deliver physical education in primary school settings have become prolific internationally. While both teachers and teacher educators use curriculum resources extensively, there has been little exploration into the effectiveness of resources in supporting…

This paper analyses the impact of a nationwide one-year physical education (PE) professional development (PD) programme on 25 generalist classroom teachers from 10 primary schools in New Zealand. This research specifically explores how a year-long PD programme, focused predominantly on general pedagogical strategies, supported in-service…