In 2017, a change to the national curriculum of New Zealand required primary teachers to implement a new component into the Technology area of The New Zealand Curriculum. This was to be fully implemented by the start of the 2020 school year. However, unless this was a personal area of ability, no primary teacher in New Zealand has been trained or…

This article shares insights from a survey of primary school teachers across the Manawatu-Whanganui region about history teaching at Years 1 to 6. By focusing on the voices of primary teachers, the article aims to fill a gap in public debates about the new Aotearoa New Zealand's histories curriculum so far outweighed by the viewpoints of policy…

In 2023, Auckland Council's Sustainable Schools Team (SST) piloted a project called "Mana Ora: Students Decarbonising Schools." The aim was that students, with guidance and support from teachers and SST, would plan and implement climate and sustainability action projects linked to decarbonisation within their schools. Eighteen Mana Ora…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature and understanding of online talk in a New Zealand primary-school context. This research consisted of a small-scale case study of the #NZReadaloud, a pre-existing literacy programme, over 6 weeks in mid-2020. A private online group on the education platform Edmodo was established where 14…

This paper describes how one third and final year pre-service (PST) used curriculum materials when planning for primary mathematics teaching on practicum. The findings were drawn from a semi-structured focus group interview, where four PSTs recalled how they planned for primary teaching during a previous practicum. This case study shows how one…

This paper reports on a New Zealand iteration of the Encouraging Persistence, Maintaining Challenge (EPMC) project, which proposes that students learn mathematics best when they build connections between mathematical ideas for themselves. This iteration explores the actions, perceptions and learning of 12 primary teachers and their 281 students…

The rise of innovative learning environments, with multiple teachers and larger cohorts of students, can de-privatise practice as teachers have the opportunity to observe each other teaching. However, they also provide the opportunity for collaboratively planning and teaching, and engaging in reflective dialogue about specific pedagogical…

Culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy is an asset-based approach to teaching and learning. In this way, students' identities, languages, and cultures are centered in the learning experience, creating a sense of belonging. The authors observed culturally relevant and sustaining approaches to teaching and learning while visiting schools in New…

Proficiency in educational assessment has come to be viewed as a core competency for all teachers. This article identifies a novel means of strengthening teachers' capability in one key aspect of educational assessment: what is variously termed "assessment for learning," or "formative assessment." It explores how involvement in…

Teacher questioning is a very important aspect of teacher-student interaction in classrooms around the world. However, expectations of the purposes and types of these interactions can be variable, particularly across cultural contexts. This qualitative study considers the way teacher questioning is used in a mathematics class in a Chinese primary…

Learning to plan for teaching mathematics is the focus of an extended research project in initial teacher education. This paper discusses one early part of this project, based on a focus group interview where ten first year primary student teachers reported their planning experiences at the end of their first school practicum. Their one…

Over the past 50 years, research has shown that teacher expectations can influence student outcomes. Many studies have examined within-year effects. There is, however, a paucity of research that has investigated the stability of teachers' expectations across a single year, and there are no studies that have examined stability beyond 1 year. The…

This research examines teaching outdoor education in two rural primary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. The aim was to give "voice" to how outdoor education is taught, programmed and understood. Underpinning the research was the question: what factors enable/constrain teachers' ability to implement outdoor education? The findings…

Increasingly, teachers are considered accountable for continuous improvement in student achievement. They are expected to integrate and analyse data from multiple sources in order to make decisions aimed at positively influencing student outcomes. Given the growing recognition of the importance of data-informed decision making in teaching, it is…

In learning and life, there will always be challenges, requiring resilience to overcome, adapt, and persist in the face of adversity. Resilience is a key aspect of mental health and lifelong learning, reflected in the vision, key competencies, and health-related elements of the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). Working on the…