Our research

Ā Mātou Rangahau

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.

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There are 53 research articles.
  • Responding to the Covid-19 Crisis

    The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on all aspects of life around the world. In Aotearoa New Zealand, significant disruption to schooling occurred in 2020 and 2021 due to national and local lockdowns, school closures, and from the ongoing uncertainty caused by Covid-19. These publications look at how schools and the system can respond to Covid-19. 

  • Learning in a Covid-19 World

    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. 

  • Published: 19 Jan 2021

    Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Schools

    To understand what the challenges of Covid-19 were in 2020 and how schools responded, the Education Review Office spoke to schools and surveyed over 2500 principals and teachers across the country. This report presents our findings on how Covid-19 impacted students, teachers and schools, how schools responded and what they learnt, and the challenges schools expect they might face in future alert level changes.

  • Published: 09 May 2022

    Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Pacific Learners

    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.

  • Published: 06 May 2022

    Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Pacific Learners - Summary

    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.

  • Published: 18 Jun 2020

    Covid-19 Learning in Lockdown

    ERO is undertaking a programme of work to learn the lessons from the lockdown and to support the education system, schools and early childhood centres to respond to the disruption to education caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. As a first stage of this work, ERO surveyed a sample of students and teachers in primary and secondary schools. This report sets out what we found about their wellbeing and experiences of learning and teaching during the lockdown.

  • Published: 19 Jan 2021

    Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Early Childhood Education

    Early childhood education services had to quickly adapt to changing requirements and periods of uncertainty due to Covid-19 in 2020. ERO undertook work to understand how this affected early childhood education services. This report presents our findings on how Covid-19 impacted children, whānau and services, how services responded and what they learnt, and the challenges that services expect they might face in future alert level changes.

  • Published: 30 Nov 2021

    The COVID-19 Story of Puna Reo

    In the days preceding 26 March 2020, Puna Reo / Kōhungahunga needed to rapidly respond to and prepare for a move to distance teaching and learning. We had been informed that at midnight 25th March 2020 the entire country would go into COVID-19 Alert Level four Lockdown. There was uncertainty about how long the situation would continue. Timely responses were required from Puna Reo / Kōhungahunga to support tamariki and whānau.

  • Published: 01 Dec 2021

    The COVID-19 Story of Kōhanga Reo

    Quality education is the right of every child and young person in Aotearoa and is underpinned by learning environments that place the learner and learner outcomes at the centre of all activity.

  • Published: 06 Dec 2021

    The Impact of Covid-19 on Teachers and Principals - Summary

    This short summary of our longer report Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Teachers and Principals looks at the impact of Covid-19 on teachers and principals – including how Covid-19 has impacted enjoyment in work and workload. It also sets out examples of how schools can prepare for 2022 and what supports will be needed for teachers and principals.

  • Published: 01 Dec 2021

    The COVID-19 Story of Te Aho Matua Kura

    In the days preceding 26 March 2020, kura needed to rapidly respond to and prepare for a move to distance teaching and learning. We had been informed that at midnight 25th March 2020 the entire country would go into COVID-19 Alert Level four Lockdown. There was uncertainty about how long the situation would continue. Timely responses were required from kura to support tamariki and whānau.

  • Published: 19 Jan 2021

    A guide to learning in a Covid-19 world - Supporting parents into 2021

    This short guide is for parents of children in early childhood education, and of school-aged children. It covers that we learnt from talking to schools and early childhood education services in 2020 about the impact of Covid-19. It also sets out some recommendations for how parents can continue to support their child’s learning this year.

  • Published: 22 Jun 2023

    Long Covid: Ongoing impacts of Covid-19 on schools and learning

    Since 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption to schools, their staff, learners, and whānau. Three years on from the start of the pandemic, this report has found significant and concerning ongoing impacts on learners’ progress, particularly for learners in poorer communities, and on teachers and principals.

  • Published: 11 May 2022

    Learning in a Covid-19 World: A guide for supporting Pacific learners

    ERO’s new report, Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Pacific Learners, goes into detail about the disproportionately negative impact of the pandemic on Pacific learners’ achievement, attendance, mental health, wellbeing, and education pathways. It uses a range of evidence to shine a light on challenges and share successful strategies.

  • Published: 19 Jan 2021

    Learning in a Covid-19 World: Supporting Secondary School Engagement

    This report explains strategies for supporting secondary students’ engagement during the Covid19 pandemic. These strategies include re-engaging students who present with wellbeing concerns or show signs of disengagement. The report also includes some innovative actions schools used to promote student engagement after the first lockdown in 2020.

  • Published: 25 Aug 2021

    Responding to Covid-19: Supporting Auckland NCEA students - Summary

    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.  

  • Published: 25 Aug 2021

    Responding to the Covid-19 crisis: Supporting Auckland NCEA students

    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.