Introduction from the Chief Review Officer
A key outcome of our work is providing guidance to early learning services, schools and kura to make self-review and continuous improvement part of regular practice.We prioritise our research, review and evaluation work programme, and improve our systems and processes to focus on areas where we see the biggest need across the sector.
Pockets of excellence but the overall state of our schooling is a concern
We are seeing pockets of excellence and improvements in the quality of education and learning environments in a number of schools. These schools have highly effective practices in place to ensure the best possible outcomes for their students. Broadly speaking however, the state of our schooling is of concern. Schools are facing ongoing and complex challenges including with student attendance, classroom behaviour, learning support needs and lifting academic achievement.
Attendance is directly linked to both student wellbeing and academic outcomes. Regular attendance data in the second Term of 2024 has shown a slight improvement, however our schools are still in the midst of a truancy crisis. Regular attendance has been in decline since 2015, with yet another steep drop in 2022 (Missing Out: Why Aren’t Our Children Going to School? ). By 2022, the rate of regular attendance reached 40%, a further 18 percentage point fall from 2019 ( Attendance: Getting Back to School ). Chronic truancy (those attending less than 70%) has also doubled over the past five years.
We are seeing poor academic outcomes. School principals warned at the beginning of last year that learning in 2023 is worse than they would expect. The most recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Economic Summary report reiterates the importance of education to sustain future economic growth. Achievement in our school education has declined between 2009 and 2022, with drops equivalent to approximately two years in education in mathematics, 18 months in science and one year in reading. OECD research is showing a negative impact on aggregate productivity by nearly 4% as a result.
Concerns have been highlighted in a number of insights, reports and studies — both from us and from others. Before the pandemic, we were already reporting decreased outcomes in literacy and numeracy and a plateau in many key indicators. In 2022/23 many students were well behind where they should be, with a significant drop in literacy and numeracy performance through the course of schooling.
In our exploration into early school maths teaching, at the beginning of this year, we found that many teachers were also not confident teaching maths (Making it Count: Teaching Maths in Years 1 to 3). Recent results show that just 22% of Year 8 students are at curriculum expectations in maths (Curriculum Insights and Progress Study 2024 ).
Our research into new teachers have highlighted that they are not as prepared as they could be when they start in the classroom. These are teachers who did their initial teacher education and are in their two-year induction and mentoring programme. In particular, they report being less capable in the key areas of adapting teaching to different students, managing challenging behaviour, using assessment, and working with parents and whānau. After two years in the job, not all new teachers feel confident in teaching maths, science and technology. (Ready, Set, Teach: How well prepared and supported are new teachers? )
We are also seeing more young people leave school early. The recent school leavers data from Education Counts shows the proportion of students who have remained at school until at least 17 years of age has decreased year on year from 2021 to 2023. Retention rates in 2023 are lower than they have been in any of the 10 years since 2013.
We are seeing disruptive behaviour in classrooms worsen. Our research showed teachers are facing increasing behaviour challenges in the classrooms, negatively impacting student learning and attendance. (Time to Focus: Behaviour in our Classrooms ).
Our research over time has continually showed that Māori, Pacific, Ethnic and Disabled learners face significant, but often different, challenges in our education system. Many sources provide a comprehensive overview of the current state and historical context of Māori and Pacific educational achievement in New Zealand. Our own research and review of 27 specialist day schools this year found a good quality of education provision across schools, however demand has increased rapidly over the past decade. We also found many buildings not suitable to meet the needs of students and inadequate national opportunities to access meaningful professional learning and development for specialist staff.
Focusing our efforts where it matters most
Our reviewers have extensive experience in education and training in evaluation. Increasingly, our approaches in review work aims to directly influence improvements in school performance and learner outcomes.
Key elements in school performance include quality of teaching, leadership and curriculum. These are strengthened by the conditions in the school environment. The latest assessment against ERO’s School Improvement Framework shows just under 22% of schools have the conditions that support ongoing sustained high performance. 58% have established practices which require further strengthening, and close to 4% requires intensive effort from ERO and other support agencies.
We monitor and support numerous schools more frequently in an effort to lift the quality of teaching and learner outcomes.
Much of our efforts are focussed on the things that matter most. We pay close attention to their improvement plans and alignment with the strategic goals of the school. Through our review cycles we support schools in monitoring and evaluating their implementation plans.
We are currently focussing on what schools are doing to support student attendance and address non-attendance, and their strategies to address lost learning, particularly in reading, writing and numeracy.
It is our assessment that the lack of specificity and clear benchmarks in curriculum is resulting in high variability in learning outcomes. Strengthening the use of assessment, linked strictly to nationally established curriculum markers, is key to knowing how learners are progressing and how schools and teachers can effectively address the needs of struggling learners. Core foundational skills and accessing successful learning pathways will support students to lead successful lives.
Building an evidence base
Our research programme is focused on education system performance, evaluating nationwide initiatives, and shining a light on good practice. This year, we provided a strong basis for driving system-level improvement in education and shaping the conversation and focus on new principals, initial teacher education and maths. To ensure our work has a real impact on learner outcomes across New Zealand, we produced tailored good practice reports, guides, and resources for the education sector to use to better support children and young people.
We are a member of the global Evidence for Education Network and the New Zealand partner of the Education Endowment Foundation, which helps us draw on robust international evidence and best practice. These partnerships complement our research and evaluation for New Zealand schools and early learning services.
Early Childhood Education needs improvement to realise quality outcomes for children
Quality Early Childhood Education makes a difference. The expertise and practices of teachers and educators are essential for enhancing children’s learning and developmental outcomes. Quality services are those where children receive high levels of emotional support, where teachers and educators foster active relationships with children, parents and carers, and where teachers and educators work as a team. Teaching is intentional and based on an understanding of child development and is responsive to the individual needs of the child.
We use our tools and resources to support improvement in the quality and safety of children and their learning environments.
We have improved our reviews to ensure services experience a nationally consistent approach. These reviews are now more deeply focussed on quality learning experiences for children.
64% of early childhood services were below the quality threshold in the quality and education of children. We are seeing improvements in services managing non-compliances that pose an unacceptable risk to children. 9% of services had non-compliances, down from the previous four years which consistently stayed at 12%.
Kōhanga Reo, Puna Reo and Māori-immersion early learning services
We found exemplary practice in 6% of services. 90% had areas of good performance and approaches that required extending or strengthening. Where non-compliance was identified in a prior review, we generally saw improvement in our most recent evaluation. In 70% of the spaces we visited, the number of areas of non-compliances was reduced or eliminated.
Supporting key policies in education
Early this year, we looked into the readiness of schools and kura to implement the new one hour a day reading, writing and maths and phones away for the day. Most had policies or were developing policies to be in place before the mobile phone ban came into effect. Just over half of schools reported that they needed to take some action to meet the requirement to teach one hour a day of reading, writing and mathematics. More about the work we are doing to support government’s education initiatives on page 42.
We have a new structure
Nearing the end of the financial year, we consulted with our people to reorganise our business structure, ensuring we operate within the financial constraints required of us as part of the Government’s savings programme. ERO’s savings target was 6.5%.
Equally, the changes we have made ensures we can support the government’s education priorities as well as support decision makers to drive improvements across the sector. A special thank you to our people who have fully engaged in this process and are already making the changes required. More on page 18 about our functions and people.
Looking ahead
We will continue to place a strong focus on what services, schools and kura are doing to support their tamariki and learners in learning and achievement. These include attendance and strategies for non-attendance to address lost learning, particularly in respect of reading, writing and numeracy.
Our reporting will focus on learner progress, achievement and assessment, with clearer reporting to parents on what schools are getting right and what they aren’t.
Strengthening the use of assessment linked to nationally established curriculum markers remains the key to knowing how learners are progressing and how schools and teachers can effectively address the needs of struggling learners.
We will continue to work with school boards, centre managers, government agencies, and the wider education sector to foster an education system that is focused on learning and achievement.
I also want to acknowledge all those who have contributed to the work of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care, and the resulting report Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light. ERO will take the appropriate next steps in line with the report, and any resulting recommendations from across Government.
We will continue to strive for all children, tamariki and learners to have equitable access to high quality education and so they can reach their full educational potential.
Nicholas Pole
Te Tumu Whakarae mō te Arotake Mātauranga Chief Executive and Chief Review Officer
September 2024
Ko te Tamaiti te Pūtake o te Kaupapa The Child - the Heart of the Matter