Insights and Excellence: School success in New Zealand demonstrates the quality of information, analysis and reporting that could be provided to every parent and principal in the country using the data already collected by the Ministry of Education and other government agencies. Compiled by Policy Analyst Joel Hernandez, the report uses case studies of three secondary schools, including Southern Cross Campus in Auckland. The other two schools chose to stay anonymous, but voluntarily offered themselves for the proof-of-concept experiments. Presented as individual school reports, Insights and E ..read more

The government has dropped controversial plans to let primary and intermediate school children sit NCEA literacy and numeracy tests. The Education Ministry today announced the tests, aimed at raising the minimum NCEA benchmark for reading, writing and maths, would be mandatory from 2023 and students could sit them no earlier than Year 9. It also announced changes to the subjects available at NCEA level 1. “NCEA Level 1 will remain optional but it will change to become a broader foundational qualification that allows students to keep their options open, while Levels 2 and 3 become more speciali ..read more

There are early signs principals and teachers will support the biggest overhaul of the school system in 30 years. The plan announced today includes creating a new division of the Education Ministry to work more closely with schools, minimum standards for people who want to be principals, and a disputes tribunal where families can contest school decisions. The reforms respond to long-standing complaints about weaknesses in the devolved and competitive system of school governance and management introduced by the Tomorrow’s Schools reforms of 1989. Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the propos ..read more

Recently released school leaver data for 2018 shows more students are leaving school before gaining NCEA Level 3 or university entrance. The data showed a slight decrease in university entrance award attainment and small declines, about 1 percentage point, for school leavers in getting NCEA levels 1-3. Ministry of Education deputy secretary of Evidence, Data and Knowledge, Dr Craig Jones, said over-all attainment remained high despite the small declines. A buoyant labour market appeared to be leading some students to go straight into employment rather than staying on at school, he said. Howeve ..read more

You may not have heard of Kaitao Intermediate School but you’ve probably driven past. The school sits in the Western Heights area of Rotorua, home to Mt Ngongotaha and the Skyline, one of the country’s most-visited tourist attractions. At the Skyline, visitors line up to shell out large sums of cash in exchange for riding the gondola, luge and Sky Swing, to stargaze, taste wine or to eat lavishly in a restaurant that affords panoramic views. Just six minutes down the road, however, there is a distinct absence of cash to splash. In fact, even the basics are out of reach for a lot of students at ..read more

School donations could soon be a thing of the past for some families. Next year, decile one to seven schools can receive $150 per student, per year from the Government, instead of seeking donations from parents. Around 1,700 schools will be eligible to join the scheme. Whangarei’s Manaia View School is decile one and would likely opt-in. Principal Leanne Otene said the funding would “go a long way” at the school. It had not asked families for a donation for about 12 years. “It means that every fortnight we are holding a sausage sizzle or a bake sale so that we can provide opportunities for our ..read more

Teachers have made another push to make New Zealand’s history a mandatory part of the school curriculum. The New Zealand History Teachers’ Association has urged the Government to ensure schools “teach our own past” to students. Chairman Graeme Ball appealed to the Education and Workforce select committee last week, recommending a compulsory framework on New Zealand’s history be introduced. He said at present, young people knowing their own past was based on luck. “It’s rather like basing your financial well-being on a visit to the Lotto shop each week. Will your child strike it lucky with a sc ..read more

Parents cannot rely on the current early childhood education system to ensure adequate quality of care and education, a pair of researchers have claimed. University of Otago public health researcher Mike Bedford made the statement during a recent seminar, alongside early childhood teacher Susan Bates. Bedford, who has just completed doctoral research into early childhood environments, said New Zealand had “demonstrably poor quality” early childhood education services. He said the Ministry of Education needed to urgently address the “serious” health, quality of care, and education standards wit ..read more

We all know that vocational education plays a critical role in a labour market, providing critically important skills that the economy and the public need and rely on.  As a result, there are multiple stakeholders: industries; employers; households; students and potential students; the public; the government. Meaning that any vocational education policy design needs to take account of the interests of that range of stakeholders. In the first two parts of this series, I have explored major aspects of the policy design sketched in the government’s decisions on the Review of Vocational Education ..read more

The 2019 Voices of the Sector Forum was timely given the major changes afoot in the tertiary education sector. NZUSA President James Ranstead says students are keen to see a refocusing of the tertiary education sector on teaching and learning. “Sadly many students feel that institutions and policy-makers see them as revenue. This means decisions being made which cut courses and services that are meant to foster quality learning.” Ranstead says the government has taken a step forward with the decision to unify the vocational education sector, and we hope that tomorrow’s forum will reflect the r ..read more