Access to tertiary education is a challenge for many people from refugee-backgrounds. In Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), resettled refugees are entitled to access education alongside other New Zealanders, and NZ's resettlement policy material recognises education as a key pillar of resettlement. However, refugee-background students are not recognised…

There are substantial ethnic gaps in higher education in NZ, despite considerable policy effort aimed at this concern. This study uses newly linked administrative data to examine the underachievement of Maori and Pasifika relative to Europeans. We follow a population cohort born between 1990 and 1994 from school through to young adulthood to…

Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia are similar in many ways. Both were colonised by English-speaking British settlers, and English is a national language in each country. In recent years, both countries have become destinations for immigrants speaking languages other than English and international fee-paying students. Both have a chequered history…

Pacific students in New Zealand (NZ) quickly learn that they are not very smart. The statistics tell them this. They also come to believe that they do not try very hard. The talk of equal opportunities tells them this, especially when it is coupled with negative statistics. This is not surprising. Education in NZ has been embedded in notions of…

Principals of many New Zealand (NZ) mainstream schools navigate a complex intercultural educational policy environment to address the academic challenges of Maori and Pasifika students. This inquiry sought to explore the concept of "culturally responsive instructional leadership" by studying the knowledge, actions, motives, perceptions,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate two recent examples of the New Zealand Ministry of Education's approach to reducing the persistent disparities in achievement between students of different social and ethnic groups. The first example is cluster-based school improvement, and the second is the development of national standards for…

This paper reports on findings from a major New Zealand research project around staff perceptions of student evaluations of teaching. The main focus of this discussion is the insights that the research afforded into staff engagement with and use of student evaluations to inform their teaching practice and to improve student learning. The research…

Critical thinking is deemed as an ideal in academic settings, but cultural differences in critical thinking performance between Asian and Western students have been reported in the international education literature. We examined explanations for the observed differences in critical thinking between Asian and New Zealand (NZ) European students, and…

How can tertiary education in regions respond innovatively and collaboratively to issues regarding teacher supply and quality, especially in regions of teacher shortages? This research report focuses on one response. The Rotorua regional primary teaching flexible learning option was established by the Christchurch College of Education (CCE) in…

This paper discusses the use of a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in the context of a Youth Justice Residential school setting in New Zealand (NZ). The school does not currently have a method of screening for educational purposes and, more specifically, key competencies. The use of the SDQ as a tool to support the educational…