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We investigated writing performance and knowledge of writing before and after a persuasive writing intervention for ethnically diverse elementary school students in a low socio-economic community in Aotearoa/New Zealand (NZ). We used a one-group pre-post design. The participants (n = 24) were year 5 and 6 students (ages 9-11) from the same classroom. Before the intervention, students completed writing tasks and a survey about their knowledge of writing. Next, they participated in a 5-week persuasive writing intervention in small groups. After the intervention, students again completed writing tasks and the survey. Results showed that after instruction, students' persuasive writing performance (d = 1.46) and knowledge of writing improved. These exploratory findings suggest that self-regulated strategy instruction is a promising approach for promoting writing outcomes for ethnically diverse elementary school students in Aotearoa/NZ.

Student voice makes a valuable contribution in the effort to evaluate the impact of Assessment for Learning (AfL) as it is the student learning that AfL practices seek to enhance. The authors report on a practitioner-led qualitative study involving 11 students' perceptions of the impact of student-generated feedback practices. This study was conducted in a senior high-school English classroom in New Zealand and involved teacher-led development of students' ability to evaluate and give feedback on essay writing. A partnership model of teaching and learning was an underpinning pedagogic principle in a teaching unit focusing on essay writing where a multidimensional criterion rubric was used, model answers were marked, and students were led to create feedback on their own and peers' essays. Students reported that they valued their involvement in the assessment process and described benefits of increased engagement and the enhancement of their self-regulatory skills, as well as a deepened understanding of essay writing. Through the use of student-generated feedback, students were enabled to become partners with their teacher and share power and responsibility for classroom assessment.

This article describes a project conducted with Year 12 English students. It was based on the model of "Teaching as Inquiry" (Ministry of Education, 2007) and aimed to develop students' self-efficacy in relation to their literature-response essay writing. Self-efficacy was measured using Bandura's (2006) self-efficacy scale and an intervention was put in place. Subsequent to the intervention, the students self-efficacy was measured again using the scale as well as interviews and observations with students. Results indicated that students self-efficacy in response to literature response essay writing had increased. Research has consistently shown a direct correlation between high self-efficacy and achievement (Alderman,2008). This study has confirmed this relationship, and has shown how student self-efficacy can be increased and thus bring about more positive outcomes. (Contains 1 figure and 8 tables.)

The early essays of Camus have been underexplored as educational texts. The discussion here introduces these texts for educational consideration. The analysis uncovers themes which link to existing educational research on Camus. As these are autobiographical texts they also provide new insight on the genesis of Camus' thinking on subjects of interest to education, and Camus' own educational journey into the absurd. The discussion here suggests the lyrical essays explore the connections between learning and the natural landscape, and as a result, they suggest a concept of education based around seeing the world a certain way; a communion with the natural world as a basis for understanding and happiness.

"Evaluative constructivism" is used to describe how students derived learning intentions and made choices about what they would do during a unit of work in a final-year high school biology class, as they conducted an inquiry into the social and ethical issues associated with cancer. The context of the study, theoretical background and overview of students' awareness of their learning strengths and needs are related to the level of achievement in the essays they wrote. The case studies illustrate the diversity in the extent of knowledge and use of learning strategies and the implications this has for the level of support teachers can provide to enable students to be more self-directed. The concepts outlined here have very wide application to multiple learning contexts.

This article focuses on vocabulary and writing at university level from the perspectives of 14 English as an additional language students studying at a New Zealand university. The students individually carried out an integrated reading and writing task and then participated in an interview which focused on their language learning background and academic studies through to vocabulary use in the reading and writing task. Data analysis showed that these students have an overall sense of the importance or need for academic vocabulary for their university studies. They demonstrated a high level of awareness of the academic audience for their writing and its impact on their word choice. Finally, these writers used a variety of techniques to incorporate academic or technical words into their essays. This article concludes by considering possible implications of the findings of this study for teaching second language writing and vocabulary in English for Academic Purposes programmes. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

This exploratory study examined reflective practice among a class of students studying a "communities and addictions" course as part of the undergraduate health science degree. Most reflective practice publications are focused on medical or teachers' training rather than undergraduates in general. This is surprising given that reflective practice is an impetus to deeper learning. The students were required to write a 500 word reflective piece after writing essays on the disease model and a public health approach to problem gambling, substance use, tobacco use, or eating disorders. This innovative study demonstrated that reflective practice can help the students learn on a deeper level both academically and personally. In particular, reflective practice should become compulsory for graduates entering the health sectors as they will cross paths with those suffering from addictions. Themes emerging from the reflective writing were discussed.

After reviewing the literature on the topic of leadership, Simkins (2005) confirmed what the author finds to be true; that there is an over-abundance of models and theories of leadership in the literature. More concerning is that some of these models and theories disappear as quickly as they appear. Learning about leadership develops through practical experiences, and so models of leadership potentially create incorrect assumptions that "change is foreseeable, prediction is possible, boundaries are definable, identity is assumed, and outcomes are more important than process." In searching the literature the author found that her values most closely identify with transformational leadership perspectives, but implementing these values requires identifying what transformational leadership looks like in practice. In this essay, the author focuses on leadership through South African and New Zealand cultural lenses. The author makes a clear distinction between leaders and leadership and discusses seven major themes of transformational leadership. The author views leaders as "one of us" and leadership as a means through which people collectively achieve certain objectives. She contends that leadership is about being an equal human being with others, it is about relating to others and conversing with others, it is about shared goals and shared outcomes, and it is about achieving together for the good of all.

This paper reports on degrees of awareness and use of specific metacognitive strategies by 16 students in a final-year high school biology class in New Zealand. The aims of the intervention were to broaden students' thinking about bioethical issues associated with cancer and to enhance students' use of metacognition. Cues and prompts were used in this unit of work to help students use metacognitive strategies since students did not generally use metacognitive strategies spontaneously. Scaffolding was mediated through the teacher modelling, questioning, cueing or prompting students to evaluate their learning. The research reported here illustrates how teachers can cue students to be more self-directed in their learning. Three case studies illustrate how learning strategies were used differentially. Most students were aware of strategies that could help them to learn more effectively. It was found that those students who were not only aware of but also used strategies to plan, monitor and evaluate their work, produced essays of higher quality.

This article presents commentaries on being gay in Japan and China by distinguished educators with various backgrounds and from different countries. Given space limitations, these are more evocative than particulate, but collectively they provide multiple platforms for reflection. As noted by some commentators in this article and others (e.g., Altman, 2001; Connell, 1999; Cruz-Malave & Manalansan IV, 2002), the globalization of gay culture (and identity) coupled with the categorization and commodification of desire create strange bedfellows for those who are seeking an end to homophobia but also struggling with western cultural hegemony.

A study of the writing of 28 geography students at Otago University (New Zealand) compared aspects of the essays with grading and rater comments. It is concluded that, although study manuals for essay-writing can help some students, their advice may not be useful to all; other methods may be more helpful. (Author/MSE)

Focusing on the interaction influences of scorer achievement expectations and writer handwriting quality on the scoring of essays, results found handwriting quality and scorer expectations both influence essay scores. However, there was no evidence of interaction between handwriting quality and scorer achievement expectations. (Author/PN)