New Zealand Council for Educational Research - NZCER

Sharing stories together is a powerful way for children to make sense of the world, build their language skills, and connect with their culture and family - making it a vital part of early literacy development. Stories can be shared with young children in many ways, be it through books, play, art, music, everyday conversations or everyday routines.

Our 2025 research report Strengthening early literacy practice: Exploring story sharing in diverse, equity-funded kindergartens highlights how parents, kaiako, and whānau all play an important role in helping children learn about stories and storytelling. Here are some of the ways storytelling can be fostered!

https://www.nzcer.org.nz/news-and-blogs/supporting-early-childhood-storytelling-11-tips-kaiako-and-whanau

Teacher perspectives on working in Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) - from the 2022 National Survey research brief by Mohamed Alansari and Mengnan Li.

Their analysis highlights the importance of continuing to improve digital resourcing and facilities in schools, and to provide ongoing professional learning and development (PLD) opportunities, to help improve teaching experiences in ILEs and enhance teachers’ work experiences.

Reliable digital resourcing and a strong culture of ongoing PLD are positively related, and both predict positive experiences of working in ILEs. Both are also positively associated with teachers’ work (morale and workload).

Teacher views that some of their students feel overwhelmed in ILEs suggest the need to investigate teacher and student experiences in future studies, including the specific teaching behaviours that would help enhance student experiences in those environments.

Read the full research brief here - https://www.nzcer.org.nz/research/publications/national-survey-research-brief-1-teacher-experiences-ILEs

We've released a new PAT - Rational number!

PAT Rational Number is a low-stakes, formative, standardised assessment for Years 3-10 that focuses specifically on rational number. It sits within the wider PAT Pāngarau, and provides an in-depth examination of this critical aspect of mathematics.

It is an online-only assessment that can be accessed through our NZCER Assist platform. Find out more at the link below!

https://www.nzcer.org.nz/assessments/pats/tau-whakahau-rational-number

How do secondary principals feel about the government changes to open plan classrooms?

The 2025 National Survey of Schools showed that a majority (66%) of secondary principals indicated agreement that the policy change was a good decision, with 41% expressing strong agreement. Only 15% disagreed, and one-fifth (20%) gave a neutral response.

Read the full principal report here - https://www.nzcer.org.nz/national-survey-secondary-principals-2025

New from us! Changing curriculum: A literature review on drivers of change and teachers' roles in curriculum reform

By Rachel Bolstad and Sue McDowall

This literature review aims to understand the New Zealand Curriculum update’s “direction of travel” in relation to selected international jurisdictions; and to synthesise literature about teachers’ and school leaders’ curriculum making and curriculum sensemaking.

It also examines the origins and debates around “knowledge-rich” curriculum approaches; themes from jurisdictions with Indigenous curriculum arrangements; and emerging literature on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in curriculum making.

Read the full report here - https://www.nzcer.org.nz/research/publications/changing-curriculum-literature-review-drivers-change-and-teachers-roles

Tonight! Hear from a panel featuring NZCER Senior Researcher | Kairangahau Matua Sue McDowall on reading for pleasure, and the importance of strengthening school reading communites. Many thanks to National Library of New Zealand

Thriving as a nation of readers: Strengthening school reading communities Join us for a panel event in the National Library Auditorium in Wellington celebrating the power of reading with Kate De Goldi, our current Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador, and guests.

What lies ahead for climate education in our schools?

By Rachel Bolstad, Kaihautū Rangahau | Chief Researcher, NZCER

"Early responses to the updated science and social science curriculum have raised concerns about a lack of visibility and coherence for climate change learning up to Year 10. Final curriculum for the senior levels (Years 11-13) are yet to be released. There is currently little information about how the new senior secondary qualification will enhance students’ climate education opportunities.

What we do know is that secondary students’ current opportunities to engage in climate learning and action is variable, according to findings from the 2025 National Survey of Secondary Schools. We asked secondary teachers whether climate change was a focus in any of their teaching. Just over half (53%) said climate change is not a focus in any of their teaching, and the remaining 47% said it was at least a minor focus in at least one class they teach."

Read the full article here - https://www.nzcer.org.nz/news-and-blogs/what-lies-ahead-climate-education-our-schools

NZCER has a few more spaces for schools to take part in the final FREE online trial for our NEW PAT Pānui | PAT Reading Comprehension assessment specifically designed for Year 3 schools in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Please contact [email protected] to register your interest by Wednesday 19th August.

We are seeking a wide range of Year 3 & 4 students to trial this assessment of reading comprehension skills in retrieving information and making inferences.

- Year 3 will trial the new PAT over 30mins.
- Year 4 will sit a linking assessment of 45mins, which includes some of the Year 3 tasks and some of our usual Year 4 PAT tasks. This linking ensures the Year 3 PAT sits on the same scale score as our standardised Years 4-10 PAT Pānui, so that student progress can be tracked over time.

In Term 2 we developed and piloted the tasks in classrooms on paper and talked to students, teachers and principals. After this feedback and indepth statistical analysis, we modified the tasks to better suit Year 3 and trialled two improved versions online nationwide in Term 2. We are about to carry out our final online trial before it's release in Term 4.

A majority of secondary school teachers use te reo Māori in the classroom and feel Te Tiriti o Waitangi is enacted in their school, according to the 2025 National Survey of Secondary Schools.

The latest edition of the survey, run by NZCER, shows that Māori words or phrases (such as greetings and farewells) are used in most secondary classrooms, with only 12% of teachers saying they don't feel confident enough to use te reo Māori.

Kaiako Māori, as well as kaiako in schools with more socioeconomic barriers, were more likely to use te reo Māori in their classroom and at higher proficiency levels.

"Most teachers think Te Tiriti o Waitangi is enacted in their school's values and daily activities," notes report author Jo MacDonald. "Growing use of reo Māori in classrooms is one aspect of this. More teachers say they incorporate tikanga Māori and te reo Māori in their teaching now, than in 2018 and 2021 surveys."

"However, there are some differences in teachers’ confidence and capability. It would be great to see continued support to build wider teacher capability in using te reo Māori."

Full article here - https://www.nzcer.org.nz/news-and-blogs/secondary-teachers-using-more-reo-maori-classroom-say-te-tiriti-enacted-their

New research! Secondary teachers' perspectives from the 2025 national survey Uiuinga ā-Motu o ngā Kura
Findings include:
- Less than half of teachers indicated having sufficient support to teach students with additional learning needs such as students with disabilities, students with learning difficulties, students with physical or mental health or behaviour issues, and neurodivergent students.
- Compared with 2018 and 2021, more teachers agreed or strongly agreed that they incorporated tikanga Māori and te reo Māori into their teaching.
- Most teachers thought Te Tiriti o Waitangi was widely enacted in school values and day-to-day activities.
- Two-thirds of teachers said they were currently integrating generative artificial intelligence (AI) into their teaching practices, most commonly to develop learning materials. Teachers who don’t use AI in their teaching practice were concerned about quality, bias, and ethical impacts.
- More teachers (86%) agreed or strongly agreed that student wellbeing is a strong focus in their school compared with 2021 (72%).
- Around a third of teachers disagreed or strongly disagreed that their workload is manageable (31%) and that their level of stress is manageable (35%)
- The most-selected changes that teachers would like to their work were a reduction in the scale and pace of change (71%) and more support staff/teacher aides (62%).

The 2025 National Survey of Secondary Schools is part of NZCER's long-standing project tracking trends in the education system. The 2025 survey gathered responses from 830 teachers from 126 schools that teach secondary students. Responses were gathered between October 2025 and March 2026. The full report is now available here - https://www.nzcer.org.nz/research/publications/secondary-teachers-perspectives-2025-national-survey-uiuinga-motu-o-nga-kura