Maree Davies

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a growing influence on planning, teaching and assessment practices in education. In New Zealand, the Ministry of Education (2024) has acknowledged AI's expanding role in schools; nevertheless, limited data exist on teachers' practices and perspectives regarding its implementation. To address this gap in the literature, the present study employed an online survey and thematic analysis to investigate how secondary school teachers in NZ ( N = 99) used AI tools and to examine their perceptions of these tools in educational contexts. Quantitative analysis of the survey results revealed that teachers employed AI for various practical purposes, including planning (66.7%), teaching (37.4%) and assessment (34.3%). Most respondents agreed, however, that there were limited policies (63.6%) and a lack of knowledge (59.6%) relating to AI use in schools. Qualitative data from the survey suggested that teachers acknowledged the opportunities associated with AI use and recognised its potential for fostering student engagement; nevertheless, they raised a number of significant concerns, including students' misuse of AI tools, the potential erosion of students' critical thinking skills, the lack of professional development and clear guidelines for teachers and challenges associated with assessment practices. The findings underscore the need for targeted teacher training, informed policy development and ongoing consultation with both educators and students to ensure that AI integration supports, rather than hinders, learning. Future research should examine how AI is used across different subject areas and explore effective strategies to foster teachers' adoption of pedagogically sound AI practices.

In language arts classrooms, dialogic teaching encourages diverse text interpretations, fostering discussions that enhance students' literacy skills like reasoning. However, adopting a dialogic stance poses challenges for both teachers and students. The study investigated the impact of a tailor‐made dialogic intervention on a Chinese rural teacher and students' stances towards texts. Chinese rural students shifted from efferent and instrumental stances to a more critical‐analytical stance, indicating a profound change in how rural students interacted with texts through exploratory talk, highlighting the potential of dialogic teaching practices to foster deep engagement with reading materials. However, after the intervention ended, the teacher reverted to a monologic approach due to limited dialogic texts and time constraints. The findings underscore the potential of dialogic teaching for engaging rural students, yet highlight the need for sustained teacher training and suitable texts. Future research should focus on cultivating and maintaining students' growth mindset effectively in rural settings.

This study explores the enactment of critical thinking policies in Chinese senior high schools through the lens of Ball et al.’s policy enactment theory and within the broader context of Chinese education reform aimed at enhancing students’ thinking abilities. Employing a case study methodology with diverse data types, the research assessed current school-level practices and the effectiveness of Ball et al.’s framework in capturing interactions among objective contexts, policy actors, and cultural artefacts. Findings indicate that the framework captures these complexities when the policy is actively enacted. In one school, a systematic enactment mechanism facilitated diverse policy roles and external connections, thereby promoting schoolwide critical thinking development; however, another school exhibited fragmented practices due to the lack of key policy roles, despite students’ interest in deeper engagement. Challenges were also identified, including deficiencies in the mid-level education bureau and conflicts between a collective-oriented educational paradigm and the promotion of independent thinking. The study unravelled the nuances of the enactment of critical thinking policies in Chinese senior high schools. Future research could test the framework’s applicability for guiding the construction of policy mechanisms across different settings.

Critical thinking (CT) is increasingly included within education curriculum policy development to support students’ intellectual progress. Teachers who embed CT learning and are cognisant of students cultural identity increase their ability and aptitude to think critically. This paper reports results from an anonymous survey administered to 490 teacher participants, designed to investigate teacher beliefs regarding the impact of students cultural identity on their ability to think critically. The results of the study found a diversity of teacher opinion, including negative attitudes (53%) regarding students’ abilities and the requirement for a culturally responsive teaching approach. The study highlights the complexities of implementing CT, and the need for policy makers to consider the impact of teachers’ beliefs about student cultural identity before effective delivery of CT in secondary schools is likely to occur.