Background: Many health education scholars over the last 20 years have argued that critical approaches to the discipline are needed. Despite these calls, there are few published examples of actual critical practice in action in school classrooms. Some have argued that part of the explanation for this lacuna lies in a dichotomy in the field between…

There exists considerable and rich literature on students' misconceptions about probability; less attention has been paid to the development of students' probabilistic thinking in the classroom. Grounded in an analysis of the literature, this article offers a lesson sequence for developing students' probabilistic understanding. In particular, a…

Background: A focus on equity, democracy and social justice in HPE is pertinent in an era where there are growing concerns about the impact of neoliberal globalisation and precariousness of society (Kirk 2020). Although there is advocacy for teaching approaches in HPE that address issues of social justice, there is limited empirical research of…

This article describes the development of an assessment system for adolescent reading comprehension. It presents a research context--a reading intervention implemented in middle and high schools in an urban district--which became the impetus for the work. The article outlines the organizational principles of construct modeling that guided the…

This article explores the potential of queering as a mode of critique by problematising the ways in which liberal politics of race shape normative understandings of health in a high school classroom. Drawing on findings from an Australian and New Zealand (NZ) research project designed to respond to religious and cultural difference in school-based…

The broad aim of most sexuality educational programs is to improve and promote health among students (Epstein and Johnson 1998; Allen 2005; Aggleton and Campbell 2000). Various education programs aim for young people to receive preparation for their sexual lives and be educated against sexual abuse and exploitation (Carmody 2009; Bay-Cheng 2003),…

Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) are agents of change, charged with the responsibility to facilitate paradigm shift from traditional to inclusive models of educational theory and practice. With seven years experience in an RTLB role I have come to the realisation that if there is congruence between a practitioner's value and belief…

A review of recent school psychology publications was conducted to discover the espoused theory of contemporary school psychology, as distinct from school psychology practice. We considered that identification of the espoused theory of school psychology, the story of school psychology, would support professional reflection and the identification…

Recent research provides evidence that individuals shift in their perception of variants depending on social characteristics attributed to the speaker. This paper reports on a speech perception experiment designed to test the degree to which the age attributed to a speaker influences the perception of vowels undergoing a chain shift. As a result…

This article explores the ongoing evolution of a critical approach to teaching physical education in senior school physical education (SSPE) within a New Zealand context. The nature and development of SSPE is briefly discussed in order to contextualise a shift toward a critical pedagogy in light of recent curriculum changes that focus on…

There is disagreement in the literature regarding the influence of social and cultural factors on the propensity for young people to undertake higher education. This study draws upon a national data set of over 45,000 young people to assesses their propensity to progress to bachelor level study, while controlling for their ethnic backgrounds,…

Computer simulations and animations for developing statistical concepts are often not understood by beginners. Hands-on physical simulations that morph into computer simulations are teaching approaches that can build students' concepts. In this paper we review the literature on visual and verbal cognitive processing and on the efficacy of…

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…

In this article, I offer a new interpretation of non-Maori parents' claim that a Maori/English bilingual school unit in Aotearoa/New Zealand is separatist. I show that while some use such a claim to defend monoculturalism and white hegemony, others use it to come to terms with Aotearoa/New Zealand's postcolonial nationhood, globalization, and a…