'Trauma-informed' is fast becoming a buzzword, a term being used widely across health, education, and other sectors. Online technologies are enabling an increasing number of schools to have instant access to 'expert' trauma-informed approaches, practices and research, however, the ways in which this information is being used varies greatly. This…

Over recent years, innovative learning environments (ILEs) have become the default style of new-build educational architecture in New Zealand. While offering potential benefits, the implementation of ILEs represents a departure from established practice in most schools and therefore requires significant change leadership support in order to…

Young people who attend schools today are likely to hold future jobs that don't yet exist. While generative artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually automate hundreds of millions of today's jobs, people who are able to effectively use AI tools to complement skills like leadership, imagination, and creativity will certainly have an advantage in…

This article reports from a Teacher-led Innovation Fund project that investigated connecting practices and resources for mathematical learning between a kindergarten and the first year of school. Teachers at both sites were teacher-researchers in the 2-year project. Our results highlighted expected and unexpected aspects of connections and…

A future-less orientation, as defined in this article, explores approaches to education within the context of precarious, shifting, labour markets and the uncertain future of employment trends. A future-less orientation questions the validity of traditional views of education: as a means of preparing students for an imagined future career; one…

This project set out to explore how completely new schools, occupying completely new classroom spaces, create themselves as schools. At its inception, a new school has only its buildings; everything else must be developed. In particular, the school must develop its vision for learners, and how this is reflected through school culture, routines,…

Summative assessment and explicit teaching are on the increase in New Zealand primary and intermediate learning spaces; either, or both, frequently used by teachers to assist with requirements for National Standards. Combined use means learning destinations are set by teachers within convergent practice, allowing little room for student…

The New Zealand Ministry of Education encourages schools to update to flexible learning spaces and activate teaching approaches that augment such physical settings. Many schools have embraced the concept of innovative learning environments (ILE) and team teaching, motivating a trend fast gaining popularity in New Zealand primary schools. However,…

This report discusses the potential of games to support learning, and what innovative game-based (or "gameful") learning and teaching practices can look like in a range of New Zealand school settings. Over 2 years, we undertook fieldwork in 14 schools, interviewed 21 teachers and more than 100 students ranging from Year 3 to Year 13. We…

New Zealand, like many countries, faces the challenge of building and sustaining an educated population. Particular challenges are posed by the need to educate an increasing proportion of the population to higher levels in order to support the growth of a modern skills and knowledge economy, as opposed to an economy built on low-cost labour and…

A supportive online learning environment entails teachers using effective pedagogical practices to meet the needs of their students and developing a positive teacher-student relationship to foster learner motivation and engagement. This paper reports a study investigating how 32 secondary teachers in New Zealand taught their online distance…

Mathematics education is highly regarded as a research field within our region, especially when compared to other fields within the broader education discipline. The field has been relatively cohesive, well organised and internationally influential in a universally strong field. Mathematics education research has developed and evolved in…

Adopting new teaching practices, like the 'flipped classroom', disrupts organizational routines within the university. This paper examines flipped classroom implementation from the perspective of four stakeholder groups students, instructors, administrators, and managers), using an organizational routines lens. Disrupting established routines…

This paper highlights reciprocal teaching as an inclusive instructional strategy that has been shown to improve reading comprehension and metacognitive skills. It provides a conceptual background to reciprocal teaching and examines its purpose, strengths and weaknesses. The notion of reciprocal teaching as an evidence-based practice is also…

Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) with their origins in OECD literature, propose to revolutionise education as we know it. ILEs draw on a large body of literature: constructivist learning theory; distributed leadership; personalised 21st century learning; blended learning (digital); and, future-focused education. Despite an increasing body…