Established in 2003, the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) is a government fund for collaborative research about teaching and learning in the early childhood, school and tertiary sectors. It aims to build research capability and to make a difference to teaching and learning in New Zealand.

Funding is distributed through two pathways: 

• Whatua Tū Aka, a funding pathway for kaupapa Māori research
• Open pathway, for research that aligns with current TLRI priorities

Overall, the goals of the TLRI are to: 

• build a cumulative body of knowledge linking teaching and learning 
• enhance the links between educational research and teaching practices—and researchers and teachers—across early childhood, school, and tertiary sectors 
• grow research capability and capacity in the areas of teaching and learning

There are five key principles that underpin work funded through the TLRI: 

• The research projects within the TLRI will address themes of strategic importance to education in New Zealand
• The TLRI research projects will build upon New Zealand-based research evidence, draw on related international research, and be forward looking. 
• The TLRI research projects will be designed to enable substantive and robust findings.
• The research projects within the TLRI will be undertaken as a partnership between researchers and practitioners.
• The TLRI research projects will recognise the central role of teachers and students in learning, and the importance of the work being useful in practice.

“We think that NZ with the TLRI grants which support researchers to work with schools on issues that the schools believe are important is something that other places in the world could really learn from”              
                                                          Professor Tamsin Meaney, Malmö University, Sweden