Michael is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative. He leads the Initiative’s work on education. He is a cognitive psychologist with a background in literacy research, educational assessment and psychometrics.
Prior to his time at the Initiative, he was the Associate Dean (Academic) of the Faculty of Education at Victoria University of Wellington. Between 2005 and 2011, he worked at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), where he developed a new, more reliable, marking system for NCEA examinations. In 2024, Michael chaired a Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) for Education Minister Erica Stanford. The MAG advised on the development of a knowledge-rich curriculum for English and mathematics. Following that work, Michael is currently a member of the Curriculum Coherence group, which advises on the development of knowledge-rich curricula across all school subjects. Michael is also a member of a technical advisory group to NZQA on assessment for NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship.
In his time at The New Zealand Initiative, Michael has published reports on Modern Learning Environments, systems reform in education, teacher education, the use of AI in education, and pathways for industry training and apprenticeships.
Phone: 044990790
There is no evidence Modern learning classrooms are effective. That is according to research by think tank The New Zealand Initiative that has found the Education Ministry's classroom experiment has not been based on evidence. Read more
In 2011 the Ministry of Education embarked on a 10 year strategy to rejuvenate New Zealand's ageing classrooms. Millions of dollars were spent building open plan classrooms and implementing student led learning strategies. But in his report for The New Zealand Initiative, Dr Michael Johnston, found there was little evidence the policy has worked at all, and in some cases may be making learning even more difficult for some students. Read more
Dr Michael Johnston, a Senior Research Fellow from the NZ Initiative joined the program to discuss his research on 'Modern Leaning Environments'.
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Ideology rather than evidence is the basis for the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) ‘Modern Leaning Environments’, research by The New Zealand Initiative has revealed. Dr Oliver Hartwich and Dr Michael Johnston discuss the fact that a government ministry could not produce data to support its policy for mass conversion of New Zealand’s classrooms to Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) and other findings of the Initiative’s new report, "No Evidence, No Evaluation, No Exit – Lessons from the 'Modern Learning Environments' experiment". Read more
Michael Johnston talked to leadership coach Kate Morton of Transformation Space about leadership in organisations and self-leadership as an antidote to anxiety. They also discussed the implications of Kate’s work for addressing rising levels of anxiety in teenagers and your people. Read more
Michael Johnston recently gave the annual Hudson lecture at the Wellington branch of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. He talked about what science is, and what we can do to better in science education. Read more
There are some worryingly low pass results in a NCEA literacy and numeracy trial. Year 10 students have trialled the test, which will be made compulsory for year 11 students in 2024. Read more
The Free Speech Union recently published a report grading each of New Zealand’s eight universities on its record of upholding academic freedom. But why should anyone outside universities care? Read more
The New Zealand Initiative has been a trenchant critic of the way literacy is currently taught in New Zealand’s schools. The Ministry of Education has, for far too long, promoted manifestly ineffective approaches. Read more
Jonathan Ayling is the chief executive of the Free Speech Union. We talked to him about the state of free speech in New Zealand; and whether or not it's under threat. Read more
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr coined this well-known aphorism in his 1848 novel Les Guêpes (The Wasps). Read more
New research has revealed that soaring rents in New Zealand is now seeing cash strapped students racking up thousands of dollars on credit cards. As well as an inquiry into student wellbeing recently recommended fees free courses and a universal student allowance. Read more
The Royal Society of New Zealand exists, so its website proclaims, to further and promote “the pursuit of knowledge”. But is knowledge now taking a back seat to politics? Read more
Everyone knows the expression, ‘you have to be cruel to be kind’. A suggestion to shorten the school holidays might well be perceived as cruel. Read more