The Role of Research in Educational Planning in New Zealand

Abstract

New Zealand's public school system has more than doubled in size during the last twenty years. Although it is a national system, centrally financed (and, only in part, locally administered), New Zealanders are sceptical about the value of centralized planning. Educational planning is in the hands of the Minister of Education, ad hoc consultative committees or commissions, district education boards, school committees and teachers themselves. The research conducted by these groups is usually of the fact‐collecting variety. That carried out by university staff members has tended to be diffuse, fragmented and discontinuous, most of it being relegated to the farthest recesses of university libraries. The work of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, however, has obviously influenced educational planning to a considerable extent. There is a growing conviction in New Zealand that the vitality and enterprise of a school system depends upon the vigour of its research and experimental programmes.

Citation

WATSON, J.E. (1964), "The Role of Research in Educational Planning in New Zealand", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 108-124. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009583