The last 30 years have witnessed a global 'curricular turn', with curricula increasingly moving from specifying particular content to specifying broad, skill-based 'learning objectives'. This paper explores the implications of this curricular turn through a critical assessment of the current state of secondary school English in Aotearoa New…

"The New Zealand Curriculum" expresses a vision for young people who are contributing and participating members of society. While this social vision is supported by the inclusion of key competencies, the curriculum document says little about content and its role in developing this participatory agency. This article uses interview data…

Achievement data from New Zealand secondary schools suggest that students from lower socio-economic communities have fewer opportunities to engage with complex content in subject English. This article examines this phenomenon by drawing on Foucault's notion of governmentality and considers how a context of simultaneously increased autonomy and…

In 1840, the British Crown and Maori rangatira (chiefs) across Aotearoa New Zealand signed a treaty that promised indigenous Maori sovereignty over their lands. In the 1980s, the government moved towards the view that the treaty signing symbolised two races coming together in 'partnership'. Partnership is a point of contention in…

Peer learning offers powerful spaces for teachers to reconsider beliefs and change practice. Although productive teacher collaborations have been identified, there are few descriptive accounts explaining the detail of these collaborations and specifying conditions that enabled teachers to learn from each other. This article explores the ways in…

Maori leaders visiting Australia invited a Pakeha (in this case, English) teacher to come to New Zealand to teach the children to read and write. On 12th August 1816, 200 years ago this year, the first school in New Zealand opened. Twenty-four Maori children came on that day, and each had his or her name written down. The teacher Thomas Kendall…

It has been mandatory since March 2015 for New Zealand schools to use the "English Language Learning Progressions" (ELLP) (Ministry of Education, 2008) to determine English language learners' eligibility for Ministry funding of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) programmes and support. Teachers are expected to "use a…

This volume identifies, illustrates, compares, contrasts and provides informed reflective commentary on the diverse career trajectories of English language teachers, teacher educators and researchers. Increased migration and globalisation pressures have led to dramatic changes in English language teaching over the last few decades. The resulting…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to combine conceptual and documentary research. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on a range of New Zealand curriculum documents and on the history of English subject in the New Zealand context, it maps aspects of the contestation that has accompanied the development of various versions of the subject over…

This article reports on a small-scale case study involving all English teachers of junior classes in a rural high school in New Zealand. The Head of English had been involved in Writing Project professional learning, designed in accordance with principles and practices that can be found in a number of countries, especially the United States. The…

The study explores the opinions and attitudes of International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) English language teachers from Turkey, the USA, the UK, New Zealand and Spain on intercultural language teaching. 16 teachers from Turkey, 15 teachers from the USA, 11 teachers from the UK, 10 teachers from New Zealand and 8 teachers from Spain,…

Assessment for Learning (AfL) pedagogies can have a significant impact on student learning and achievement. This paper reports on data from a study of four teachers and 48 student participants within a regional high school. An inquiry approach to teacher professional learning is explored through an AfL lens, in particular, how teacher feedback for…

Purpose: An overview of English aims, theoretical scope and methods is badly needed. Ministries throughout the English-speaking world have become dominated by a demand for testing -- stimulated no doubt by regular Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) surveys -- and lost sight of first principles. The purpose of this…

This case-study explores the effects of a school-wide writing competition and the implementation of a poetry-writing unit across all junior English classes in a rural New Zealand school. Teacher interview data were thematically analysed using a social constructionist lens. Results highlight the varied strategies adopted by teachers, while…

This paper draws on a case study undertaken by an English teacher in a rural school with a Year 12 English class, most of whom had been singularly unsuccessful in terms of NCEA achievement. The case study was undertaken as part of a two-year project, directed by the first author, entitled: "Teachers as writers: Transforming professional…