This is the fifth annual report that NZCER has prepared for the Sorted in Schools, Te whai hua--kia ora programme, a financial literacy programme for secondary school students, led by Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission. In 2024, our focus is to explore how Sorted in Schools is used and valued in English-medium educational settings. We used a…

Arguably, the classroom teacher is an important factor, if not the most important factor, in helping students with dyslexia to read and write well, yet there is little known about whether teachers perceive that they have the knowledge and confidence to teach these students. The present study was a national online survey of schools in Aotearoa New…

Little is known about how middle leaders address concerns with teaching performance. This study used a problem-based methodology and critical incident interviewing to elicit eight middle leaders' theories-in-use for 14 cases of concern. Our systematic analysis examined the beliefs constraining their actions, their actions as well as the resulting…

Everyone, including teachers, is prone to randomness misconceptions. In this article, we investigate the perceptions of randomness held by New Zealand secondary school teachers. The responses to a question asked in an online, anonymous questionnaire sent to New Zealand teachers will be explored. One question asked participants to create a sequence…

According to the OECD definition of innovative learning environments (ILEs), inclusion is considered a pillar of its design. The depiction of an inclusive ILE from the OECD outlines the importance of including students in ILEs. We wish to argue, however, that the successful implementation of inclusion also needs to address the location of special…

This is the fourth annual evaluation report for the Sorted in Schools, Te whai hua -- kia ora programme, a financial literacy programme for secondary school students and akonga, led by Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission. In 2023, the evaluation focused on collecting data about key programme goals and reporting on the proportion of schools and…

Streaming is a divisive pedagogy in New Zealand due to the varied definitions of streaming, the ways streaming is perceived to influence the educational experience of young people, and the complexity of teaching students at a range of achievement levels. This article aims to gain an understanding of secondary school mathematics teachers'…

Literature shows that navigating transitions from traditional single-cell classrooms to innovative learning environment (ILEs) calls for careful considerations. The importance of professional learning and development (PLD) in supporting teachers to thrive in educational transition has been continuously emphasised. Even though the key role of PLD…

Critical thinking (CT) is increasingly included within education curriculum policy development to support students' intellectual progress. Teachers who embed CT learning and are cognisant of students cultural identity increase their ability and aptitude to think critically. This paper reports results from an anonymous survey administered to 490…

Invasive species pose a threat to biodiversity, and as such feature in some conservation education programs. However, there is debate about how to teach this difficult subject. We explored perspectives using a case study of education about introduced mammalian predators in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18…

This article reports on a line of findings that explores how New Zealand secondary teachers teach about inequality as part of the official New Zealand curriculum ("NZC") in their respective teaching subjects. This second phase of the study is part of a wider project about how inequality is positioned within "NZC." In-service…

This paper draws on an analytical framework inspired by Nancy Fraser's (2010) three-dimensional theory of social justice to explore how HPE teachers in Aotearoa/New Zealand perceive the concept of social justice and teaching for and about social justice. Data were gathered from online semi-structured interviews with 19 HPE teachers. Analysis…

The ways that gender and sexuality are included within secondary school teaching has implications for students' understandings and ongoing wellbeing. In this research we interviewed nine educators who work in secondary schools in Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand) about how they approach gender and sexuality within their…

In this paper, we present research on New Zealand secondary teachers' perspectives of teaching and learning mathematics during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020--2023. We use narrative analyses of interviews to explore the perspectives of eight participant teachers. COVID-19, and its resulting restrictions, were found to impact student-teacher…

This 2-year participatory action research project explored how learning to use narrative assessment supported teachers' inclusive practices for disabled secondary school-aged students who are considered to be working long term in Level 1 of The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) (Ministry of Education, 2007). Although the Ministry of Education has…