The Curriculum Insights and Progress study was established in 2023 to monitor Year 3, 6 and 8 student achievement and progress in the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum and develop insights that can be used to enable and support system improvement.…

Author(s): The Educational Assessment Research Unit (EARU) at the University of Otago, and the New Zealand Council for Educational research (NZCER). Report for the Ministry of Education.

Date Published: Various

Phonics Checks (New Zealand Curriculum) and Hihira Weteoro (Te Marautanga o Aotearoa) were introduced in 2025 as curriculum-aligned assessments that support consistent early identification of students needing extra support with phonemic awareness, phonics knowledge and decoding in their first years…

Author(s): Ministry of Education

Date Published: Annually

This report was commissioned by the Ministry of Education and led by the University of Canterbury. It provides a synthesis of empirical evidence aligned with the science of learning to identify teaching practices and interventions that accelerate learning in oral…

Author(s): Gail Gillon, John Everatt, Brigid McNeill, Sally Clendon, Mark LaVenia, Tanya Evans, Jen Smith, Megan Gath, Tufulasi Taleni (Child Well-being Research Institute, University of Canterbury)

Date Published: April 2025

This research report focuses on diverse perspectives from students, whānau and parents to understand students engagement with literacy & communication and maths subjects.…

Author(s): Annalise Myers, Nadine Metzger and Kelly Maung [Point and Associates)

Date Published: April 2025

This report was originally intended to support the development of the Common Practice Model (CPM) for literacy & communication and maths situated within implementation of Te Mātaiaho | the refreshed NZ curriculum. This report is useful to inform advice and…

Author(s): Dr Pam O’Connell, Prof Christine Rubie-Davies, Sue Bridges, Dalene Mactier (Tātai Aho Rau | CORE Education)

Date Published: April 2025

This is the home page for the Creatives in Schools programme. The Creatives in Schools programme funded schools and kura to partner with professional artists and creative practitioners to share specialist artistic knowledge and creative practice with ākonga and students.…

Author(s): J Oakden & K Spee, Pragmatica Limited

Date Published: Various

Values in the curriculum implicitly and directly affect all members of Aotearoa New Zealand schooling communities. The curriculum itself is not value-neutral. The Ministry of Education has long acknowledged that education is neither value-free nor neutral, and most policy documents…

Author(s): Paul Keown, Lisa Parker and Sarah Tiakiwai, Wilf Malcolm Institute for the Ministry of Education.

Date Published: July 2005

This paper provides an overview of key findings about achievement, progress, and teaching practices for literacy, across a range of large-scale data sources. These findings give us a broad picture of how our education system is performing for literacy learning,…

Author(s): Robyn Caygill with Becky Zhao, Helen Hunter and Sandra Park, Ministry of Education

Date Published: January 2022

This paper provides an overview of key findings about student achievement and progress in mathematics and statistics learning in English-medium early learning and schools across a range of large national and international sources. It also presents information from these studies…

Author(s): Robyn Caygill with Becky Zhao, Ministry of Education

Date Published: January 2022

There are 8 learning areas specified in the New Zealand Curriculum: The Arts, Health and Physical Education, Science, English, Mathematics and Statistics, Social Sciences, Technology, and Learning Languages. The NMSSA assessed all learning areas over a five year cycle.…

Invited paper for the International Bureau of Education - UNESCO Project: Rethinking and repositioning curriculum in the 21st century: A global paradigm shift. Evidence, Data and Knowledge, Ministry of Education, Wellington: New Zealand.…

Author(s): Adrienne Alton-Lee

Date Published: November 2017

The following documents comprise the published reports from the National School Sampling Study, a Ministry of Education initiative to investigate how teachers work with the curriculum, 2001-2003, undertaken to inform the Curriculum Stocktake. The reports detail teachers’ experiences in teaching…

Author(s): Various

Date Published: Various

This literature review aims to create an evidence-based foundation for supporting the development of effective and innovative practices that can contribute to quality teaching and learning.…

Author(s): Haemata Limited, Report for the Ministry of Education.

Date Published: July 2012

This research project draws together findings from new data and more than 10 years of research on current practice and futures-thinking in education. The report discusses some emerging principles for future learning, how these are currently expressed in New Zealand…

Author(s): Rachel Bolstad and Jane Gilbert, with Sue McDowall, Ally Bull, Sally Boyd and Rosemary Hipkins, New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education.

Date Published: June 2012

This report presents findings from a study evaluating the Network Learning Communities initiative in 2010.…

Author(s): Lorrae Ward and Adelle Henderson, CYPERUS with Quigley and Watts. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education.

Date Published: May 2011

This is the technical report from a study evaluating the Network Learning Communities initiative in 2010. It contains detailed analyses of two surveys and presented 10 case study summaries.…

Author(s): Lorrae Ward (Phd) and Adelle Henderson, CYPERUS with Quigley and Watts. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education.

Date Published: May 2011

This is the short summary report from a study evaluating the Network Learning Communities initiative in 2010.…

Author(s): Lorrae Ward, CYPERUS. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education.

Date Published: May 2011

This is the final report from the Curriculum Implementation Exploratory Studies (CIES) project. It reports on ways in which innovative schools and teachers have been working to implement The New Zealand Curriculum across all three years of the project.…

Author(s): Rosemary Hipkins, Bronwen Cowie, Sally Boyd, Paul Keown, and Clive McGee, University of Waikato. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education.

Date Published: May 2011

The revised New Zealand Curriculum was launched in November 2007, with schools required to give full effect to the curriculum by February 2010. Progress towards this has been monitored using evidence reported by the Education Review Office and research teams…

Author(s): Dr Sandie Schagen. Ministry of Education.

Date Published: March 2011

This report presents findings from a national evaluation of the implementation of The New Zealand Curriculum. The project sought to establish a national picture of implementation progress in English-medium schools in the first two years following the curriculum's launch in…

Author(s): Dr Claire Sinnema, The University of Auckland. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education.

Date Published: March 2011