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.
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.
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’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.
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’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.
This report provides findings from ERO's evaluation of how well schools were promoting and supporting student wellbeing through sexuality education.
It includes high-level findings, examples of good practice and recommendations for schools and policy audiences. It is accompanied by a series of short publications for whānau, students, and trustees.
Brochures aimed at students, whānau and Boards of Trustees are also available.
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).
This retrospective study synthesises findings from 17 national reports about curriculum implementation in early learning services, published over the last 10 years.
This good practice report presents examples from five early childhood services where priorities for children’s learning were well considered and reflected on.
This national report is one of two reports that present the findings of a 2012 national evaluation about curriculum priorities.
This national report is one of two reports that present the findings of a 2012 national evaluation about curriculum priorities.
KiwiSport is a government initiative established in 2009 to increase opportunities for school-aged children to participate in organised sport. This report presents the findings of a questionnaire ERO gave to schools about the impact of KiwiSport funding.
Kiwisport is a government initiative aimed at increasing opportunities for school-aged children to participate in organised sport.
In Terms 2 and 3, 2010, the Education Review Office evaluated the use primary and secondary schools made of Kiwisport funding, and the benefits and challenges of the initiative identified by schools.
Assessment informs an early childhood service’s programme and educators’ teaching practices. ERO evaluated the quality of assessment in all the early childhood services reviewed in Terms 3 and 4, 2006.
Services were at varying stages in their understanding and implementation of assessment practices, as not all had yet participated in professional development.
