This summer we’re bringing back some of the best-read Premium articles of 2024.Today we take a look at someof the biggest education stories of the year.
Student achievement in 2023 took a tumble, but not every school went backwards.
Illustration / Paul Slater
The Herald plotted the 2023 school leaver results for every secondary school, allowing students and parents to see how they compare and which type of schools seem to do best.
The pattern is clear when looking at NCEA Level 3 and UE achievement rates relative to a school’s Equity Index (EQI) score, which replaced the old decile system. EQI uses a combination of factors to judge student equity, such as parents‘ incomes, qualifications and ages at the birth of their first child, along with any criminal record, time spent on a benefit, social welfare interventions for their children, and the number of times the family has moved home. The higher the EQI, the more socio-economic barriers the school’s students face.
The Ministry of Education’s school leaver data looks at statistical patterns at a national level. The Herald has reported that the proportion of school leavers with NCEA dropped in 2023 to where it was about a decade ago, a trend reversal from the years leading into the Covid pandemic.
The graphic goes deeper, offering a school-by-school breakdown using information obtained under the Official Information Act.
Tuition fees at the country’s most exclusive private secondary schools have increased by double-digit percentages in the past two years, but the schools say the soaring costs have not resulted in a drop in applications.
A Herald analysis of fees at 20 leading independent schools has revealed they are charging an average of $26,927 for tuition for a final-year student in 2024, with additional payments that at some schools amount to thousands of dollars.
The average tuition fee for a Year-13 student at these schools has jumped by 6.4 per cent this year and 12.7 per cent since 2022, raising concerns that more Kiwi families will be priced out of providing their children an elite education.
People in the sector acknowledged that higher tuition fees would add to the financial pressures on many households but said the increases were broadly in line with consumer price inflation and reflected steeply rising costs in the education sector — especially teacher salaries.
Left untreated, ADHD can cause a significant impact on learning development and social interaction. Photo / 123RF
Up to 100,000 neurodivergent children are being left behind by an education system that is not only “woefully lacking”, but in some cases doing long-term damage.
Scathing testimonials from those in the sector are detailed in a new report, revealing shortfalls at every level.
Senior writer Derek Cheng looks at the scale of the problem, what can be done, and what the Government plans to do.
A new report says our school system hasn't evolved with society, resulting in poor student performance. Photo / File
Students and teachers are finding it increasingly hard to stay afloat in a school system that has changed little in decades, while communities have undergone seismic shifts.
This is the conundrum at the heart of a new report, Searching for Utopia, published today by Sir Peter Gluckman‘s think-tank Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures.
It does not mean schools can’t do very well, as some do, or that the Government’s current policies won’t improve matters, which they might.
But the paper argues for a major overhaul because society has changed so much that the school system no longer prepares young people for adult life in the way it used to.
Compared to 30 years ago, these changes include a yawning gap between rich and poor, increasingly diverse communities, momentous shifts in family structures, and ubiquitous technology.
And how are students and staff doing? Student achievement is treading water at best or tanking at worst, students’ mental health is nose-diving, classroom behaviour is increasingly disruptive, truancy remains a crisis, and teacher morale is the lowest in a decade.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“Total system failure” is how Prime Minister Christopher Luxon described what’s going on with the low level of maths performance among school students.
The basis for this comment was the achievement data in the latest Curriculum Insights and Progress Study (CIPS): 22% of Year 8 students in New Zealand reached the benchmark for mathematics, 15% were less than a year behind, and 63% were more than one year behind. Among Māori students, only 12% were where they should be, 10% were less than a year behind, and 77% were more than a year behind.
This translates to about 50,000 Year 8 students below the benchmark in 2023.
However, two lecturers in maths education say it’s misleading to suggest things are getting worse. Luxon did not provide adequate context, including that the CIPS’ data was based on a new draft curriculum, with a higher benchmark compared to previous years.
