Appendix 1: How we carried out our work

We interviewed:

• Ministry of Education officials from national and regional offices;
• the then-Chief Education Science Advisor;
• senior staff from the Education Review Office, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, and the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand;
• the National President and Executive Officer of the New Zealand Principals' Federation and senior staff from the New Zealand Educational Institute;
• staff from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research and the University of Otago involved in the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement and its replacement, the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study; and
• principals and staff from 13 public schools throughout the country, including:
  • kura kaupapa Māori and English-medium primary, intermediate, and secondary schools;
  • schools in the North and South Islands;
  • schools in urban, provincial, and rural areas; and
  • schools in communities with different socioeconomic statuses.

We reviewed documents provided by the Ministry and publicly available documents. These included Cabinet papers and briefing notes to the Minister of Education, corporate publications, strategies, programmes, initiatives, plans, and monitoring and evaluation publications.