NZ Content Counts Education Awards 2016 - winners named

New Zealand Content Counts Education Awards 2016

Media release: 25 November 2016 – For Immediate Release

New Zealand Content Counts Education Awards 2016 - winners named

Recipients of the 2016 New Zealand Content Counts Education Awards were named at a ceremony held at Auckland’s Massey University in Albany last night. For the second year running, teachers from around the country joined the official panel of education experts and cast their votes to add their choice of best resources to the judge’s selection.

The awards celebrate the excellent resources New Zealand companies have recently released in the New Zealand education market. The finalists this year are a mix of digital resources alongside traditional texts - a reflection of the range of materials that our teachers are using in today’s classrooms.

Toitoi, an innovative new journal established in April last year, was named Best Resource in Primary for 2016 by the judging panel. Both authored and illustrated by young New Zealand writers and artists in years 1-8, Toitoi is an excellent literary resource for students and teachers that acknowledges the voices of Kiwi children. The judges commended Toitoi as highly innovative and refreshing, providing an ‘incredible experience’ for students to see their work published in such a quality journal. One teacher commented, “Toitoi has opened up the world of literacy. The stories have created models of writing and art for my students to aspire to. The activities have challenged them to think deeper about what they read.”

Winner of Best Resource in Secondary and a resource that, according to the judges, goes “beyond the obvious”, was Geography in Focus: Teaching and learning in issues-based classrooms. Published by NZCER Press and authored by Mike Taylor, Louise Richards and John Morgan (Eds), the judges stated that this text was a valuable resource for an often overlooked subject field, and also offered transferable methodologies that can benefit teaching practice in many other curriculum areas.

Autism Spectrum Disorder in Aotearoa New Zealand: Promising practices and interesting issues, published by NZCER Press and written by Jill Bevan-Brown and Vijaya Dharan, took out the award for Best Resource in Higher Education. Judges commented that the book is being strongly tailored for a New Zealand audience, and visually rich for classroom use. Seen by the judges as a timely publication given the growing awareness of autism, the resource adds significant pedagogical value, and excellent strategies for inclusion of all children in classrooms, not only those with autism.

Best Resource in Te Reo Māori was awarded to the board game and digital application He Kupu i Kore, developed by CORE Education Ltd. He Kupu i Kore was selected by the judges for its usability and flexibility; a resource for a range of learners at different levels of fluency. He Kupu i Kore was also the favourite among voting teachers across New Zealand, winning the Teachers Choice award alongside the judges’ award.

The award that recognises success in exporting New Zealand education materials went to Dame Wendy Pye’s Key Words, written by one of New Zealand’s favourite children’s writers, Joy Cowley. 100,000 units of Key Words are now being used in mainland China to teach English to young children. Additional titles are being added to the current series soon.

The Teachers’ Choice award for Best Resource in Primary was presented to iUgo (Essential Resources). A planning solution for teachers, high praises were sung for this resource as the votes came in with comments such as, “I can honestly say I wouldn't be without it. It has made a huge difference in my practice and makes planning so much easier. Fantastic resource to support collaborative teaching” also, “iUgo has streamlined my planning. The user-friendliness and prompt responsive support make this an outstanding resource.”

The Teachers’ Choice for Best Resource in Secondary was jointly awarded to two resources that received an equal share of the votes. LEMMA: Mathematics tasks that promote higher order thinking (Dr. Caroline Yoon, NZCER Press), of which one teacher commented “encouraging creative thinking paves the way to future life successes for our teenagers” and Treaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti O Waitangi Level 5 Learning Workbook (FJ Gibson, ESA Publications (NZ) Ltd) was also a favourite among teachers.

Paula Browning, Chief Executive of Copyright Licensing NZ that runs the awards said, “we need to continue to recognise the value of locally produced materials with which to teach New Zealand children. Overseas resources do not have the cultural context that makes learning so much more meaningful for our students. CLNZ is proud to support New Zealand educational resource providers by hosting these awards each year.”

Best Resource in Primary
Toitoi: A Journal for Young Writers and Artists. Issue 1, Issue 2, Special Anzac Issue, Various authors, Editor - Charlotte Gibbs, Toitoi Media Ltd

Best Resource in Secondary

Geography in Focus: Teaching and learning in issues-based classrooms, Mike Taylor, Louise Richards and John Morgan (Eds), NZCER Press

Te Reo Māori

He Kupu i Kore (board game and application iOS/Android), CORE Education Ltd

Best Resource in Higher Education

Autism Spectrum Disorder in Aotearoa New Zealand: Promising practices and interesting issues, Jill Bevan-Brown and Vijaya Dharan (Eds), NZCER Press

Best Resource in Export

Key Words, Joy Cowley, Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd

Teachers’ Choice: Best Resource in Primary

iUgo, Essential Resources

Teachers’ Choice: Best Resource in Secondary

LEMMA: Mathematics tasks that promote higher order thinking, Caroline Yoon, NZCER Press

Treaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti O Waitangi Level 5 Learning Workbook, FJ Gibson, ESA Publications (NZ) Ltd

Teachers’ Choice: Best Resource in Te Reo Māori

He Kupu i Kore (board game and application iOS/Android), CORE Education Ltd

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