In 2018, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority amended its regulatory framework in order to formally recognise micro-credentials. The rules provide a definition, credit value limits, and permission to publish on the NZQA website. The rules apply to Tertiary Education Organisations, leaving universities to establish their own micro-credential…

Several concurrent trends are increasing the likelihood that short courses, microcredentials, and flexible learning pathways will become a regular and even dominant feature of education and training globally. This policy paper reflects on these trends with special reference to the post-secondary education sector, and explores ways to organize…

Recent vocational education and training (VET) reforms in many countries have focused on reducing the number of VET qualifications available and restructuring qualifications so that they better meet the needs of working life. This literature review provides examples of how VET qualifications have been rationalised in various countries and briefly…

The recruitment and retention of technology teachers in New Zealand is facing a potential crisis point. Worryingly, there are continuing misconceptions about the purpose and nature of technology education, and an ageing demographic in this sector of the teaching community. It is becoming increasingly difficult for schools to attract and appoint…

This book contributes extensively to a better understanding of how vocational education and training (VET) and practice-based learning and teaching is developed and designed. It presents examples of vocational education as an ongoing dialogue, continually refreshed through engagement between educators and learners, Maori, employers, industry, and…

The study of recruitment practices for teacher educators (TEs) in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) universities reveals the academic category of TE constituted along three related trajectories: a professional expert (not required to research), a traditional academic (not required to hold a teaching qualification or teacher's practicing certificate), and…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy reflects ideas about childhood, labour force participation, education, the economy and the role of the state. This article spans a period of political change in New Zealand from a left of centre government during the first decade of the twenty-first century to a right of centre government from 2009.…

Research has found differences in students' abilities, attitudes, and family and community background to be the largest source of variation in student learning, but these are difficult for policymakers to influence, at least in the short run. However, the single most significant school variable affecting student achievement is "teacher…

This report documents views and experiences of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research's (NZCER's) 2012 National Survey of Secondary Schools. Responses from teachers (1,266) and principals (177) predominate, but the report also reflects the responses from parents (1,477) and…

Considerable interest has emerged in policy frameworks to sustain and encourage democratic participation and responsive pedagogy in early childhood education. Using findings from an evaluation of New Zealand's strategic plan for early childhood education, this article highlights ways in which policy initiatives interacted to support such…

Unprecedented numbers of primary teachers in New Zealand are currently involved in professional learning activities, with practice, in essence, the major focal point. In recent years, however, an increasing trend has emerged for primary teachers to undertake a degree qualification. Although study towards formal tertiary qualifications is…

This article provides an analysis of the rise of 'scientific management' and 'social efficiency' theories in the early 1900s, traces their impact on the structure and administration of education systems, and critically analyses their contribution to the emergence of a new orthodoxy--outcomes-based education (OBE) approaches to school curriculum…

Background: A number of countries have heavily invested in the provision of large scale coach education programmes, often framed by elaborate qualification frameworks. Despite this investment, scant research has been conducted on coach education programmes. Given the limited amount of literature on coach education, and the relatively recent…

The boundaries between vocational and academic post compulsory education have been blurred by students combining vocational and academic studies and by students transferring increasingly between the two types of education. Institutions are also blurring the boundaries between the sectors by increasingly offering programs from two and sometimes…

This article outlines some of the major factors leading to the introduction of the New Zealand National Qualifications Framework (NQF). It also describes the NQF's design, outlines changes that were introduced following its introduction in 1991, and explores its impact to date. The New Zealand case is interesting, as the agency responsible for the…