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The government proudly announced this week that the percentage of students leaving school with minimum qualifications needed for a good life (NCEA Level 2) rose from two-thirds (67 per cent) in 2008, to over three-quarters (77 per cent) last year. Even more positively, the percentage of Māori students leaving school with NCEA Level 2 has increased from 44 to 59 per cent. Read more
In 2012, Madam Ong laid a police complaint against her son’s teacher who had cut his hair prior to an exam and threatened to deduct marks for his scruffy haircut. Singapore’s Minister of Education, Mr Heng Swee Keat, contacted the school for their story and publicly agreed with one media commentator, that Madam Ong had caused a hullabaloo. Read more
The start of this year's election race has seen politicians accused left, right, and centre of bribing their electorates. John Key was first off the mark with his super teacher policy. Read more
Wellington (23 January 2014): The New Zealand Initiative has welcomed the introduction of a four new tiers of teaching positions as a huge step toward lifting the educational performance of New Zealand’s schools. The think tank has long been a strong advocate for such a policy, which was announced by Prime Minister John Key today as part of his State of the Nation address. Read more
Around the world: The evolution of teaching as a profession is The New Zealand Initiative’s second education report. Released this week, it is the product of a six-week tour around the world to look at how other education systems deal with teacher quality. Read more
This week’s 2012 PISA results should have sent shockwaves down the country. New Zealand slipped from 7th to 13th place in reading, 13th to 23rd in maths, and from 7th to 18th in science in the OECD’s Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA), a study of half a million 15-year olds in 65 countries. Read more
Wellington (4 December 2013): New Zealand’s sudden drop in the international education rankings is a clear signal that the country needs to lift teacher quality if wants students to be able to participate in the modern workplace, said The NewZealand Initiative. Compared to the 2009 results, 15 year olds saw their overall ranking in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) fall across the board, dropping from 7th to 13th in reading, 13th to 23rd in mathematics, and 7th to 18th in science. Read more
One in seven of New Zealand’s 15-year-olds cannot read at a level considered requisite for basic participation in society, according to the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study. But does this simply reflect natural variation in ability levels and the left-end of the bell curve? Read more
This week a friend attended a parent-teacher interview to discuss her 6-year-old daughter’s progress in school. The teacher started off not with reading, writing, or maths, but with a comment on her character that would puff up any parent’s chest with pride: her daughter is a delight to have in the classroom. Read more
The debate over National Standards continues to simmer away, but the conversation is changing. If you listen carefully there is no real opposition to the general concept of National Standards – which is the reporting of student progress to parents. Read more