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This research overview outlines the catalyst for a proposed research project which stems from an interest in trauma and its effects, particularly in early childhood. It argues that there should be a stronger focus on Trauma Informed Practice in Aotearoa New Zealand, with two foci-firstly in ITE programmes, empowering graduating kaiako with the tools to support tamariki who have trauma through pedagogical practice, so that they can work in collaboration with external services rather than relying on them. Secondly, with the creation of a model to measure trauma which is designed for use in Aotearoa New Zealand, takes into consideration te Tiriti o Waitangi, the history of colonisation in this country and the specific needs of Maori.

This article documents endeavours to establish a higher education program for incarcerated learners in Aotearoa New Zealand. Presently, prisoners serving lengthy sentences in the country are precluded from obtaining a degree while in custody, which is in stark contrast to other jurisdictions with comparable penal systems. This study examines the challenges of implementing higher education programs in prisons in Aotearoa New Zealand and draws on the authors' experiences to identify potential solutions. Two solutions were considered: a combined universities approach, which involved sharing the costs and efforts of creating a degree program for incarcerated learners among the country's eight universities, and an instance of the Inside-Out Exchange program. However, both of these solutions were impeded by practical and logistical obstacles, including the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the initiatives suggested in this study offer promising solutions to these challenges, their implementation has been hindered by practical and logistical difficulties. However, it is argued that it is imperative for policymakers and stakeholders to prioritise the establishment of sustainable and effective higher education programs in prisons, which have the potential to promote social equity and justice. To this end, the authors propose a single university applying for funding to establish and deliver higher education programs in prisons as a practical and viable solution. Policymakers and stakeholders are urged to take action towards realising this proposal, with a view towards creating a more equitable and just society.

School leaders have a significant impact on student outcomes; however, there has been a shift from viewing school leadership as the actions of an individual, to seeing leadership as a collaborative endeavour, including in Aotearoa New Zealand. The traditional heroic model of leadership is making way for a new leadership paradigm which considers leadership as the actions of many rather than the few and promotes the construct of distributed leadership. This research study, using an interpretive qualitative design, focused on the experiences of secondary school principals in their attempts to distribute leadership. Moreover, the study aimed to connect principal's interpretations of distributed leadership with their practice of the construct. The findings highlight the challenges in defining and enacting distributed leadership. Nine recommendations for principals who are considering distributed leadership as a tool for effectively distributing leadership and improving student outcomes are presented. These are designed to provide principals with a starting point when considering distributed leadership and to stimulate further discussion on the topic.

While males have predominantly held leadership positions in national-level parliaments, the rising visibility of females as heads of government, despite their underrepresentation, is a significant trend. This study investigated the political resignation speeches of four female leaders in national parliaments: Australia, England, New Zealand, and Scotland. Examining their speeches revealed a strategic utilization of self-praise to construct their identity as effective leaders. A comparative analysis of these speeches highlighted distinct self-praise strategies employed. These speakers interacted with varied levels of familiarity with their audience influencing their self-praise strategies. Addressing familiar individuals prompted the use of diverse strategies, notably emphasizing direct self-praise with modifications. In contrast, when addressing less familiar recipients, leaders tended to lean more towards straightforward strategies. Across these speeches, a multimodal discourse analysis uncovered the diverse communication modes utilized by leaders including variations in bodily movements, hand gestures, and eye contact. These modes of communication reflected the perceived social distance between the speakers and their audience.

This piece demonstrates a creative practice that invites educators from diverse backgrounds to consider the memories, stories, and cultural histories alive within them. How we carry and know our own stories influences how we can critically and reflexively enact or challenge policies of cultural responsivity in education. Given that the political landscapes in education get remade over and over, the threads of our personal histories remain vital to remember, so they, too, do not move into the realm of forgetting. To connect, in an ongoing way, to our unique heritages and stories is to challenge current policy proposals that intend to privatise historical and cultural education, risking fragmentation and dissociation. This piece uses a diffractive storytelling approach through critical autoethnography to consider how material artefacts are imbued with histories and stories. This article traces my memories as a Pakeha (immigrant of European origin) educator in Aotearoa, New Zealand, from Scotland, through the artefact of a tartan quilt. I demonstrate how educators may use creative practices to remember and trace the threads of their stories through their material artefacts, elucidating the lenses from which they teach so they may equip students with the tools to navigate political influences within their own stories.

Background: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder but may be underrecognized and misunderstood by people who provide health and social support services. The aim of the research is to understand the FASD knowledge, attitudes, and practices among people employed by the social and community sector in New Zealand. Methods: We conducted an online survey of people working in the New Zealand social and community sector (i.e., social workers, support workers). The survey focused on the following areas: awareness of FASD; knowledge and beliefs about FASD; the impact of FASD on professional practice; and training needs. Results: Most participants reported a basic understanding of FASD, however only 5% felt very well prepared to support someone with FASD. A large majority of participants believed that FASD diagnosis may be stigmatising for individuals or families. Conclusion: There is a need to improve training, professional development, and workplace support for social and community workers in New Zealand to support people with FASD.

Inter-school networks have been promoted in many school systems globally to facilitate: knowledge generation and dissemination; responsiveness to increasingly diverse student and societal needs; and emotional and practical peer support for educational professionals. In understanding contemporary education as a 'wicked' problem, this paper explores case studies of inter-school networks in Aotearoa New Zealand (New Zealand) and England through the lens of complexity theory. We focus on how the conditions necessary for complex emergence identified by Davis and Sumara operate and how these conditions, along with their 'enabling constraints', facilitate the emergence of new perspectives and practices that enable the achievement of network objectives. This analysis indicates that where particular forms of leadership are in place, challenges -- such as fragmentation, competition and the absence of social capital -- can be overcome. We argue that network leaders need to balance and bridge three overlapping leadership approaches: operational leadership, entrepreneurial leadership and enabling leadership. We conclude by exploring the implications and insights for school, network and system leaders.

Over the last few decades, both New Zealand and the intergovernmental organisation of UNESCO have widely spread the rhetoric of safety through a broad range of educational issues. This notion, in vogue since the neoliberal turn, has raised little opposition in educational debates. In this article, we use a Foucauldian lens to analyse the assumptions that underlie the discourses of safety of UNESCO and the New Zealand's education policy, and to what extent they align or differ. The findings show a general alignment between the safety discourses of UNESCO and the New Zealand Ministry of Education, and three main assumptions were identified that frame the problem, the solution and those responsible for solving safety issues in education. In the texts analysed, safety operates as a neoliberal mechanism to manage student behaviour and individualise social risk in the guise of altruism.

Inquiry-based project learning is an internationally recognised pedagogical approach where children work collaboratively to research and discover the answers to their questions through discussion, representation, and evaluation. This paper explores the findings from Phase One of a qualitative study examining how this approach has been interpreted in early childhood settings in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The findings from an online questionnaire sent to all settings registered on the New Zealand national data base revealed that the international discourse surrounding this approach has been a key influence in this context. There was, however, also evidence that more localised approaches that value indigenous knowledges, in alignment with the national early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki ("Te Whariki. He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum." Ministry of Education. https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early-Childhood/Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf) have been developed. Whilst participants identified pedagogical and practical challenges of undertaking inquiry-based approaches, the educational value of this approach for children was also strongly championed.

Wellbeing of international students is an extensively explored topic in international education discourses. A plethora of research has been devoted to general wellbeing of international students. Nevertheless, little is known about international students' spiritual wellbeing which can be pivotal to their adaptation to the new environment. In the context of New Zealand higher education, utilizing an intrinsic single case study design, this study examined spiritual wellbeing experienced by Indian international students. Phenomenographic interviews were conducted with 13 Indian students who were studying management courses at postgraduate level in an institute of technology in a North Island city of New Zealand. Data analysis generated three dimensions (spiritual cognition, spiritual practice, spiritual efficacy) of spiritual wellbeing which were influenced by four strategies of adaptation (connection, isolation, accommodation, integration). This study provided new insights into the experiences of international students which may influence international education in the long run.

There is a considerable lack of women in the engineering disciplines at tertiary level in New Zealand. This is an economic issue because innovation and creativity in engineering are supported by diversity which directly and indirectly supports the New Zealand economy. Improving diversity in engineering will also improve equity. Literature suggests that parents, teachers, students' self-perception, their beliefs, and stereotypical views influence girls' career selection. Despite the vast number of studies in the international literature regarding the influencing factors on women's career selection in engineering, this comprehensive study for the first time investigates the factors that contribute to women's interest in studying engineering in New Zealand. The researchers explored these influencing factors from three lenses; future teachers of children aged 11-13 years, current engineering students and high school students. They found that participants held very strong stereotypical views about engineers, that barriers to selection of engineering pathway for females included a lack of career and subject choice guidance available to students at school, lack of promotion of the profession, and society's perception of engineers as being masculine. It also found that experiences throughout their lives can steer girls away from a career in engineering.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, technology education is a means for teachers to introduce students to future-focused contexts and innovative approaches to learning. When viewed from this lens, there are opportunities for pedagogical practice to be responsive to student interests by developing creative and critical thinking in a variety of technological areas (e.g., Digital Technologies, Design & Visual Communication, Materials and Processing). Recent media coverage in Aotearoa New Zealand promoted the need for increased attention on innovation in New Zealand schools and implied that for such a focus, there were natural associations being made with the use of digital tools for teaching and learning - rather than technology education. The COVID-19 climate has seen an observable change in learning, which has further highlighted that all teachers should have the necessary knowledge and skills to enact curriculum policy - in a range of different ways. The technology education curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand has an increasing focus on the role of digital technologies and this article reports findings from research, which explored how secondary technology teachers' curriculum practice was impacted by lockdowns during the global pandemic. Semi-structured online interviews and teachers' resources offered insight into three significant stages of transition - before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdowns, which had implications for their teaching and learning.

Maori and Pacific learners in Aotearoa New Zealand have been identified as 'priority learners' by the Ministry of Education. The 'Pacific picturebook project' is ongoing research focussed on picturebooks selected to support the languages, cultures, and identities of Pacific learners in keeping with our government, Teaching Council and Ministry of Education expectations. This phase of the research was located in a kindergarten where teachers and children identify as Maori, Pakeha and from several Pacific Island nations. Teachers shared a selection of Pacific picturebooks with the children and recorded their own and the children's responses to them over a kindergarten term. Thematic analysis of data showed that Pacific picturebooks were significant pedagogical tools for language learning, to support identity, and to contribute to the kindergarten's emergent and localised curriculum. These findings clearly illustrate what pedagogy looks like when it is entrenched in key documents relevant to early learning in this country.

Studies have found early detection of autism is protective for an individual and their family. Fewer Pacific children are diagnosed with autism compared with non-Pacific children, and those who have significantly higher needs, suggesting an undercount of those diagnosed. The purpose of this study was to explore any association between parental education and autism in Pacific children living in Aotearoa, New Zealand. This was a national cross-sectional study using data from New Zealand's Integrated Data Infrastructure, including Pacific and non-Maori non-Pacific children in the 2013 Census. A novel method was employed to capture autism, while years of parents' education was estimated from their highest attained qualification level. Apposite regression models were used to analyse the relationship between parental education and autism. We found that autism was identified in 1.1% of Pacific children compared with 1.6% of non-Maori, non-Pacific children. A year of education among parents of Pacific children was associated with increased identification of autism (odds ratio = 1.10; 95% confidence interval = 1.06-1.15). The findings show education plays a positive role in receiving a diagnosis for Pacific autistic children but suggest a systemic failure to support Pacific parents to navigate existing health systems for themselves or their children.

Decades of research has documented the consequences of allocating school students into a hierarchy of classes with narrow ranges of mathematics attainment, a process known as streaming, tracking, setting, or "ability" grouping. The purported benefits of streaming are inconsistent and disputed, but the harms are clear, in particular, (1) the limiting curriculum often available in low streams and (2) the loss of self-confidence that results from being positioned in a low stream. Building on this foundation, we discuss streaming in mathematics as tied to systemic racism in Aotearoa New Zealand, where the harmful effects of streaming fall most heavily on Maori and Pasifika students. Previous analyses of race and streaming have focused primarily on the racial composition of streamed classes, bias in stream allocation, and racialised teacher expectations in streamed settings. In contrast, we focus on the emotional consequences of streaming, arguing that streaming produces racialised emotions of shame and entitlement as unintended but predictable consequences. We illustrate the racialised production of entitlement and shame through collaborative storying, interweaving our own biographies with a re-analysis of student interviews from two prior studies.