Our research

Early childhood education services had to quickly adapt to changing requirements and periods of uncertainty due to Covid-19. During lockdown, services had to transition to supporting children to learn from their homes. After lockdown, they had to support children to return to services and continue their learning in a Covid-19 world. This summary highlights the efforts of early childhood services to support students and their whānau.

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.

Principals and school leaders have taken on a lot of responsibility during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Education Review Office interviewed principals and board chairs and surveyed 1777 principals across the country from May through to September 2020 to understand how they have responded. This summary highlights how those school leaders rose to the challenge.

In Aotearoa, Māori-medium education experienced significant disruption when the outbreak of Covid-19 forced kura to close their doors, and whānau and kaiako to adjust to home schooling and distance learning. Among the many challenges were access to technology and resources with Māori communities among the most affected.

ERO has a comprehensive and fast-tracked work programme underway to understand the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on students, services and schools, and on teaching and learning in Aotearoa New Zealand in the English and Māori medium education sectors.

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.

This case study report features experiences of three Kāhui Ako and includes the strategies and approaches used to create, build, and strengthen collaboration between schools and early learning services to improve outcomes for learners.

This case study report features experiences of three Kāhui Ako and includes the strategies and approaches used to create, build, and strengthen collaboration between schools and early learning services to improve outcomes for learners.

Improvement in Action brings to life ERO’s School Evaluation Indicators and illustrates what works to achieve successful outcomes for all children and young people in the education system.

The case studies complement the video sequences in Improvement in Action.

The findings of this evaluation highlight improvements to the quality and consistency of the RTLB service, especially in overall governance and management. 

E whakakoia ana tēnei aromātai i te tino hua motuhake o te mātauranga rumaki reo Māori o te kounga kairangi, me te hāpai whakahirahira anō hoki o tēnei i te tamaiti, mai i tōna whānautanga mai. Kei te mārama pū ngā kitenga, a, e whakatau ana hoki i te ariā e kī ana, e āhei ake ana ngā tamariki ki te eke angitu hei ākonga nā te noho ki tētahi taiao e whakanui ana, e whakamana ana hoki i te reo, te ahurea, me te tuakiri.

Evaluation insights by the ERO, alongside contributions from the Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust and kōhanga reo whānau inform the findings of this report, which highlights effective practice in kōhanga reo, specifically the support children need to grow and thrive through a quality immersion pathway.

This publication is designed to support Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako by bringing together research findings about effective collaboration in education communities. It is supported by the publication Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako: working towards collaborative practice.

An additional resource to Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako: Collaboration to Improve Learner Outcomes. This resource is designed to support CoL | Kāhui Ako as they work towards effective collaborative practice. It is framed around key questions in each of the seven effective practice areas and is able to be used both as evidence-based progressions and as a useful internal evaluation tool.

This is the first of a series of iterative reports which draw together what ERO knows about CoL | Kāhui Ako, as they move from establishment to implementation.

ERO evaluated how well 35 secondary schools were using Vocational Pathways. While most schools knew about and were using the pathways, they were not fully realising the initiative’s potential. Vocational Pathways can be a valued part of a school’s curriculum for all students when used as more than just an add-on to careers education or course selection processes.  

This report looks at how well New Zealand early childhood services and schools are supporting transitions to school and highlights what's important and examples of good practice.

This report complements ERO’s major evaluation, Partners in Learning: Schools’ Engagement with Parents, Whānau and Communities, published in May 2008. It presents case studies of eight schools, identified during ERO reviews, that were successful in engaging with their parents, whānau and the wider community. The report also discusses key factors that contribute to the success of this engagement.