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 is a systematic literature review aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the implementation of the Kahui Ako | Communities of Learning policy in Aotearoa New Zealand. This policy seeks to improve student outcomes through collaborative networks of schools emphasising the importance of network leadership in initiating and…

Globally, literacy can be conceived of in different ways. Two perspectives that have influenced adult literacy policy internationally are the economic functionalist and the sociocultural. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Maori educators have repeatedly advanced a matauranga Maori perspective of literacy. This perspective has parallels with the embodied,…

Due to their mostly normative and legitimatory nature, public policies at large and education policies in particular are liable to frame perceived problems in the social domain as seen through the policy-making elite's perspective and seek to advance solutions to them. On the surface, the staged process of policy design, implementation, and…

Several years have passed since the removal of National Standards, however the current provision and enactment of music education in New Zealand remains unknown. Using a case study, this article seeks to illustrate the current practice of music education at one high decile primary school. This study finds that despite the removal National…

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…

Parental engagement is a common theme of education policy in most countries. In Aotearoa New Zealand, policies frame parental engagement in broad terms giving schools flexibility in enacting them. However, the generality assumes the complex and differentiated activities associated with parental engagement are well understood, leaving schools with…

In the 30 years since the advent of the fundamentally system-altering 'Tomorrow's schools' reforms in the 1990s, the education system of New Zealand has undergone many reviews and changes. The recent Taskforce Inquiry into the suitability of the current system to deliver equitably for learners as we approach the third decade of the 21st Century…

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…

Tertiary education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand has been shaped by political, economic, and social ideologies. Although universities and polytechnics are both tertiary education providers, they do not occupy this space on an equal footing. There are differences in the qualifications offered, and the levels of monitoring and oversight required by…

This article seeks to describe a range of enablers of, and constraints on, private actors in New Zealand schooling, using scholarly, polity and mass media sources. It focuses particularly on the decades since the educational reforms of the 4th Labour Government in the 1980s. The article begins by providing a brief background on educational…

This article examines the intercultural initiatives, programmes and strategy documents in New Zealand education to answer the following two questions: What intercultural policies and strategy documents are offered to New Zealand schools and teachers to accommodate their diverse communities? Which communities do they include and/or exclude? It…

The Ministry of Education is funding a significant building programme for primary and secondary classrooms across Aotearoa, New Zealand. In New Zealand there is an expectation that new or refurbished classrooms will be innovative, modern or flexible learning environments. This paper reports findings from a critical policy analysis of the discourse…

This is a reflective account of an inquiry learning process that took place as a small country school corrected its name from Tiritea to Turitea. We discuss the process as an example of how boards in mainstream schools can work collaboratively to uphold te ao Maori (the Maori world) in schools and to recognise obligations under the Te Tiriti o…

Employing Bronfenbrenner's (1996) ecological systems theory, this study investigated the ecological nuances of teacher mentoring in three New Zealand primary schools. Specifically, the study explored the mentoring experiences of three beginning teachers and their mentors, within their respective schools, in relation to the national mentoring and…