Our research

Starting school is a major childhood event. It can be an exciting time for children and their families. But it is a big change, and so it can also be an uncertain time. A good start at school sets children up to succeed at school. We looked to see how changing to cohort entry impacts on children, their peers, and whānau, as well as their schools and early childhood education services.

Starting school is a major childhood event. It can be an exciting time for children and their families. But it is a big change and can be an uncertain time. Since 2018, schools have been able to have children start in groups at certain dates during the year. This is called cohort entry. ERO found that cohort entry has a range of benefits for children’s wellbeing and learning, schools’ ability to structure transitions more easily, and for teachers due to fewer disruptions and more time to teach.

The disruptions caused by Covid-19 over the last two years have been challenging and long lasting. Auckland in particular has had many lockdowns and is where the majority of Pacific learners live.

Pacific communities have faced the challenges of Covid-19 with resilience and schools have put in a range of responses to support Pacific learners through the disruption. This report shines a light on these challenges and shares successful strategies.

The disruptions caused by Covid-19 over the last two years have been challenging and long lasting. ERO’s new report, Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Pacific Learners, looks closely at the achievement, attendance, mental health and wellbeing, school contexts, and education pathways of Pacific learners over this time. The report shines a light on challenges and shares successful strategies.

ERO is undertaking a series of evaluations on the implementation of Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa. This report examines how prepared services are to implement Te Whāriki, including their engagement with professional learning and development, and determining 'what matters here' and next steps.

An analysis of achievement data and a desire to introduce more culturally responsive pedagogies into the classroom were triggers for introducing an inquiry -based approach to the teaching of mathematics at Manurewa Central School.

Professional learning reflects the approach that has been established for students. Learning is differentiated with multiple opportunities for engagement and structure in manageable steps.

This video was filmed at McAuley High School.

Inquiry is at the heart of what drives improvement and innovation at McAuley High School. 

At Otumoetai Intermediate, all teachers are engaged in differentiated professional learning and development. Those with similar goals are ‘buddied’ with another staff member.

The team structure in this school supports the professional learning and development of leaders and teachers. Team members discuss their roles, responsibilities and the reciprocal nature of their interactions.

In improving the teaching and learning of mathematics, leaders and teachers are working to develop safe, collaborative environments where every learner (teachers and students) can access the thinking of others to strengthen their knowledge and understanding.

Working together to determine what the collaboration and teamwork looks like on a day-to-day basis has been a critical and continued focus of professional learning and team dialogue at Stonefields School.

At McAuley High School, classroom teacher observations are a frequent occurrence and students report how they regard this as teachers actively modelling learning behaviour.

This report discusses the areas of strength, and areas for development that ERO found. It also describes the practices of specific service types - Playcentres, kindergartens and education and care services - in supporting children’s social competence, and understanding of appropriate behaviour.

This is one of two national reports by the Education Review Office (ERO) on how well schools manage teachers’ PLD. This one is about PLD in secondary schools and the other is on primary schools.

This report discusses how well secondary schools:

• plan for PLD;
• build a culture in which teachers learn and develop; and
• monitor the effectiveness of teachers’ learning and development.

This is one of two national reports by the Education Review Office (ERO) on how well schools manage teachers’ PLD. This one about PLD in primary schools and the other is on secondary schools.

This report discusses how well primary schools:

• plan for PLD;
• build a culture in which teachers learn and develop; and
• monitor the effectiveness of teachers’ learning and development.