This article examines a group of New Zealand preschool teachers' perspectives on their early childhood curriculum--"Te Whariki: He Whariki Maatauranga mo ngaa Mokopuna o Aotearoa" (Ministry of Education, 1996). In this discussion we focus on the teachers' understandings of the meaning, value and focus of this curriculum document. This is…

Strong education and training systems are viewed as a route to increased labour market participation for groups that have traditionally been excluded from, or marginalised in, the labour market. Engagement in the labour force for such groups has both individual and societal benefits. However, while this emphasis on an increased role for the state…

This article presents an interview with Don Holdaway, early childhood educator and originator of "shared book experience." The article first provides a brief summary of themes embodied in Holdaway's first book, "The Foundations of Literacy." It then presents the interview with Holdaway, discussing literacy learning, big books,…

Explores whether exposure to increasingly sophisticated mental models at different points in a chemistry education class showed up in patterns of preference and use of models in interpreting physical properties and phenomena. (Contains 92 references.) (DDR)

Points out that technology education in New Zealand provides an opportunity for societal issues to have equal space with technological capability and knowledge. There is a need for a teaching approach to engage in liberating technological literacy. (Contains 19 references.) (DDR)

Presented by the originator of the project, this speech addresses Reading Recovery as a prevention model to reduce literacy problems, as a model of what an early intervention strategy based on grounded theory looks like, and as a breakthrough in a conceptual barrier pointing to what is possible. Sections of the speech include: (1) "Who Needs…

The paper is a report of research conducted on the question of acculturation and identity among Maori college graduates in New Zealand. Situational approach and role analysis were employed as the instruments with the sample of graduates from Maori University. The study concluded that the Maori is able to avoid assimilation into the dominant…

Application of organizational models to the study of schools distinguishes rational, bureaucratic ideal types from natural, loosely coupled systems. Study of these models applied to selected schools in Australia and New Zealand illustrates that no one model fully describes schools. Factors that result in schools resembling certain models are…

Studied a limited number of students exposed to teaching materials and strategies (developed from a cognitive perspective on learning), such that their impact would be monitored to determine how the learners constructed new knowledge frameworks as teaching proceeded. Includes background information, comparisons of teacher's intentions and…

This article explores the nature of a continuing mismatch between curriculum reform rhetoric in science education and actual classroom practice. Lack of philosophical consensus about the nature of science (NOS); lack of appropriate curriculum guidance, classroom materials and pedagogical content knowledge for NOS teaching; teachers' personal…

As globalization proceeded, the rights of sexual minority groups have become one of the human rights that cannot be ignored. However, recognizing sexuality as a human right and promoting educational practices which affect human rights policies, have been implemented mainly in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. For example, the…

This paper discusses issues arising from three case studies of the ways people have become tertiary teachers in a polytechnic, a wananga (Maori tertiary institution) and a university in New Zealand. Despite institutional differences, the teachers gained most of their teaching knowledge and skills on the job, learning informally and experientially,…

Previous research has found that outside events seem to have little effect on happiness. Three studies in New Zealand were conducted to identify mental processes that give circumstances their favorable and unfavorable meanings. The first study examined the gap between aspiration and achievement in terms of income, education, physical fitness,…

This book contains a detailed report of the recovery principles set out in the Mental Health Commission's Blueprint for Mental Health Services in New Zealand. The competencies, endorsed by the New Zealand government, describe what mental health workers need to know about using the recovery approach in their work with people with mental illness.…

Examined age and gender differences in leadership aspirations among adolescents (N=130) by measuring overall leadership aspirations, valence-instrumentality expectancies for leadership outcomes, self-efficacy perceptions, and attributions of effective leadership. Found significant gender differences in valence scores and age differences in…