Our research

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 serves to shine some light on the experiences of teachers who have come from overseas to teach in New Zealand. It is based on data collected from a voluntary survey of teachers and principals of the school where they are employed.

ERO conducted case studies of six schools’ implementation of the digital technologies curriculum content in Term 1, 2019. Schools that had successfully integrated the curriculum had leaders who promoted a growth mindset for teachers and looked to integrate digital technologies into existing curriculum. Timely professional development for teachers and positive community connections also enhanced schools’ ability to integrate the digital technologies curriculum.

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.

There are 14 activity centres in New Zealand that cater for secondary school students (Years 9 ‑ 13) who are at risk of disengaging from mainstream schooling and at risk of low educational, social and vocational outcomes. Activity centres are established by agreement of the Minister of Education. Priority is given to those students whose behaviour is likely to impede their own learning and the learning of others, and who are most likely to benefit from the programme.

Senior leaders at Invercargill Middle School have put processes in place to ensure that all teachers participate in and contribute to the co-construction of decisions about how best to move forward. The principal describes the approach as ‘change coming from the classroom, not the principals office’.

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 McAuley High School, leaders and teachers actively model learning behaviour for the students including eliciting student feedback on a regular basis

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

In 2014, the Education Review Office (ERO) undertook an evaluation of the extent to which schools were promoting and responding to student wellbeing in primary and secondary schools. This 2016 effective practice report provides further detail about practices in selected schools that promote wellbeing for all students, and describes how these schools respond when concerns, issues or events require more targeted support.

Wellbeing for success: a resource for schools has been developed to help schools evaluate and improve student wellbeing. It highlights the importance of schools promoting the wellbeing of all students as well as the need for systems, people and initiatives to respond to wellbeing concerns for students who need additional support.