Cathy Wylie MNZM
Wylie at her investiture in March 2014
Academic background
Alma mater	Victoria University of Wellington
Thesis	Reflective Surfaces: the Individual as the Key Social Relationship in New Zealand Society (1980)
Doctoral advisor	Jan Pouwer
Academic work
Institutions	NZCER

Catherine Ruth Wylie MNZM is a New Zealand academic, and is Emeritus Chief Research at the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, specialising in the impacts of educational policy.

Academic career

Wylie completed a PhD titled Reflective Surfaces: the Individual as the Key Social Relationship in New Zealand Society at Victoria University of Wellington in 1980.^[1] Wylie joined NZCER in 1987.^[2] From 1989, she led the National School Surveys. She also conducted a longitudinal study called Competent Learners, which tracked a group of students from the end of their early childhood education through to age 26. The research findings influenced both educational policy and practice.^[2][3] Wylie also led the development of the Teaching and School Practices survey tool, a research-based tool for schools.^[2]

Wylie's 2012 book Vital connections was critical of the impact of the Tomorrow's Schools reforms, and recommended changes to the competitive self-managed schools model to create better connections between schools and create more equal opportunities for learners. Wylie has also advocated for a single agency to take on some of the roles of the Ministry of Education, the Education Review Office, and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.^[4]

Wylie was appointed as part of the five-person review panel for Tomorrow's Schools, which produced a 2018 report.^[4]

Honours and awards

In the 2014 New Year Honours, Wylie was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to education.^[5][6]

She received the New Zealand Association of Educational Research's McKenzie Award in 2010.^[7]

Selected works

• Christensen, Sandy; Reschly, Amy; Wylie, Cathy, eds. (2012). Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4614-6791-5.
• Wylie, Cathy; Smith, Lesley (1995). Learning To Learn: Children's Progress through the First 3 Years of School. Junior School Study (Report). Ministry of Education. ISBN 0-908916-36-1.
• Lauder, Hugh; Wylie, Cathy, eds. (1990). Towards Successful Schooling. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203128572. ISBN 978-1-136-47000-4.
• Wylie, Cathy (2012). Vital connections: Why we need more than self-managing schools. NZCER. ISBN 978-1-927151-57-0.
• Wylie, Cathy (August 2000). Wylie Review of Special Education 2000: Picking up the pieces (Report). New Zealand Ministry of Education.
• "Cathy Wylie: Making more of our education strengths". NZ Herald. 14 August 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
• Wylie, Cathy (24 February 2020). ""It ain't what you do, it's the way you do it." Well, both"". School News. Retrieved 16 March 2024.