Recently, Education Minister Erica Stanford announced a move towards a new assessment system to better support students. Will all the changes work? Will everything be effective? Probably not, but we must try.
Over the past 30 years, New Zealand’s education system has seen a worrying decline in academic achievement. Recent assessments show two-thirds of secondary school students failed to meet the minimum literacy and numeracy standards set by the OECD. These are essential for future learning, work, and life success. This decline is particularly stark in low-income areas, where only 2% of students in decile-one schools can pass a basic writing test, and just 25% meet reading standards.
The situation is similarly dire for Māori and Pacific students, underscoring significant disparities within the education system. These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted interventions to address these persistent gaps and improve overall educational outcomes in New Zealand.
Efforts to improve student progress monitoring will see schools in New Zealand implementing twice-yearly assessments for students in Years 3-8.
These reading, writing, and math assessments will serve as light-touch check-ins, complementing the existing teacher-led formative and summative assessments.
This approach is not about a one-size-fits-all methodology but about equipping our teachers and the education system to better support our children.
With one primary-aged child, one middle schooler, and one in kindergarten, I’m deeply invested in the future of our education system. Our primary-aged child attends a decile-10 school where regular testing helps teachers support each child individually and gives us, as parents, visibility about their progress.
Similarly, our middle schooler attends a private school that conducts regular assessments to track student achievement. While some may argue that testing can increase anxiety in children, it is also essential to equip our children to face adversity.
I have one child who loves testing and another who detests it, but both benefit from it. It helps us discuss their interests, strengths, and weaknesses. We also need to focus on building resilience in our children, which is crucial for their overall development.
In addition, our teaching workforce is one of our most treasured assets. Yet each year, a child gets a new teacher who, in turn, must learn about the strengths and weaknesses of up to 25 individuals in a short period. It’s one of the hardest aspects of education.
A teacher friend told me testing helps her understand how to support students from year to year and manage the frequent interruptions with relievers and teachers finishing mid-term. If schools can embrace these changes and build empirical data around what additional support is needed to lift achievement, it will be immensely helpful.
Without data, it’s hard to assess the needs of each student and community appropriately. This is not about ranking our children’s or schools abilities, instead, it’s about how we can best lift education for all our children.
So, while everything may not go entirely to plan, we need to take action. The changes made earlier this year have certainly shown us, as parents, that standards are improving.
Our children now receive an hour a day of reading, writing, and maths, and we have greater transparency around their attendance rates, what they are missing at school, and when. This clarity helps us understand how we can support their learning and make up for any missed content.
Simply put, we’ve got to try some different approaches. By embracing these practices, we can help our children thrive in a challenging world and turn the tide on the educational decline we have witnessed for the past 30 years.
Let’s support these necessary changes and work together to build a better future for our children and society.
