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.

This report explains strategies for supporting secondary students’ engagement during the Covid‑19 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.

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.

The Education Review Office (ERO) has released the latest in its Teaching Strategies that Work series. “Keeping children engaged and achieving in reading” is a description of strategies used by primary schools which have significantly improved their students’ achievement in reading.

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.

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.

This report discusses the effectiveness of employment practices in some kindergartens and education and care services.

These booklets have been written for everyone who parents a child - those who have care and responsibility for children attending a school. The booklets include questions you can ask, as well as general information that you may find useful. Click on the booklet to read and download.

Your child's education is an overview of education in New Zealand, from early childhood education through to secondary school. The information and questions are a useful insight into what education looks like in New Zealand and the opportunities available to your child.

This report discusses secondary schools where Pacific learners are achieving at or above the national norms for all students. It includes details of initiatives and good practice and how these work together to get great results.