Racism is pervasive in education in Aotearoa New Zealand, including in early childhood education. The preparedness of early childhood teachers to respond to the Ministry of Education's current anti-racism policy direction is a pressing concern. This is particularly the case, given the early childhood curriculum "Te Whariki: He whariki…

The social service sector in New Zealand is undergoing significant change with the Minister responsible for introducing a new Ministry for Vulnerable Children (now Ministry for Children) signalling a commitment to practice being child-centred and trauma-informed in the new era. There is no shared understanding of these terms or what they will mean…

The goal of the Poutama Pounamu blended learning course is to promote contexts for change where equity, excellence, and belonging for Maori and all learners can be realised. In this article I share some key learnings from my own journey through this course. I reflect on my path towards honouring the Treaty of Waitangi, including the challenges I…

Global citizenship (GC) is becoming increasingly significant as a desirable graduate attribute in the context of increasing globalisation and cultural diversity. However, both the means and ends of GC education are influenced by a divergent range of conceptualizations. The aim of this research project was to investigate preservice teachers'…

In this paper, we consider New Zealand's education system to understand what can happen when we focus only on excellence and students reaching their potential, without simultaneously investing in their sense of belonging and wellbeing. National statistics suggest we are alienating and shortchanging an increasing number of students and, for…

In early childhood education [ECE] settings, teachers need to be conscious of the diverse learning needs of individual children in their care. Meeting individual needs has roots in the rights discourse which aims to promote human rights, social justice and inclusion, removing barriers that may hinder learning for children with diverse needs…

The paper reports on an initiative undertaken by a group of Pacific educators --"insiders" who have undertaken various activities and work of embedding Indigenous graduate attributes into teacher education courses, in leadership training of young and emerging young Pacific leaders and in communities, research that takes into account…

Developing a conceptualization of the supervision relationship that can successfully encourage cultural relevancy and the pursuit of social justice is a challenge facing social workers today. We propose that a social constructionist perspective invites social work supervisors influenced by Euro-Western discourse to (1) seek understanding about…

The notion of internationalization in higher education is understood as the recruitment of international students, marketing of academic programs and courses, and teaching English as a Second Language to student cohorts from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Various models of internationalization (Knight, 2004, 2006; Leask, 2009; Pimpa, 2009;…

The work presented here is a large-scale evaluation of a theory-driven school reform project in New Zealand, which focuses on improving the educational achievement of Maori students in public secondary schools. The project's conceptual underpinnings are based on Kaupapa Maori research, culturally responsive teaching, student voice, and…

Australia and New Zealand are two South Pacific nations with a shared history of British colonisation and close links maintained through kinship, travel, shared media and business relationships. Our public education systems also reflect a shared history of educational ideas and responses to the challenges of increasingly heterogeneous populations.…