This paper reports on findings related to Technological Knowledge from Stage Two of the "Technological Knowledge and Nature of Technology: Implications for teaching and learning" ("TKNoT: Imps") research project undertaken in 2009. A key focus in Stage Two was the trialing of different teaching strategies to determine how…

This article is a reflection on the challenges faced by school geography teachers in New Zealand. After a brief description of how the geography curriculum is currently organised, it provides a short statement about the current curriculum settlement in New Zealand. This leads to the main argument that much of the twentieth century school geography…

The recognition and affirmation of student identity in New Zealand primary schools is a policy requirement. While directives for its implementation are found in the current national curriculum, little, if any, guidance is given about what this means or how it might look in classroom programmes. This paper discusses a study concerning the beliefs,…

The Feuerstein approach to the teaching of thinking is highly regarded internationally as an effective programme for vulnerable learners and learners with special educational needs. This paper describes this approach. The need for this approach in New Zealand is discussed, including children's rights to it, and the New Zealand National Curriculum…

This is the pilot study for the Peace Education Curricular Analysis Project--a project that seeks to become a longitudinal and global analysis of national curriculum statements for pro-peace values. National education as a system of organized learning can act as a transmission belt--a cultural institution that assigns communal ideals and values…

Learning about controversial historical issues is an essential feature of citizenship education in democratic societies, but in New Zealand, the high-autonomy national curriculum leaves it up to teachers to choose whether they engage their students with difficult questions about the past. This can place teachers in an awkward position. They do not…

In February 2020, the Ministry of Education asked the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) to examine the curriculum-levelling construct that sits at the heart of The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). A key goal of the research was to investigate, whether-- and if so, how--the construct helps (or hinders)…

Arnold's dimensions of movement, commonly known as education "in, through and about" movement, serve as one of five propositions in the development of a new national curriculum document for Health and Physical Education. The purpose of this article is to examine these dimensions, before undertaking an interrogation of their usefulness in…

This article reports on physical education teacher education students' perceptions of the pedagogies they have recently experienced in senior secondary school biomechanics classes. Despite the plethora of educational research surrounding pedagogical best practice in the wider field of physical education, there is a paucity of research seeking to…

Global economic and advanced capitalist agendas have taken on ideological dimensions that are flat, precise and which assert "undeniable" facts. These agendas are gradually shaping a society and its education based on consumerism and a global economic order which is "not accidentally or superficially spectacular, it is fundamentally…

The revised New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) was introduced in 2007 and seen as an opportunity for schools and communities to work together to provide a curriculum that reflected local needs. The NZC identifies learning areas providing students with the foundation on which they can develop and later specialise. It would be expected that this broad…

The New Zealand education system is recognised internationally for its overall high quality. At the same time, there is a persistent gap in achievement between students in low socio-economic status (SES) schools in which there is an over-representation of Maori and Pasifika students, and students in more affluent communities. In this paper, we…

The revised Technology Curriculum for years 1-13 now includes two Digital Technologies areas: 'computational thinking for Digital Technologies' and 'designing and developing digital outcomes'. By 2020, all schools are expected to address these curriculum additions. This article outlines some of the background stated purposes for introducing this…

Geographically isolated in the south-west Pacific but intellectually and culturally connected to Western Europe, Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood education sector is a unique mix of influences. The imprint of progressive education is evident in a legacy of "free play" programmes, yet its national curriculum is built on the…

This article examines the special nature of "Te Whariki," Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood national curriculum, as a dynamic social, cultural document through an exploration of two art-inspired imaginary case studies. Thinking with "Te Whariki" retains the potential to ignite thinking post-developmentally about art,…