Figure 1.--One of the strengths of many New Zealand schools are excellent libraries with well stocked shelves. This is a coed high school, but many primary schools also have good libraries. |
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The Ministry of Education (MOE) in 1999 prepared a briefing for the incoming Minister. The
briefing provides an excellent overview of the current status of New Zealand education.
1. International comparisons point to a number of strengths in New Zealand's educational
performance, particularly in reading at primary and lower secondary age and maths and
science literacy at school leaving age. Over the past decade strong gains have been made
in participation at the early childhood and tertiary levels. There has also been a significant
increase in the percentage of school leavers well placed to participate in tertiary education. However, there is significant underachievement for some students. One third of students leave school with less than 6th Form Certificate, a situation that poses a growing risk to
New Zealand's social well-being and economic performance.
2. It is important for New Zealand's social and economic well-being that levels of achievement keep rising for all students and that there is a substantial closing of the gap between those students who achieve well and those who do not.
3. In meeting these challenges the education system faces not only the higher expectations
of students and communities but also the need to adapt and respond to a much wider
range of pressures and influences. These wider pressures include: growing international
and technological influences; increasing ethnic diversity; changing rolls, with growth in
some areas and decline in others; greater participation at senior secondary levels; and the need to provide New Zealanders with ongoing education throughout their lives.
4. Success in addressing underachievement and raising achievement for all students requires a broad, integrated strategy incorporating all of the influences on educational outcomes. Family members, communities, early childhood services, schools and tertiary
providers all have important contributions to make. Education policies need to be integrated
with broader social and economic policies. Indicators of achievement need to be monitored
to measure the extent of policy success. To ensure the best possible educational outcomes, policy development requires effective prioritisation.
5. A more concerted effort is needed, particularly in the early childhood and school sectors, to raise achievement for those students who currently do not succeed in their education. Important elements of a strategy to reduce the level of student underachievement include:
- strengthening the role families and communities play in the learning process. This includes better co-ordination of services and policies across government agencies, case management of at-risk children and families, early intervention programmes, and informing family members of practical approaches to support their children's literacy and numeracy development;
- lifting the participation of Mäori, Pacific and low income families in high quality early childhood education services at least to the levels of the general population (and beyond those levels where practical). This requires a better understanding of the
factors constraining families from accessing early childhood education services;
- developing the capability within schools and classrooms to implement the most effective approaches for teaching underachieving students. This includes strategies for taking account of different cultural and language backgrounds, exploring and sharing teaching and assessment practices, giving teachers more tools to improve literacy and numeracy achievement, and attracting the most effective teachers to work in the most challenging schools;
- building the management and governance capability of schools, particularly in those
areas where it is difficult to attract and retain skilled boards of trustees and
principals. This will ensure existing resources are used effectively, but there is also
a need to investigate whether low decile schools are adequately resourced;
- supporting and enabling providers to better recognise and respond to the diversity of students' needs. This would include education settings that are more supportive of a student's culture, home language and family background. It may require moving away from a `one-size-fits-all' approach to the governance and regulation of schools;
- developing genuine partnerships between the Government, providers, and communities to lift student achievement. Students and their families will better engage in education if services relevant to their language and culture are developed. Iwi, church, or other community groups have an important role in building this engagement. In economically deprived and/or isolated regions, such as Northland and the East Coast, genuine partnerships are essential for lifting expectations and determining better education arrangements;
- ensuring qualification systems support ongoing opportunities for further learning. The introduction of the National Certificate of Education Achievement and its dovetailing with the National Qualifications Framework is an important mechanism for
recognising excellence in a wider range of curriculum areas and catering to a more diverse range of students; and
- lifting the foundation skills of adults and improving the pathways into tertiary education for those with low skills and qualifications. This will include the development of a clear and coherent adult literacy strategy.
6. Raising achievement for all students is as vital as addressing underachievement. Aggregate levels of knowledge and skill development will be at the heart of our long-term economic performance and social well-being. Achieving excellence requires policy and
practice to explicitly focus on student learning.
7. To be a learning society, New Zealand has to better foster the ability and willingness to
learn skills in communication, numeracy, information, problem solving, and social and
co-operative behaviours, across a range of learning areas. Applying these skills throughout
life and in a range of new contexts will become essential as international and technological
pressures increase. The tertiary sector in particular has a key role in advancing and
disseminating new knowledge and ideas and developing New Zealand's skill base. Given
the educational gains being made in other countries, significant progress will need to be
made and sustained over time. Achieving excellence requires a focus on:
- ensuring current regulatory, funding and professional development measures, along with the early childhood education curriculum Te Whaariki, effectively raise quality in the early childhood sector;
- ensuring that the interaction between teacher and student, which is critical to a student's learning, is effective. This requires attention to teacher capability, including the identification and dissemination of good practice regarding the processes of teaching and learning. With the implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum Framework nearing an end, the teaching profession, researchers and policy developers have an opportunity to focus on identifying and supporting teaching and school management approaches which best reinforce the knowledge and essential skills embodied in the New Zealand Curriculum. Within this is the challenge to make information and communications technology a powerful learning tool;
- fostering a climate that empowers the teaching profession to develop a self-sustaining drive for improvement in subject knowledge, pedagogy and assessment practices. Pre-service and in-service professional development and enhanced professional bodies are important vehicles for achieving this;
- supporting and developing the leadership capability of school boards and principals; building on the gains made by Tomorrow's Schools by fostering collaboration across schools. Such collaboration could take a variety of forms including the development and sharing of teaching knowledge, curriculum, and administrative support. It would also enable students to access a wider range of learning opportunities; and
- maximising the contribution of the tertiary sector to New Zealand's social and
economic development, and ensuring it meets the challenges of globalisation, technological development and lifelong learning through:
- providing New Zealanders with high quality, timely and relevant learning opportunities throughout their lives;
- fostering high quality, innovative teaching and research and building stronger linkages with enterprises, Crown Research Institutes, Mäori, and the wider community; and
- enhancing the sector's capacity to adapt to future pressures and opportunities.
8 Lifting the educational attainment of Mäori is a critical objective for policy, the achievement of which is vital for New Zealand's economic and social future. Policy success
requires the development of effective partnerships at both the policy level and education
provider level. Through these partnerships, Mäori can gain more effective involvement and
authority in education in order to integrate into the education of their children the knowledge, language and values Mäori see as important.
9. The Government faces two major opportunities to better meet the learning goals of Mäori and Treaty of Waitangi obligations. 10. A range of projects, all involving significant elements of policy development, implementation and change management, are underway to address issues of both underachievement and raising achievement generally. These include: the development of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement; the National Qualifications Framework; implementation of the New Zealand curriculum; strengthening education initiatives in regions such as Northland, the East Coast, Mangere/Otara, and with Tuhoe; Mäori language initiatives; literacy and numeracy initiatives;
assessment policies and practices; a review of the regulatory environment of schools; the development and implementation of an Information and Communication Strategy; teacher training reforms; Special Education 2000; Mäori Education Strategy; a range of initiatives to raise Pacific student participation and achievement; and a School Support programme that currently assists and supports over 400 at-risk schools.
11. Implementing successful policies in these and other areas is resource and time intensive. Sector capability to absorb change is not unlimited. For teachers change has often been associated with additional workload which reduces both the willingness and the ability of the profession to support change.
12. Effective change often requires extensive communication and consultation over a
considerable period of time. It needs to be supported by professional development and
other ways that help build sector capability. An important challenge in addressing
underachievement is the time and effort needed to build the trust, and marshal the energies
of Mäori, families and communities, and to strengthen their relationships with providers.
13. Too much change at any one time can be counter-productive by diffusing effort. This is
especially the case where successful implementation depends on the development of new capability. Careful prioritisation of major policy reforms will be needed to achieve policy success and the number of implementation projects currently underway.
First is meeting the growing demand for quality Mäori medium education and Mäori language learning.
Second is ensuring the education system as a whole responds more effectively to the learning needs and interests of Mäori to lift Mäori educational outcomes. Linking these two together is the important role Mäori can play, in partnership with the Crown, to determine both the systems and outcomes for better education results.
Managing change to achieve results
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