In this section of our website you'll find our education system evaluations, effective practice reports, resources and guides. These are produced by Te Ihuwaka | Education Evaluation Centre and Te Pou Mataaho | Evaluation and Research Māori.
Read more about Te Ihuwaka | Education Evaluation Centre.
Read more about Te Pou Mataaho | Evaluation and Research Māori.
More than a third of our principals have less than five years’ experience in the role, and it’s important that they are set up for success. ERO looked at pathways and supports for new principals. We make a range of recommendations to improve how new and aspiring principals can be set up for success.
Each year, Alternative Education provides education to over 2,000 young people who have been disengaged from education and who have high and complex needs. Many are exposed to crime, violence, and trauma, and just under a third have a mental health need. Almost two in five have been referred to attendance services and one in four have been suspended.
The Education Review Office (ERO), in partnership with the Social Wellbeing Agency (SWA), has looked at how well the education system is supporting young people in Alternative Education.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on life in New Zealand. Since the start of the pandemic, ERO has been undertaking work to understand the impact of Covid-19 on education in New Zealand. This suite of work looks at the impact of Covid-19 on learners, teachers, leaders and kaiako across the schooling and early learning sector in New Zealand - and sets out recommendations for going forward.
Aotearoa is more ethnically and culturally diverse than ever before, and good education isn’t one-size-fits-all. Culturally responsive teaching affirms and builds on children’s cultures, identity and languages to achieve successful learning outcomes. This work explores what culturally responsive teaching look like in practice and how schools and services can support good practice.
Going to school is critical for our children’s futures. The evidence is clear that every day of school matters, missing school leads to lower achievement. In New Zealand, learners are expected to attend school every day the school is open. And yet many don’t. New Zealand has lower attendance than other countries and alarmingly attendance is falling.
To understand what is happening to attendance in New Zealand, the Education Review Office (ERO) looked at parents’ and learners’ attitudes, choices, and experiences.
Teacher aides in Aotearoa New Zealand have a wide range of valued roles and responsibilities. We know that they can enhance learner outcomes by drawing on positive relationships, good training, collaborative practices, and cultural expertise. But we also know that teacher aides can’t do their best work without good support from their schools.
Receiving a quality education, from early childhood education (ECE) through to secondary school, positively affects how well all children and young people do at school and in life – from academic achievement and earning potential to health and wellbeing. Education is even more critical for disabled learners. When disabled learners receive a quality, inclusive education they are more likely to achieve better outcomes, to complete secondary schooling and to go on to further study and employment.
Traditionally New Zealand children started school on their fifth birthday. Recently some schools have changed this to children starting school in scheduled groups. Our latest report on starting school has found that children starting school at the same time, called cohort entry, can have many benefits for children, whānau and schools.
Children and young people who are placed in Oranga Tamariki residential care are among the most at risk of poor outcomes later in life. The education students receive in residence has the power to reconnect them to their learning and change their lives. ERO reviewed how well education is going in these settings. This suite of work describes what we found out about the quality of education in residences and what is needed to significantly improve education for these priority learners.
In 2023, teaching Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories (ANZ Histories) became compulsory for students in Years 1-10. ANZ Histories is part of the refreshed Social Sciences learning area. The Education Review Office, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, wanted to know how the implementation of ANZ Histories and the wider Social Sciences is going. This report describes what we found about the changes and the impacts for students, teachers, and parents and whānau. It also describes the lessons that can help inform the ongoing implementation of the Refreshed Curriculum.
Good classroom behaviour is critical for creating learning environments in which students can learn and achieve, and teachers can be most effective. But ensuring positive behaviour isn’t just up to schools – it requires shared responsibility and deliberate, joint actions. This report describes the challenging behaviours teachers face in schools, the impact of those behaviours, and recommendations for action. Our companion good practice report also shares examples of how teachers and schools can effectively manage behaviour.
More than a third of our principals have less than five years’ experience in the role, and it’s important that they are set up for success. This report looks at pathways and supports for new principals.
More than a third of our principals have less than five years’ experience in the role, and it’s important that they are set up for success. ERO looked at pathways and supports for new principals.
ERO looked at how new principals are doing. This guide looks at the ways that new and aspiring principals can be better set up for success.
ERO looked at how new principals are doing in their first five years in the role. We found that new principals are not always well prepared, and many are not confident about their new range of responsibilities. School boards can make a big difference in setting new principals up for success.
Each year, Alternative Education provides education to over 2,000 young people who have been disengaged from education and who have high and complex needs. The Education Review Office (ERO), in partnership with the Social Wellbeing Agency (SWA), has looked at how well the education system is supporting young people in Alternative Education. This study describes what we found and what is needed to significantly improve education for t
Each year, Alternative Education provides education to over 2,000 young people who have been disengaged from education and who have high and complex needs. The Education Review Office (ERO), in partnership with the Social Wellbeing Agency (SWA), looked at how well the education system is supporting young people in Alternative Education. This study describes what we found and what is needed to significantly improve education for these young people.
This guide is for school leaders who have, or are considering referring learners to Alternative Education.
This guide is for educators and providers that work with young people in Alternative Education. It shares what we heard from the young people, educators, and providers we talked to in Alternative Education, what we found out about what good provision looks like, and the changes to provision that we are recommending.
We talked to some young people and adults at different Alternative Education places.
