Education researchers look abroad to improve New Zealand schooling

Fulbright New Zealand and the Cognition Institute have selected two researchers from different education sector branches for exchanges to the United States of America in 2011.

Ngaire Addis from Havelock North High School and Dr Veronica O’Toole from the University of Canterbury are the two recipients of Fulbright – Cognition Scholar Awards in Education Research for 2011, and will each spend several months in the US conducting research aimed at improving aspects of the schooling system in NZ.

Ngaire Addis, a senior teacher at Havelock North High School who is currently completing her doctorate through Massey University, will research how mathematics achievement data is used by leaders of American high schools to improve teaching and learning. NZ schools are faced with the new challenge of how to integrate National Standards for Mathematics and Literacy into daily practice with a view to improving student achievement. Ngaire looks forward to tapping into the experiences of school leaders in America, where educational policy and school management are already focused around systems of standards, testing and public reporting of results.

Dr Veronica O’Toole is a lecturer at the University of Canterbury’s School of Educational Studies and Human Development. She will visit two American universities - Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut - to work with experts and develop a research – informed emotional literacy programme to improve social and emotional wellbeing across NZ school communities. She plans to trial a programme in several Christchurch primary schools after returning to NZ.