New publications

This paper focuses on VET and the role that career development services have in assisting people to make transitions, including from school to further training (including VET and higher education), and into the workplace. The aim of these guidelines is to inform the establishment and/or enhancement of a system which gives all VET students, as well as parents, schools and employers, access to expert, inclusive, relevant, fruitful and informed careers advice. From report, which is available online.

The development of bicultural competency is a fundamental foundation to the provision of quality early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand. To address the issue of teacher bicultural competence, the following researchers conducted a literature review of the use of kaupapa Mäori to develop bicultural competency in early childhood education. They set out to canvass the perceptions of a range of early childhood practitioners, both Mäori and non-Mäori, of bicultural competency in early childhood education. Implications for bicultural practice were explored. Adapted from Executive Summary. The full report is available online.

Leading on Inclusion: Dilemmas, debates and new perspectives critically examines the current theory and legislative context of special educational needs and disability, and explores the enduring issues and opportunities that will affect future practice in all schools. Contributors, drawn from a pool of teachers, academics and researchers, consider issues such as: the voice of young people, whole-school development and planning for inclusion, educational change within the context of inclusion, the pros and cons of multi-professional working, inclusive and ethical research, international perspectives on inclusion, SEN and disability, and the development of teacher education and the notion of 'joined up' thinking. Adapted from publisher's description.

The author uses statistical evidence to argue against some widely held beliefs in education today, and the policies that have resulted from them. He argues why colleges that make the SAT tertiary-entrance tests optional for applicants end up with underperforming students and inflated national rankings, and why the push to substitute achievement tests for aptitude tests makes no sense. Wainer challenges the thinking behind the enormous rise of advanced placement courses in high schools, and argues that assessing teachers based on how well their students perform on tests, a central pillar of recent education reforms, is misguided. Adapted from publisher's description.

This report explores what the best available recent research tells us about the ways in which employers engage with schools, the features and principles of successful employer involvement, and the impact of employers' involvement on young people's progression. The review forms one of a suite of four literature reviews that have been completed under the From Education to Employment theme. These reviews collectively identify strategies for assisting young people at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) to make effective transitions into learning or employment post 16. From report, which is available online.
 

This review considers curriculum-related approaches to engaging young people in learning and curricula and qualifications used to engage young people and to facilitate their progression in education, employment or training. It forms one of a suite of four literature reviews that have been completed under the From Education to Employment theme. These reviews collectively identify strategies to assist young people at risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) to make effective transitions into learning or employment post-16. Adapted from review, which is available online.