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Driven by international trends and government policy, it is a requirement for all newly built schools in New Zealand to be designed as innovative learning environments (ILEs) with flexible learning spaces. These environments, celebrated by some for the "transformational" educational opportunities they may provide, also raise questions about whether the anticipated pedagogical value of these "non-traditional" spaces is based on idealised visions of teaching and learning rather than empirically derived evidence. Before such complex issues can be efficiently addressed, evidence of the actual "state of play" of ILEs is required. Drawing on New Zealand specific data from a large Australasian research project, this paper triangulates principals' opinions, teachers' perspectives, and the literature on some key preliminary issues: what types of learning spaces can be found in New Zealand schools; what teaching styles are evident in these spaces; what pedagogical beliefs are driving ILE teaching practices; and what types of learning activities are occurring in ILEs? The paper provides an evidencebased platform for further discussion about the opportunities and challenges surrounding the use and practice of ILEs in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the influence of the creative industries on design education in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach - A range of contemporary literature is presented to help define the term ‘creative industries’, and to locate this new ‘culture of creativity’ within a wider global trend of creative cultural theory. Findings - Cultural policy initiatives from Britain, Canada and New Zealand are reviewed and used to demonstrate how creative industries theory has sought to combine social, cultural and economic development. Research limitations/implications - This paper is primarily concerned with recent changes to design education and the ways in which universities and polytechnics are attempting to meet the challenges of this new holistic approach to creativity and innovation. Practical implications - In the final section the concept of interdisciplinary study of design is explored. This new model is developed through the example of a new interdisciplinary programme structure developed by the Wellington Institute of Technology in New Zealand. Originality/value - In conclusion the concept of a ‘virtuous cycle’ is used to describe the relationship between design education and the creative industries. This paper argues that, if this cycle continues, the creative industries will expand to become the model for a new economy based on social, cultural and economic entrepreneurship and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stated aim of technology education in New Zealand is to develop students' level of technological literacy. This paper introduces the Technology Assessment Framework (TAF) as an organisational tool for the development and delivery of technology programmes that focus on increasing students' technological literacy through the enhancement of their technological practice across technological areas and contexts. The TAF was developed and refined in 1999 and 2000 as part of a two year New Zealand Ministry of Education funded research project, and integrated within a national professional development programme in 2000 designed for preservice and inservice teacher educators in New Zealand. This paper backgrounds the sociocultural theoretical position of the TAF and explains how it reflects and furthers the aim of technology education in New Zealand. The TAF is then presented and explained with the aid of illustrative examples from classroom practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand under went major curriculum reforms in the early 1990's. These reforms were determined by the New Zealand Curriculum Framework which provides an overarching framework for the development of curricula in New Zealand and which defines seven broad essential learning areas rather than subject areas. Technology is important and should be part of the education of all students. Six grounds for developing technology education were given, namely: economic, pedagogic, motivational, cultural, environmental, and personal. This paper reports on the development of a technology curriculum in schools. The philosophy of the curriculum will be discussed, particularly crucial aspects such as inclusiveness. The way in which the technology curriculum has attempted to meet the needs of a New Zealand technological society will be examined. The general aims of technology education in Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum are to develop: technological knowledge and understanding; an understanding and awareness of the interrelationship between technology and society; technological capability. The development of seven technological areas for all students will be highlighted. This paper will discuss in detail the development of the national technology education policy and the way in which the curriculum was developed. The last section of the paper will consider issues related to teacher development programmes and areas of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that the New Zealand education system will cater to all students, regardless of ability, and support them in developing their full potential to the best of their abilities, is enshrined in the famous 1939 Beeby/Fraser statement. Equality of access policy discourse has shifted to emphasise equitable outcomes, focussed increasingly on preparing students for success in the globalised, 21st century knowledge economy. In this context, the design and development of innovative new school buildings and refurbishments of existing facilities have been promoted as a policy that will enable, even bring about, modern pedagogical practices that, in turn, will achieve the stated aim of preparing students for the 21st century global economy. Arguments against retaining traditional single-cell classrooms include their perpetuation of traditional, mainstream ('one-size-fits-all') approaches to teaching and learning, while new, radical building designs hold the promise of enabling the desired 'new' pedagogies. Flexible learning environments encourage and enable teachers to exchange 'front-of-the-room', single teacher presentational approaches for collaborative, dispersed and facilitative styles, often in teams, working with multiple students in shared, common learning spaces. The New Zealand Curriculum has ensured inclusion as an educational principle, and current Ministry of Education policy discourse reminds schools of their commitment to this principle, and specifically links building design and design processes to ensuring inclusivity. So it should be asked whether non-traditional, flexible learning spaces can be inclusive. This article places this question in the context of the historically evolving approach to inclusion in the New Zealand context, and with reference to the 'spatial turn' in recent New Zealand education policy. This turn to enhanced flexibility and innovation has implications for inclusivity, reflected in both Ministry of Education policy discourse and critiques suggesting the exclusionary effects of flexibility. It is argued with reference to Lefebvre that notions of inclusion and exclusion are inherent in social practices that are both superimposed upon material space as much as they are influenced by the design features of that space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is a key goal of many tertiary education and distance learning providers. This research explores how teachers and educational designers across three New Zealand tertiary institutions worked to innovatively achieve teaching goals. A longitudinal design using the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) framework explored the influence of individual and institutional factors on innovation in online course design. Data included interviews, observations of practice, and publicly available institutional documents, which were coded using a grounded theory approach. Peer relationships and institutional technologies were significant in enabling staff to work innovatively. Constraining factors included high workload, research pressures, lack of time to experiment, and limited technological support. Contradictions between institutional policies and teachers’ goals in innovating were noted. This research has relevance to those working in a variety of educational settings due to the increasing influence of institutional and government policy on teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand has a flexible curriculum and assessment structure that enables unique courses to be offered in senior secondary schools. Five medium sized secondary schools that have developed unique courses were examined using a socio-material methodology to explore who was involved in the development and what considerations guided the decision making process. The principal and course developers from each school were interviewed and the data was analysed using Actor-Network Theory. It was found that each unique course was influenced by its specific context. Three conditions were identified across the case studies that enabled the innovative curriculum design: a perceived flexibility in national curriculum and assessment structures, a clear motivation or idea, and a passionate person (or people) to develop and maintain strong relational networks. School leaders can nurture these conditions by clarifying alignment between curriculum innovation, the school's strategic direction and values of the context, by strengthening the connections across the actors in the network and by encouraging flexible thinking about constraints and possibilities. This study provides an example of the use of Actor-Network Theory to explore curriculum innovation and explores the positioning of the environmental context as an actor within socio-material networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing assessment reform can be challenging. Proposed new assessments must be seen by stakeholders to be fit for purpose, and sometimes the perceptions of key stakeholders, such as teachers and students, may differ from the assessment developers. This article considers the recent introduction of a new high-stakes assessment of spoken proficiency for students of foreign languages in New Zealand high schools. The new assessment aims to measure spoken proficiency through the recording of a range of unstaged peer-to-peer interactions as they take place throughout the year. It contrasts with an earlier assessment that drew on a summative teacher-led interview. The article presents findings from a survey of teachers (n = 152), completed two years into the assessment reform, in which teachers were asked to consider the relative usefulness of the two assessment formats. Findings suggest that teachers consider the new assessment to be, in most respects, significantly more useful than the earlier model, and that the new assessment is working relatively well. Some challenges emerge, however, in particular around the feasibility and fairness of collecting ongoing evidence of spontaneous peer-to-peer performance. Findings raise issues to be considered if the new assessment is to work more successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inclusion and participation for students who fall behind are promoted internationally. These policies are challenged by neoliberal policies that aim to educate productive and self-capitalising subjects for the marketplace. The article shows immanent conflicts between these policies. A neoliberal curriculum distinguishes the abled from non-abled, leaving behind a redundant school population that is excluded from general education and poorly served in spite of promises of the opposite. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the major market-based education reforms in New Zealand. Household choices of where children should be schooled are expanded by proposals for market-based school reforms. It is argued that the New Zealand experiment is the most thorough and dramatic transformation of a compulsory state education system ever undertaken by an industrialized economy. Central authorities have a role in determining teacher employment contracts, approving school charters and maintaining educational standards. Much of the research concerns the impact of the reforms of educational equality rather then educational quality.