Kura kaupapa Maori provide a unique primary school education system that immerses children in Maori language and culture. Interviews with founding members from the first Auckland kura give a critical sense of the aspirations that guided them in their struggle to set up the kura kaupapa Maori initiative. The desire to provide suitable schooling for…

This article explores discourses of economic investment and child vulnerability that have become dominant under New Zealand's National-led Government as a rationale for policy directions in early childhood education. It highlights the need for explicit values about children and childhood to be a basis for early childhood policy development, with a…

In this article I will argue that New Zealand's Special Education 2000 (SE2000) policy demonstrates the way in which seemingly just and fair policies can lead to occurrences of injustice and unfairness towards some of those whom they impact. What this debate turns on is the justice of a policy which takes as its starting point the unquestioned…

Prior studies indicate that vocational students' literacy practices are more demanding than is generally recognised. Employing a view of literacy acquisition as socialisation, we investigated the literacy practices of trades training in Carpentry and Automotive Technology, by interviewing tutors and examined course books and student writing. A…

What do we mean when we say we want to put children at the centre of policy? What are the moral justifications for this approach? Has it become harder for us to understand this concept, when in practice paid work has been at the centre? In part confusion arises because the unpaid work of caring for children is invisible until it is marketized. In…

The emergence of academic development in Anglophone higher education was linked to post Second World War massification and concerns about student failure. These concerns were driven by increasing statistical investigations into student attrition and degree times to completion, particularly in Australia and Aotearoa, New Zealand. There was a…

Philosophy and schools, children and dynamite, elephants and postage stamps: each has a place, but not necessarily in any natural combination with the other. Whether schools and philosophy belong together depends largely on what we mean by both. To the extent that schools are instruments of government regulation and a mechanism for production of…

One of the major issues facing humanity in the twenty-first century is how the increasing effects of globalisation will play out in relation to existing societal and global inequalities. At the very crux of this issue are the terms "knowledge society" and "knowledge economy", two terms employed in a variety of different…

This is the second of two articles that are connected in a reading of "The plague" by Albert Camus. The other article is a determined narration of the events of a tragedy that befalls a city on the coast of Algeria. That article resists analysis beyond the decisions that are made regarding text to use, and of course interpretations to…

Inclusion implies that someone has been excluded and that some are able to prevent others from participation in significant community, economic and political activities. The processes of inclusion and exclusion reflect ideas about how the world is to be seen and understood, about who is to be attended to and who ignored, and about how institutions…

In 2010 the Education Review Office (ERO) was tasked with reporting on the progress of New Zealand schools in the inclusion of students with high needs. This paper will explore how ERO limited the concept of inclusion to suit Government policy and limit discussion of inclusion to the parameters set by the resource allocation scheme known as…

The digital revolution and automation are accelerating changes in the labour market and in workplace skills, changes that are further affected by fluctuations in international and regional economic cycles and employment opportunity. These factors pose a universal policy challenge for all advanced economies and governments. In the workplace, people…

There is an extensive international research literature on the effect of ability grouping (e.g., tracking, streaming, banding, setting) on children's academic and behavioral outcomes. However, it is questionable to what extent the findings of research on this topic have influenced the practice of ability grouping in New Zealand schools. Fifteen…

As our education systems become more culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse, rather than benefiting and learning from each other, we still expect all students to be represented within the same curriculum, pedagogy and testing regimen or we form separate enclaves resulting in marginalizaton. When diverse students have physical and/or…

The concept of inclusion in the New Zealand legislative and policy environment is articulated in a liberal human rights discourse intended to redress past practices of segregation and exclusion. Such discourse has provided the early childhood sector with new ways to speak about disability and inclusion. There is, however, a growing body of…