Pupils’ results worse in technology, arts than five years ago, tests show

The National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement tested several thousand children last year.

Testing shows children’s achievement in technology and the arts has fallen, but in te reo Māori it held steady and even improved.

The National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement tested several thousand children last year.

It said their learning was disrupted in the 18 months prior to the tests and that was likely to have at least some negative impact on their performance.

The reports said children’s scores in technology and the arts were lower than last time the subjects were tested (2016) but in Māori Year 4 children’s scores were slightly higher while Year 8 students’ performance was unchanged.

Māori children performed better and made more progress in te reo Māori between Year 4 and Year 8 than other children, but on average children made less progress than in subjects such as maths and English.

Children in low-decile schools performed better in Māori than those in high-decile schools by the equivalent of more than two years’ learning.

In technology, the scores of children at low decile schools were lower than those of children in high decile schools by the equivalent of about two-and-a-half years of learning.

In the arts (dance, drama, music, visual arts) the difference between low and high-decile schools was about two years for Year 4 children and a year-and-a-half for Year 8 children.