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.

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.

Te Pou Mataaho, ERO’s evaluation and research group, and Te Uepū ā Motu, ERO’s national evaluation and review team, pursued this evaluation to provide an evidence base about the initial impacts of Covid-19 on Māori-medium education and how the sector responded.

I whāia tēnei arotake e Te Pou Mataaho, te rōpū arotake, rangahau hoki a Te Tari Arotake Mātauranga me Te Uepū ā-Motu, te rōpū arotake ā-motu a Te Tari Arotake Mātauranga, ki te whakaputa i tētahi kohinga taunakitanga e kitea ai ngā pānga tōmua o te Mate Korona ki te rāngai mātauranga reo Māori, me ngā rautaki i whāia ai e taua rāngai.

This short guide is for early childhood education leaders and kaiako. It covers what we found from talking to services in 2020 about the impact of Covid-19, and shares strategies used by services to respond to the challenges they faced. It also sets out some actions that could be considered for continuing to support children, parents, whānau and staff in 2021.

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.

I Aotearoa nei, i tino raru te rāngai mātauranga reo Māori i te horapatanga o te Mate Korona, i kati ai ngā tatau o ngā kura, i mate ai hoki ngā whānau me ngā kaiako ki te tīni i ā rātou mahi ki te whakaako ki te kāinga me te ako tawhiti.

Ko tētahi raru i roto i te huhua, ko te korenga o ngā taputapu matihiko me ngā rauemi, ka mutu ko ngā hapori Māori ērā i rongo i te korekore rawa atu nei.

This report shares some of the strategies and approaches used by schools who had focused on improving achievement in writing. It also shares some simple strategies used in classrooms where achievement in writing had been accelerated.

This Education Review Office (ERO) report is one of a series of reports on teaching strategies that work. It features strategies and approaches that we observed in 40 primary schools selected from across New Zealand. These schools came from a database of 129 schools, all with rolls of 200 or more, in which the proportion of students in the upper primary years (Years 5 to 8) achieving at or above the expected standard had increased. In each case, achievement levels were also above average for the decile.

This Education Review Office (ERO) report is one of a series of reports on teaching strategies that work. It features strategies and approaches that we observed in 40 primary schools selected from across New Zealand. These schools came from a database of 129 schools, all with rolls of 200 or more, in which the proportion of students in the upper primary years (Years 5 to 8) achieving at or above the national standard had increased. In each case achievement levels were also above average for the decile.

ERO has written this booklet for boards of trustees. It is one of many tools available to help you in your role as a trustee. It focuses on student achievement and wellbeing, and the role the board plays in these two areas. The booklet includes questions and information that will guide you in your discussions with school leaders and as a trustee.

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 guide describes how children can be supported to become confident and capable mathematical learners in the early years.

This report highlights how early childhood services keep up to date with changing regulations and legal requirements in order to effectively manage for children’s safety and wellbeing.

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.

The report focuses on good practice and showcases 10 secondary schools with high quality careers education. It identifies factors that contribute to high quality careers education and guidance in New Zealand secondary schools.

This report presents the findings of ERO’s evaluation of the Ministry of Education's initiative, Achievement 2013-2017.