The EONZ research library brings together research, reports and guidance on education outside the classroom (EOTC) and outdoor education that can inform practice in Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood, primary and secondary education. It holds 356 items today. Each has a plain-English summary and a link to the original.
Where the items come from
- 2017 Otago review (125 items). The library began with Education Outside the Classroom: Applied Research Readings 2010–2017 by Shannon McNatty and Mike Boyes (University of Otago, 2017), a report to the Ministry of Education and EONZ. These readings were chosen by the authors because they offer insights for practice.
- 2017–2026 update (211 items). The same method repeated for the years since: the journals the 2017 review drew on, plus research reports, books and Te Ao Māori work published elsewhere, judged against the same test.
- Weekly research brief. Each week new research is found and added the same way, so the library keeps growing.
How items are found and checked
Items after 2017 are found, summarised and checked with AI assistance. Every step has a check:
- Finding. New articles are drawn from the journals' own publication records, and a web search covers New Zealand reports, guidance and safety information.
- Selecting. Each item is judged against the 2017 review's test: does it offer insight for EOTC practice in New Zealand schools and early childhood education?
- References. Titles, authors, journals and dates come from the publisher's own record for the article (its DOI), never from the AI. Retracted papers are left out.
- Summaries. Each summary is written only from the published abstract or the source's own page, then checked sentence by sentence against that source by a separate review. Anything the source doesn't support is removed; items that still fail are left out.
- Relevance. Two separate reviews score how relevant each item is. Only items that both rate highly are published. Items with lower or mixed scores are held back, and appear only if EONZ chooses to approve them.
Summaries are a guide to what each work found. Please read the original before citing it.
Each week
- Friday: the new week's research is found and checked, and EONZ receives an email listing what will be added.
- Monday: high-confidence items are published unless EONZ has removed them; other items are held back.
- Monday update: an email listing what has just been added. Any number of people can receive it; EONZ manages the list, and every email has an unsubscribe link.
Finding what you need
Search by keyword, or filter by who it's for, type, year and collection. Each item is tagged with up to three of these topics:
Suggest an item
If you know of research that belongs here, please tell EONZ through the contact page.