The provision of academic language and learning (ALL) support to undergraduate and postgraduate students has been a staple across higher education institutions in Australia and New Zealand for some time. However, research has established that there are multiple challenges inherent to working across institutional spaces in the ways that ALL staff…

The long-running National Survey of Schools project is part of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research's (NZCER's) Te Pae Tawhiti programme of research, funded through the Ministry of Education. NZCER has run a national survey of secondary schools every 3 years since 2003. As part of the 2022 National Survey of Secondary Schools, we…

The current study was conducted to understand better the university experiences and academic outcomes for students with and without self-reported disabilities or impairments. The project explored responses to an online questionnaire on early university experiences of first-year students (n = 1019) within one New Zealand university. A…

Increasingly, tertiary librarians are required to teach as part of their role. There is recognition that ongoing professional development (PD) is required in teaching and learning as this is not generally provided as part of formal library qualifications. Using an education design-based research approach, this collaboration aimed to enhance the…

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…

Embedded librarians working in online classrooms present a new avenue of learner support direct to students in the space where they learn. The development of embedded librarian practice has evolved since 2004 and is becoming commonplace in online tertiary classrooms, but what is not yet so common is theory underlying this new practice. A multiple…

While there are theoretical arguments that suggest school practices can exacerbate delinquent behaviour by youth, research has not consistently examined this potential of schools to contribute to poorer outcomes for the most at-risk youth in our communities. This paper uses longitudinal data (n = 495) to examine the role being excluded from school…

An on-line survey of 102 (51 females; undergraduate and graduate) university students with ASD across Australia and New Zealand examined student characteristics and satisfaction with academic and non-academic supports. A broad range of disciplines were studied, and the participants' reported strengths included a passion for learning, strong…

Research on international students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) tend to focus on their lack of language proficiency and active participation in the classroom. However, examining their informal learning practices such as brokering provides an opportunity to understand how international EAL students respond to academic demands on…

Language proficiency is highlighted in the literature on the adjustment and security of international students. India is the second top source country for mobile students globally, but few studies have focused explicitly on students from India. The purpose of this study was to examine the English language experiences of Indian students at New…

This article draws on the findings from a mixed-methods New Zealand study of the experience of service use of 605 vulnerable young people (aged 13-17 years). Drawing on the survey data, it focuses on the factors that assisted young people to stay on-track with their education. Key findings include: being able to stay at mainstream school was the…

This paper describes the assessment of primary pre-service teachers' mathematics content knowledge and the associated support services provided at the University of Otago during 2013. Most pre-service teachers believed that the results from the assessments accurately reflected their mathematics knowledge and gave them useful feedback about…

The small-scale study reported here sought to ascertain the experiences of talented undergraduate students across four faculties within one university in New Zealand. Thirty-eight undergraduate participants from the four faculties were identified by 16 staff participants based on criteria used by the academic staff in their respective faculty,…

Literature that discusses transformative change in schools typically draws on experiences of renewal and change in existing schools. This report explores the shaping of a new school with the intent, established at the very outset, of offering a curriculum for the 21st century. The report discusses four key aspects of curriculum innovation at this…

To improve student retention in distance education, Simpson suggested in 2003 that institutions analyse their own retention characteristics and "spot the leaks." In 2008 the Centre for Distance Learning at Laidlaw College, New Zealand, employed two part-time academic support coordinators in an effort to improve student retention and…