Our research

Ā Mātou Rangahau

In this section of our website you'll find our education system evaluations, effective practice reports, resources and guides. These are produced by Te Ihuwaka | Education Evaluation Centre and Te Pou Mataaho | Evaluation and Research Māori.

Read more about Te Ihuwaka | Education Evaluation Centre.

Read more about Te Pou Mataaho | Evaluation and Research Māori.

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There are 27 research articles.
  • Topics: Decision making, School leaders, Secondary, State schools
  • Published: 10 May 2021

    Exploring Collaboration in Action: Kahukura Community of Practice

    ERO was approached by principals from Kahukura to document and evaluate their community of practice in Christchurch. This report identifies what is working well for this community of practice, areas where they might consider further enhancements, and lessons and insights into practices which could be shared with others.

  • Published: 10 May 2021

    Collaboration in Action: Lessons from a Community of Practice

    This short report accompanies our report Exploring Collaboration in Action: Kahukura Community of Practice.  It looks at the lessons that can be learnt from the Kahukura community of practice, drawing out key lessons on collaboration and providing seven key implications for schools who are interested in collaborating to consider.

  • Published: 06 May 2021

    Te Muka Here Tangata – The strand that binds people

    This case study explores the impact of the 2020 Covid-19 events on Māori learners in English-medium schools, and the response of leaders, schools and communities in the Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions.

  • Published: 22 Apr 2021

    Science in secondary schools: a guide for leaders

    To support leaders and teachers to review and strengthen the science learning opportunities they provide, ERO explored the strategies and approaches that a selection of schools had taken to increase students’ engagement in science. This short guides draws on this work to help secondary school leaders think about how they can support stronger science teaching and learning in their school.

  • Published: 21 Apr 2021

    Science in secondary schools: a guide for teachers

    To support leaders and teachers to review and strengthen the science learning opportunities they provide, ERO explored the strategies and approaches that a selection of schools had taken to increase students’ engagement in science. This short guides draws on this work to help secondary school teachers think about how they can support stronger science teaching and learning in their school.

  • Published: 20 Apr 2021

    Science in primary schools: a guide for leaders

    To support leaders and teachers to review and strengthen the science learning opportunities they provide, ERO explored the strategies and approaches that a selection of schools had taken to increase students’ engagement in science. This short guides draws on this work to help primary school leaders think about how they can support stronger science teaching and learning in their school.

  • Published: 19 Apr 2021

    Science in primary schools: a guide for teachers

    To support leaders and teachers to review and strengthen the science learning opportunities they provide, ERO explored the strategies and approaches that a selection of schools had taken to increase students’ engagement in science. This short guides draws on this work to help primary school teachers think about how they can support stronger science teaching and learning in their school.

  • Published: 12 Apr 2021

    Science in New Zealand schools and early childhood services - series summary

    Science is important – we rely on science and scientific thinking in almost every endeavour in our modern society. High quality science education at school is essential for learners who want a career in science, but it is also important for all learners to help them understand the scientific issues that whānau, communities, and nations face. Issues such as climate change, healthy living, and innovation all depend on science.

  • Published: 19 Jan 2021

    Learning in a Covid-19 World: Supporting Secondary School Engagement

    This report explains strategies for supporting secondary students’ engagement during the Covid19 pandemic. These strategies include re-engaging students who present with wellbeing concerns or show signs of disengagement. The report also includes some innovative actions schools used to promote student engagement after the first lockdown in 2020.

  • Published: 19 Jan 2021

    A guide to learning in a Covid-19 world - Supporting secondary-aged students into 2021

    This short guide is for school leaders and teachers in schools with secondary-aged students. It covers what we found from talking to schools in 2020 about the impact of Covid-19, and shares strategies used by schools to respond to the challenges they faced. It also sets out some actions that could be considered for continuing to support students, parents, whānau and staff in 2021.

  • Published: 10 Dec 2020

    Learning in a Covid-19 World: How school leadership rose to the challenge

    Principals and school leaders have taken on a lot of responsibility during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Education Review Office interviewed principals and board chairs and surveyed 1777 principals across the country from May through to September 2020 to understand how they have responded. This summary highlights how those school leaders rose to the challenge.

  • Published: 02 Dec 2019

    Professional Learning and Development in Schools

    How well were school leaders determining Professional Learning and Development priorities and evaluating its impact?

    ERO spoke with school leaders responsible for planning Professional Learning and Development (PLD) and looked at a variety of documents in 242 state or state-integrated schools (excluding kura) reviewed in Terms 3 and 4, 2018. ERO made an overall judgment about how well school leaders were determining PLD priorities and evaluating the impact of PLD.

  • Published: 30 May 2018

    What drives learning in the senior secondary school?

    This evaluation studies effective practice in schools’ senior curriculum. It contributes to the review being undertaken by the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). The Ministry-led review focuses on the implementation of NCEA as the national assessment system for the senior years of secondary schooling. 

  • Published: 01 Jan 2018

    Ethnic diversity in New Zealand state schools

    This article originally appeared in ERO Insights - Term 1, 2018 and explores how the ethnic diversity of the primary and secondary school roll has changed in New Zealand since 2009, and whether these changes are leading to more diverse or more segregated schools.

  • Published: 04 Sep 2017

    Stewardship: informed decision making

    At Manurewa Central School, the relationship between the principal and trustees is described in terms of how trust and confidence is built through effective listening and transparent reporting, interrogation and discussion of information.

  • Published: 07 Nov 2016

    School Leadership That Works

    This evaluation report illustrates the leadership domain of ERO’s School Evaluation Indicators in practice by:

  • Published: 18 Dec 2015

    Raising student achievement through targeted actions

    In 2015, ERO investigated target setting in both primary and secondary schools. We focused on the extent to which targeted actions of schools supported accelerated progress for students at risk of not achieving.

  • Published: 29 May 2014

    Towards equitable outcomes in secondary schools: Good practice

    This report presents examples of good practice in student engagement and achievement. The examples come from a sample of secondary schools, rated decile 5 or below with rolls of 200 students or more, who had better outcomes for students than other similar schools. ERO visited seven of these schools to find out the secret to their success.