This article analyses findings from two studies conducted collaboratively across two educational settings, New Zealand and England, in 2001-2002. These studies examined the impact of national educational policy reforms on the nature of primary teachers' work and sense of their own professionalism and compared these impacts across the two…

The historical development of teacher education in New Zealand manifests several major contradictions and tensions. One if these involves two conflicting models of teacher education that have historically struggled for dominance. The first model holds teaching to be an essentially practical craft involving classroom management, whilst the second…

Literature on educational policies of the "New Right" suggests that within a neoliberal context, school principals become institutional managers rather than educational leaders. The practice of feminist educational leadership, which works for improved social justice and equity for staff and students, is committed to empowering coworkers,…

This paper reports that the story of peace education in New Zealand has been one of extremes. While there has been some interest in the subject for decades, it was only in the 1980s that there was any serious activity and widespread debate. In 1984, the conservative National government, which had ruled the country for 9 years, was replaced by a…

"Boffins" have been identified by the New Zealand educator Glen Gawith as the category of learners who "delight in unrelated fragments of knowledge for knowledge's sake," and "put these fragments into a framework and analyze them." This paper uses a boffin-like approach to examine aspects of early childhood education…

The article outlines past and present approaches to initial literacy teaching to speakers of indigenous vernaculars in Australia and New Zealand. It comments on the implications of this experience in the wider context of teaching literacy, and of teaching English literacy in Southeast Asia as a whole. (CLK)

Compares approaches to curriculum specialization in secondary education in New Zealand and England stating that increased specialization has taken different forms and scopes in these two countries. Identifies three dimensions that have affected curriculum specialization in both countries: (1) opportunity; (2) source of impetus; and (3) support.…

Examines five main directions and solutions for the development and delivery of middle level education in New Zealand: (1) intermediate schools becoming middle schools; (2) stand alone four-year middle schools; (3) middle school- within-a-larger school; (4) interschool cooperation; and (5) middle level approaches and methods implemented in…

Perpetual training is the new rationale for education and training in advanced industrial countries, providing the link between education and the economic system. This paper is concerned with Skill New Zealand, a "seamless" education system integrating all education levels with workplace training. The paper examines this new program's…

Presents a feminist analysis of how decentralized decision-making policies are reflected at the local level in four countries: Australia, Sweden, New Zealand, and Israel. These examples indicate that management practices tend to be more modernist than postmodernist, and often have highly inequitable effects for female teachers. Contains 63…

Summarizes a survey of 239 New Zealand elementary school educators. New Zealand's experience shows that national policymaking, which largely excludes school staff, still substantially influences everyday school operations. When site-based management occurs in a vacuum, devoid of interest, support, initiatives, and well-grounded information, school…

Research into effective pedagogy was a major strand of the science education research programme at the University of Waikato for the 20 years of the 1980s and 1990s, being done in all five Learning in Science Projects and related theses. The research was closely connected to constructivist and sociocultural views of learning, current national…

Movements to reform teacher education are underway in many parts of the world, including Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the US. These attempts at reform are motivated by various forces, but appear to reflect an international convergence toward uniformity, conformity, and compliance. Our purpose here is to analyze the forces and contradictions…

This paper describes and analyses some of the legal consequences of the schooling reforms of 1989 in New Zealand, which devolved the power to run schools to individual Boards of Trustees in each of the 2,600 schools in the country. The focus will be on three main kinds of legal action: between the state and schools (relating to interpretations of…

This publication addresses frequently asked questions regarding several of New Zealand's early childhood education policies. Using a question-answer format, an explanation is provided for the licensing requirements of the Ministry of Education for early childhood staff and the criteria for "quality funding." New Zealand Qualifications…