Publications

The Changing Structure of the Public Tertiary Education Workforce

This report provides an analysis that allows us to see how institutional strategies have evolved in the light of changing policy over the last ten years (2001 to 2011). Key findings include:

• Polytechnics and universities now employ a higher proportion of professors due to the ‘drag effect’ of an ageing workforce, that is, people entering as lecturers and staying to become senior lecturers or professors.
• Universities now employ a higher proportion of senior academic staff, in response to the greater focus on research performance.
• Universities have moved to more part-time teaching staff to help manage the costs of the shift to senior academic staff.
• Universities and polytechnics now employ a similar proportion of part-time teaching staff

Author(s): Mieke Wensvoort, Tertiary Sector Performance Analysis, Ministry of Education.

Date Published: May 2013

Learning to Practise

Learning to Practise articulates an image of the teaching professional as adaptive expert for whom promoting the engagement, learning and well-being of all learners is at the heart of their professional identity The paper exemplifies five learning principles underpinning the design of initial teacher experiences that support the development of adaptive expertise. A model for an initial teacher education curriculum organised around core practices is presented and some considerations for teacher education expertise discussed.

This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for initial teacher education.

Author(s): Helen Timperley, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland.

Date Published: May 2013

Initial Teacher Education Outcomes: Standards for Graduating Teachers

Initial Teacher Education Outcomes focuses on expectations for what initial teacher education graduates need to be able to do on entry into the profession and the resources they need to be able to draw on. The paper outlines the role and nature of standards in the current international context, provides a critique of current approaches and considers how standards for New Zealand graduates might be most effectively designed to support effective teaching.

The Teaching for Better Learning Model proposes inquiry-oriented standards. These standards foreground and are structured around inquiries that inform decision-making about learning priorities, teaching strategies, classroom practice and student outcomes drawing on the resources of knowledge, competencies, dispositions, ethical principles and commitment to social justice. Inquiry-oriented standards emphasise the context-dependent nature of effective teaching and the centrality of ongoing professional learning in developing professionals who are adaptive experts. A further element of the model, inquiry into the education system, requires that teachers as professionals engage with concerns about improving the system in which their work is set.

Author(s): Graeme Aitken, Claire Sinnema and Frauke Meyer, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland.

Date Published: May 2013

Evaluation of Ministry of Education-Funded Early Childhood Education Professional Development Programmes

The Ministry funded ECE Professional Development (PD) Programmes are for a three year period from July 2010 to June 2013. The focus for the PD Programmes is on targeting locations with low rates of ECE participation to support quality provision in those communities and services that are likely to enrol children who have the greatest potential benefit to make from participating in quality ECE (Māori, Pasifika, and children from low socio-economic areas). This report represents the findings from the evaluation of the PD Programmes and was undertaken during 2012.

Author(s): Sue Cherrington, Mary Jane Shuker, Alison Stephenson, Ali Glasgow, Lesley Rameka and Kate Thorndon with Sarah Sears, Nicola Goodman, Alison Barker and Jonine Nager, Victoria University of Wellington.

Date Published: May 2013

School ICT Infrastructure Survey

The School ICT Infrastructure Survey provides information about the current state of ICT infrastructure in New Zealand schools, how they are currently using technology and what they would find valuable in terms of content and services to enhance teaching and learning.

Author(s): Schools Infrastructure Group, Ultra-fast Broadband in Schools, Ministry of Education.

Date Published: April 2013

National Co-ordination and Evaluation of the Secondary Literacy Project (SLP) 2009-2012: Summary Report

This is the first of two reports on the Secondary Literacy Project (SLP) and presents outcomes of the implementation of professional learning in schools for the teaching of literacy in Years 9 and 10. The aim of the SLP was to increase the achievement of Years 9 and 10 students underachieving in reading and writing. There was a particular focus on underachieving Māori and Pasifika learners.

Author(s): Woolf Fisher Research Centre, University of Auckland.

Date Published: April 2013

Literacy and Language Pedagogy within Subject Areas in Years 7-11

The subject of this report is an exploratory research project which investigated the subject-specific literacy and language knowledge and teaching practices of Years 7 to 9 and 11 mathematics and science teachers. The impetus for this project came from raised awareness during SLP implementation of a need for greater knowledge and understanding about the teaching and learning of subject-specific literacies, especially within a New Zealand context.

Author(s): A Wilson, Dr R Jesson, N Rosedale and V Cockle, Woolf Fisher Research Centre, University of Auckland.

Date Published: April 2013

Research into the Implementation of the Secondary Literacy Project (SLP) in Schools

This is the second of two reports on the SLP and it provides results of a probe study to investigate what an optimal implementation model for professional learning in literacy might look like, with the aim of informing the ongoing delivery of professional development in secondary literacy.

Author(s): Woolf Fisher Research Centre, University of Auckland.

Date Published: April 2013

Organisational approaches to e-learning in the tertiary sector: An annotated bibliography

This report gives an overview of the research literature relating to approaches adopted by tertiary sector organisations when planning or implementing e-learning.

Author(s): Peter Guiney, Tertiary Sector Performance Analysis, Ministry of Education.

Date Published: April 2013

Slow repayers: The characteristics of borrowers who make slow progress in reducing their student loans

This report looks at people who used the Student Loan Scheme (SLS) and left tertiary study between 2000 and 2006, and focuses on those who make slow progress towards repaying their loans.

Author(s): Nick Chen and Michael Webster, Tertiary Sector Performance Analysis, Ministry of Education.

Date Published: March 2013