Purpose: The purpose of this New Zealand study is to analyse the influence of the literacy course from an initial teacher education degree, to support beginning teachers to view themselves as policy actors, not mere policy subjects. In our role as teacher educators, we sought to support beginning teachers to find freedom within the constraints of…

The creative arts use primarily visual, kinesthetic, and somatic modes of teaching that depend on face-to-face communication in contrast to many other university subjects that rely more heavily on the written word. The hands-on, practice-based nature of art education makes it perhaps one of the least transferrable subjects to a fully online model.…

Workplace stress, burnout, and fatigue are commonplace amongst tertiary educators, and are compounded by the ongoing challenges of teaching and learning during a global pandemic. Amid efforts to identify and understand contributors to educator stress, student-teacher interactions have received relatively little attention. However, educators are…

Schools play a crucial role in shaping resettled refugees' sense of belonging and access to citizenship rights. Education is a pathway to social integration, civic participation, and meaningful employment. Teachers can be seen as 'boundary workers' who broker a sense of (un)welcome and (un)belonging, mediating the relationship between resettled…

The possibility for enacting transformative practices in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) is shaped by the social, political, and material landscape. However, it is vital we acknowledge our contributing role as PETE lecturers in this shaping process. This paper presents the authors study of their critical friendship aimed at making…

The early childhood sector in New Zealand has a long-held tradition of free play and child-led pedagogy, influencing visual arts approaches with young children. However, alongside learning through play, New Zealand's sociocultural curriculum highlights the active role of the teacher and intentional pedagogy. This article explores the practices and…

In 2014, the Ministry of Education in New Zealand funded innovative initial teacher education programmes using school/university partnerships to improve achievement for priority learners. My 'being' as a teacher educator would need to become a member of a professional learning community with student teachers and teachers in schools rather than…

In 2019, New Zealand advocates for gifted education created a shared position statement on the roles of specialist teachers of the gifted. The statement acknowledges that all teachers are teachers of the gifted, and require formal and informal learning about giftedness; it also outlines teaching, coordination, advocacy, and leadership roles which…

Handicapped, special, or diverse? Segregated, mainstreamed, or included? The field of disability and difference within education, is vast and wide-ranging. This review of the literature highlights how, although we have come far in the last 40 years, there is still much to learn about effective inclusion of disabled children in early childhood…

In this narrative inquiry, we will explore teachers' professional inquiry in New Zealand. We begin by outlining context-related issues that undergird the propagation of professional inquiry and provide a chronological portrayal of how inquiry originated as a form of teacher learning. Then, we apply a narrative lens on one teacher's experience of…

Acceptance and belonging are essential to human growth and development. Currently, there is limited literature regarding acceptance and belonging in the field of special education and what facilitates this experience within the classroom. This research study asks: 'How do New Zealand school settings help or hinder a sense of acceptance and…

Both in New Zealand and internationally, there has been a focus on the use of differentiation in mathematics instruction to raise achievement levels and provide equitable outcomes. New Zealand has a long history of the use of ability grouping to provide differentiation. Recently, this practice has been challenged in a large scale professional…

A summary of Carol Mutch's research into the role of schools in disaster response and recovery highlights the expectations that are placed on schools following a crisis. Her research shows that school staff undertake these extra demands willingly and conscientiously, despite the toll that it takes on their own health and wellbeing. In this article…

While the benefits of work-integrated learning (WIL) are undisputed, identifying what elements enable quality experiences is a more challenging endeavor. This article focuses on the perspectives of New Zealand social work tertiary educators regarding components of quality WIL. The participants recognized the difficulties in succinctly articulating…

The majority of Pasifika students at the University of Otago come from other parts of New Zealand and have to adapt to studying and living in an environment that does not have a strong Pacific culture. These changes potentially affect their education experience and academic performance. Students may form social networks through religious…