“Better to do than receive”: Learning to think historically through internally assessed course work
Introduction This research project examined the contribution internally assessed course work makes to motivating young people to think historically; that is to develop reasoned, evidence-based understandings of the past that equip them to participate in society as critical citizens who can think independently and adjudicate between competing claims of historical authenticity. Our findings indicate that […]
Smoothing the path to transition
1. Introduction Successful transition of secondary school students into tertiary study is a priority for secondary schools, tertiary institutions and government alike (see, for example, Bazerman, 2007; Batholomae, 2005). The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) has, as one of its goals, the effective preparation of senior secondary students for higher education; the Tertiary Education […]
Creating active citizens: Interpreting, implementing and assessing ‘personal social action’ in NCEA social studies
Introduction Since 2013, one internally-assessed Social Studies achievement standard at each of the three levels of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) has required students to actively participate in a social action. Whilst these new personal social action[1] standards hold the potential to support transformative citizenship education, previous research suggests that taking social action […]