New Zealand named education innovation hotspot

New Zealand has been highlighted as an education innovation hotspot by HundrED, an international organisation which reviews, evaluates, and reports on global education innovations. 

In their recent report titled “HundrED Global Collection 2026”, the organisation spotlighted 100 education innovations worldwide, including three from Aotearoa New Zealand. Countries with over three innovations were considered hotspots.  

Read the latest print edition of School News online HERE.

The education innovations considered among the most impactful in New Zealand included the House of Science resource kit library, which delivers bilingual practical resources to primary schools aimed at making science fun and accessible for students, and empowering teachers; the Play-Based Learning Observation Tool (P-BLOT), which brings together the theory and practice of child-centred learning; and Ripples of kaitiakitanga – an Enviroschools approach, the organisation which empowers children to become tiaki of te taiao.  

Dr Sarah Aiono, co-founder of Longworth Education and developer of P-BLOT says the recognition “affirms the power of play-based learning to improve outcomes for tamariki. 

“When teachers can see and describe learning clearly, they can make confident, defensible decisions about what children need next – and improve classroom practices and learning outcomes.” 

The annual report considers “the 100 most impactful and scalable education innovations worldwide”, with a team of researchers and experts evaluating education programmes. This year, there were 789 submissions and over 3000 expert reviews.  

“Academy members think contextually, critically evaluating whether an innovation is speaking to current needs in education,” reads the report.  

The full report with all the selected innovations can be found here.  

Related School News article: Innovation meets education – SchoolNews – New Zealand