The history of educational policy-making in Aotearoa New Zealand is also a history in myth-making. Myths about Maori in education are deeply embedded in educational and social thought, because they have their origins in the first political interactions between Maori and Pakeha. These interactions were motivated by contradicting forces--Maori…

In early childhood education (ECE), global policy discourses influence national policy frameworks for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices. Although aspects of these discourses travel across national boundaries via policy borrowing, we argue that consideration is needed of the cultural-historical evolution of country-level systems, their…

Next generation accountability systems can empower states, districts, communities, and schools with timely, relevant information and provide the capacity to analyze and continuously improve instruction and learning. After 21 years of the current accountability framework in federal and state policy in the United States, there is growing recognition…

In this article, we continue Martin Thrupp's critical work in education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand by examining the policies of the Sixth Labour-led Government (2017--2023) and the Sixth National-led Government (2023-present). We consider their attempts to mitigate social injustice via education policy and the social imaginaries that underpin…

This paper examines the contribution that Martin Thrupp made to educational policy and teachers' practice in the light of the present threat to democracy presented by the authoritarian right. Martin's work on school composition is extended to an analysis of the prospects and practice for a education for democratic citizenship. It focuses on the…

From the 19th to the 20th century, a separate system of education existed for Maori learners in New Zealand in which health, hygiene, and manual work were emphasised. This system was based on beliefs that Maori students were less capable, therefore they needed a reduced curriculum to that provided for non-Maori in state schools. Known as the…

For Jean Herbison, learning in her early 20th century childhood world was relatively uncomplicated and predictable. Life was shaped by unambiguous family, faith and settler colonial prescriptions about how children "should" behave and what they should become. Approaching the centenary of her birth, children today must navigate a very…

This article seeks to explain how Aotearoa New Zealand moved from a consensus that the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) should grant a high degree of autonomy to teachers, to an emerging view that it ought to be more prescriptive about content. To do this, it takes an assemblage approach to policy analysis, understanding policies as constantly…

This article draws attention to shifting educational discourses on the two texts of the 1840 treaty: te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Treaty of Waitangi. Policy and resource conversations in education reveal subtle strategic shifts in use of an invented idea of "treaty principles"--from standing in for and attempting to reconcile the two…

This chapter provides an overview of the history of learning and educational policies and programmes affecting older adults in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past 50 years. It builds on my previous work and draws on a wide body of primary and secondary sources including policy documents and reports from the New Zealand Government's Office for…

The field of educational research is broad and changes form over time and space. This article reviews educational research in New Zealand over the past 100 years as a background to current policy and practice. It describes a series of landmarks over the century, the changing contexts and the assumptions which underlay them and identifies recurring…

Early childhood scholars in New Zealand have long lamented a rising dominance of neoliberalism. Correspondingly they suggest that there has been a lessening of socialist ideals and principles of Te Ao Maori after years of a right-wing government. With the 'refresh' of New Zealand's national early childhood curriculum, "Te Whariki" under…

From their inception in New Zealand in 1816, until the end of the century in some cases, most mission schools in the colony maintained instruction solely in the Maori language. However, from the 1840s, successive colonial governments promoted a secular schooling system in which English would be the language in which students were taught,…

Parent participation with learning, defined here as parental engagement, has been a particular educational policy focus in many countries in recent decades. Grounded in neoliberal education sector reforms, the relationship between parents, learning, and schools has been reframed over this period. Using a genealogical approach, this article…

From the outset, the Labour-led Coalition Government of 2017 was intent on 'transformation'. For the education sector, this was signalled immediately with the announcement of an extensive programme of review and reform initiated in their first 100 days of power. Yet, what is at the heart of the proposed changes and what were they trying to…