In 2018, the author embarked on Master of Education research to investigate how mature adults were affected by regular participation in visual art classes. Visual art education is reported to have a positive effect on the cognition of mature adults in various contexts (Schindler et al., 2017; Wali et al., 2001), so this research investigates…

The future of tertiary education grapples with the opportunities, affordances, and limitations of online teaching and learning (T&L), and educators' valuable insights and experiences can shape and enhance the tertiary sector. The current study provided tertiary educators with an opportunity to anonymously share their online T&L…

This paper investigates the phenomena of overclaiming -- the propensity for individuals to claim more knowledge about an issue or topic than they really (or could possibly) do. Using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from nine Anglophone countries and over 40,000 young people, we examine teenagers' propensity to claim…

Pennington and Richards (2016) argue that if the medium of instruction (MOI) is not the native language of the instructor, lack of proficiency in the MOI could bring about a lack of confidence. This study inquired how native Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) teachers at tertiary institutions in New Zealand and Australia perceive their English…

I brought together two strands of literature, one investigating the moderate but persistent underachievement of girls in mathematics in most countries, and the other examining the role of self-efficacy and other self-beliefs in predicting behaviour and achievement. I implemented detailed decompositions of the gender mathematics gap, both at the…

Primary teachers in New Zealand schools are required to teach dance education as part of a balanced classroom programme. This responsibility requires that teachers have positive beliefs about their own competence and capabilities to teach dance to achieve desired outcomes for their students. This article presents qualitative findings from a…

Aotearoa New Zealand's attention to adult literacy and numeracy (L+N) education arose from the results of the OECD / Statistics Canada International Literacy surveys begun in the mid-1990s, when, as a nation, the country achieved unexpectedly low results for L+N proficiency. The Government responded with an adult L+N strategy (Ministry of…

The ability to reflect and self-assess are essential attributes for graduates to develop during their education. At many tertiary institutions, peer and lecturer-assessment contribute to summative assessment, but self-assessment, whilst recommended for development, does not. In order to make a case for the inclusion of self-assessment as a…

Previous research has underlined the importance of school students' engagement in science (including students' attitudes, interests and self beliefs). Engagement in science is important as a correlate of scientific literacy and attainment, and as an educational outcome in its own right. Students positively engaged with science are more likely to…

This paper focuses on the experiences of a group of beginning secondary school English teachers involved in "Making a Difference", a national New Zealand study of the influence of initial teacher education and beginning teacher induction on teachers' early development as professionals. Rich data drawn from three rounds of interviews with…

Participant observation and in-depth interviews explored how 10 New Zealand male secondary students, aged 17-19, made meaning from their outdoor educational experiences. Qualitative methodology was indispensable in revealing how learning through adventure not only improved self-concept (a conventional assessment), but also contributed to…