Our research

In 2020, Auckland students were particularly affected by Covid-19 and extra support was provided to them. Following this, ERO undertook an evaluation of three Te Kura programmes aimed at supporting Auckland NCEA students. This report outlines the findings of this evaluation - including the reach and impact of the programmes, and lessons for future responses.

This short summary accompanies the full report Responding to the Covid-19 crisis: Supporting Auckland NCEA students. It outlines the key findings from ERO’s evaluation of three Te Kura programmes aimed at supporting Auckland NCEA students following the lockdowns in 2020. This summary briefly lists who these targeted programmes reached, their impact, and lessons for responding to future lockdowns.  

ERO was approached by principals from Kahukura to document and evaluate their community of practice in Christchurch. This report identifies what is working well for this community of practice, areas where they might consider further enhancements, and lessons and insights into practices which could be shared with others.

This short report accompanies our report Exploring Collaboration in Action: Kahukura Community of Practice.  It looks at the lessons that can be learnt from the Kahukura community of practice, drawing out key lessons on collaboration and providing seven key implications for schools who are interested in collaborating to consider.

To support leaders and teachers to review and strengthen the science learning opportunities they provide, ERO explored the strategies and approaches that a selection of schools had taken to increase students’ engagement in science. This short guides draws on this work to help secondary school leaders think about how they can support stronger science teaching and learning in their school.

To support leaders and teachers to review and strengthen the science learning opportunities they provide, ERO explored the strategies and approaches that a selection of schools had taken to increase students’ engagement in science. This short guides draws on this work to help primary school teachers think about how they can support stronger science teaching and learning in their school.

This short guide is for school leaders and teachers in schools with primary-aged students. It covers what we found from talking to schools in 2020 about the impact of Covid-19, and shares strategies used by schools to respond to the challenges they faced. It also sets out some actions that could be considered for continuing to support students, parents, whānau and staff in 2021.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused significant disruption for students across New Zealand, due to lockdowns, social distancing and ongoing uncertainty. The Education Review Office interviewed 750 schools and surveyed over 2500 principals and teachers across the country, from May through to September 2020, to understand how they have responded. This summary highlights how schools have supported students and their whānau in the face of Covid-19.

ERO’s final report in the Te Whāriki series summarises the findings of previous reports and includes the last two focus areas for the curriculum – how services decide ‘what learning matters here’ and how well they were developing learning-focused partnerships with parents and whānau.

This ERO qualitative case study report undertaken on behalf of Oranga Tamariki captures the voices of children and their whanau who were recipients of the Social Workers in Schools (SWiS) service. SWiS is a government funded, community social work service provided in most English and Māori medium, decile 1-3 primary and intermediate schools.

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.

New Zealand schools have one of the highest rates of bullying among OECD member countries. In this evaluation, ERO looked at the extent to which schools were effectively working towards an environment in which students feel safe and free from bullying.

A companion report to this one, Bullying Prevention and Response: Student Voice focuses on ERO’s survey of students on their experience and understandings of bullying and effective bullying prevention and response.

This report presents our findings from a student survey about how well their schools prevent and respond to bullying.

New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, was updated in April, 2017. Te Whāriki (2017) reflects the changes in theory, practice and early learning contexts that have occurred over the last 20 years. ERO is undertaking a series of evaluations focused on the implementation of Te Whāriki in early learning services from mid-2017 until the end of 2019.

In this evaluation, ERO wanted to find out how aware and confident leaders and kaiako in early learning services were as they began to work with the updated curriculum, Te Whāriki (2017).

At Manurewa Central School, the relationship between the principal and trustees is described in terms of how trust and confidence is built through effective listening and transparent reporting, interrogation and discussion of information.

This document is a separate report from the effective practice report, Food, nutrition and physical activity in New Zealand schools and early learning services intended to provide an overview of ERO's findings.

This retrospective study synthesises findings from 17 national reports about curriculum implementation in early learning services, published over the last 10 years.

In 2015, ERO investigated target setting in both primary and secondary schools. We focused on the extent to which targeted actions of schools supported accelerated progress for students at risk of not achieving.

This report documents the findings of ERO's evaluation of how well 159 primary schools reviewed in Term 1 2014 promoted and responded to student wellbeing.