About Us

Focus Consultancy is the educational advisory arm of Fenton & Associates Ltd, owned by Christine and Michael Fenton. Between them they bring senior tertiary leadership, NZQA quality assurance expertise, and nationally recognised STEM teaching and research.

Dr Christine Fenton, MRSNZ — Lead Consultant

Portrait of Dr Christine Fenton

Christine has served the tertiary education sector for more than 20 years, in roles from teacher, mentor and contract scientist to senior executive positions including General Manager, Head of Faculty, and Executive Director. She specialises in educational leadership, curriculum design and approvals, and academic systems including quality assurance policies and procedures.

She has expert knowledge of Tertiary Education Commission and NZQA reporting, programme approval, and auditing requirements, and extensive experience preparing organisations for External Evaluation and Review — a number of her clients have achieved EER Category 1 status.

Two recent achievements stand out. Christine designed, developed and wrote the successful NZQA application for the first secondary school in New Zealand to offer the New Zealand Certificate in Study and Employment Pathways (Levels 3 and 4), mentoring staff through delivery. She then wrote Green School New Zealand's successful application for University Entrance equivalence for its High School Diploma (Advanced).

Christine also founded and operates her own NZQA-registered private training establishment, Let's Go, delivering music industry programmes — current, first-hand experience of establishing and running a PTE under the Education and Training Act 2020.

Awards and professional roles

  • Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year — Local Hero Medal (2017)
  • Prime Minister's Education Excellence Award finalist (2015)
  • Waikato University Doctoral Scholar (2008–2010); Excellence Award for Research (2010); Research Leader Award (2009)
  • Professional member, Royal Society of New Zealand (MRSNZ)
  • NZQA panellist and sector advisor — science qualification reviews; academic quality representative, New Zealand Board of Engineering Diplomas

See her record on the Publications page, or her LinkedIn profile.

Michael Fenton, MRSNZ

Portrait of Michael Fenton

Michael is a scientist, teacher, teacher educator and education researcher, recognised with national awards across scientific research, classroom teaching, and tertiary teaching. He is a professional member of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a Ministry of Education E-Learning Fellow, and his 35-year research record is permanently archived on Zenodo with citable DOIs.

He is one of a very small number of teachers in New Zealand able to teach every science and mathematics subject, plus coding, robotics and electronics, from primary to tertiary level. As a programme and curriculum designer he has led qualification design for face-to-face and online delivery at national scale, including the Open Polytechnic Graduate Diplomas in Primary Science and Primary Mathematics Teaching.

His research and inventions centre on authentic, low-cost science: the 'Build it, Test it, Use it' pedagogy; pioneering digital multimeters as data-logger substitutes; and the classroom use of Casio graphing calculators for real-time data logging — extended by his recent serial-protocol discovery that replaces a $400+ data acquisition unit with a $4 chip, a hundred-fold cost reduction. His B9 robot mobile laboratory brings AI-enabled science communication to classrooms and public events.

With Christine, he contributed STEM content, curriculum design, instructional design and assessment design for the New Zealand Certificate in Study and Employment Pathways (Levels 3 and 4), and taught at the first secondary school in Aotearoa New Zealand accredited to offer it.

Awards and professional roles

  • Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year — Local Hero Medal (2017)
  • Prime Minister's Education Excellence Award finalist (2015)
  • DEANZ Excellence Award for E-Learning (2014)
  • New Zealand Ministry of Education E-Learning Fellow (2008)
  • Microsoft New Zealand Partners in Learning Innovative Teacher (2008)
  • New Zealand Microbiology Society Postgraduate Prize (1991)
  • Professional member, Royal Society of New Zealand (MRSNZ); registered teacher; member of NZASE and NZAMT

Explore his work in depth on his portfolio site: Teaching & Instructional Design, STEM Projects, Workshops & Talks, Research Outputs, CV, or LinkedIn.

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