Part 1: Why we did this audit
1.1
A well-educated population has enormous personal, societal, and economic benefits.1 Higher levels of educational achievement correlate strongly with improved overall health, active citizenship, and reduced levels of violence. Better educated people tend to live longer, engage in more civic activities, and feel happier.2
1.2
Significant public resources go to primary and secondary education. In 2023/24, primary and secondary education received $8.5 billion of public funding. As at 1 July 2023, the 2538 primary and secondary schools in New Zealand (including state, state-integrated, and private schools) had 831,038 students.
1.3
There is no comprehensive and authoritative summary of student achievement and progress in New Zealand. However, studies of educational achievement in different year levels and in selected subjects have highlighted some concerning trends, including a wide variation in student achievement.
1.4
For example, in 2023, the New Zealand Council for Educational Research looked at student achievement in maths and statistics for Years 4 and 8 between 2018 and 2022.3 At Year 8, there were statistically significant declines in the average maths scores for girls and for Māori and Pacific students. There was no statistically significant change in average scores for students as a whole during this time.
1.5
When compared with students in other countries, New Zealand students, on average, often perform similarly or better than their international counterparts. However, these studies have also highlighted wide variations in student achievement in New Zealand.
1.6
In 2018, UNICEF ranked New Zealand 33 of 38 countries for equality in education because of the wide variations in student achievement.4 UNICEF's study looked at countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
1.7
An OECD study from 2022 also highlighted wide variations in student achievement in New Zealand (see paragraphs 3.49-3.54).5
1.8
Equity in educational outcomes does not mean that all students achieve the same outcomes – variations in achievement are to be expected. Instead, it means that a student's educational outcomes reflect their abilities rather than factors outside their control (such as their socioeconomic circumstances).
1.9
The Ministry of Education (the Ministry) acknowledges that there is inequity in student achievement. In its 2023 Briefing to the Incoming Ministers, the Ministry acknowledged that New Zealand's education system does not provide excellent and equitable outcomes for all:
New Zealand has long-standing excellence and equity challenges to deliver education success for Māori, Pacific peoples, deaf people and those with disabilities, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.
These challenges are apparent in patterns of differential success, declining performance in some international benchmarks, in indices ranging from engagement, through educational progress and achievement to those for wellbeing.6
1.10
Persistent inequity in achievement and progress mean that some students are not able to achieve to the best of their ability. These students can miss out on the broader benefits that a good education brings.
1.11
Addressing inequitable educational outcomes is a critical priority for the Ministry. In March 2024, the Minister for Education was reported as saying that inequitable educational outcomes were the biggest challenge facing the education system.
The focus of this report
1.12
We wanted to assess how well the Ministry uses information in its work to promote equitable educational outcomes for Year 1-13 students.
1.13
To help address inequity, the Ministry needs to have enough information about which specific student groups are not meeting expectations, what factors (individually and collectively) influence achievement and progress, and how those factors affect different students.
1.14
The Ministry also needs to use this information to develop strategies, programmes, and activities (which we refer to collectively as initiatives) to lift student achievement levels and address inequity in educational outcomes.
1.15
We wanted to provide assurance to the public and Parliament that the Ministry's approach to promoting equitable achievement is well informed. We wanted to identify where the Ministry could improve its information and how it uses it.
1.16
New research is becoming available all the time, and the Ministry continues to analyse this information to gain greater insights into factors that affect student achievement and progress. Our findings are based on the evidence we had when preparing this report.
What we looked at
1.17
We looked at whether the Ministry, for Years 1-13:
- knows what differences in student achievement there are for different student groups;
- knows what underlying factors contribute to differences in student achievement for each group;
- uses its knowledge to develop, target, and prioritise initiatives to support students to reach their potential; and
- evaluates its initiatives to identify their effectiveness.
1.18
Multiple factors can affect student outcomes. We looked at how the Ministry responds to factors that contribute to success and inequity in achievement and progress. This includes factors that the Ministry and schools can directly influence and those that they need to work with other public organisations or community groups to address.
1.19
The scope of this audit includes students in schools that follow The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. This means that we did not look at information about students who are home schooled, who attend private schools, or who attend alternative education for students who have disengaged from mainstream schooling.
1.20
Appendix 1 sets out how we carried out our audit.
We use a range of different terms in this report:
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Student progress means the difference in a student’s abilities between two assessment points. |
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Student achievement means how well a student meets the expected curriculum standard in a subject, such as achieving a curriculum level or passing an NCEA subject or level. |
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Proficiency studies measure students’ abilities but do not assess achievement or progress against the National Curriculum. |
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The National Curriculum sets the direction for student learning and provides guidance for schools. The National Curriculum consists of two documents. They are:
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When we refer to schools, we mean all state schools teaching the National Curriculum. |
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When we refer to kura kaupapa Māori, we mean state schools that operate under a whānau-based Māori philosophy and deliver Te Marautanga o Aotearoa in te reo Māori.** |
* In Māori-medium education, students are taught all or some curriculum subjects in te reo Māori at least 51% of the time.
** Kura kaupapa Māori are the kura that follow the Te Aho Matua philosophy and are in Te Runanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori. Kaupapa Māori education also includes kura affiliating to Ngā Kura a Iwi.
1: The Treasury (2023), Briefing to the Incoming Minister of Finance: Economic and fiscal context slide pack, page 25, at treasury.govt.nz.
2: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2013), "What are the social benefits of education?", Education indicators in focus, No. 10, at oecd.org.
3: New Zealand Council for Educational Research and University of Otago Educational Assessment Research Unit (2023), National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement Report 30: Mathematics and statistics 2022 –Achievement findings.
4: United Nations Children's Fund (2018), Innocenti Report Card 15: An unfair start – Inequality in children's education in rich countries, page 8, at unicef.org.
5: OECD Education GPS, "New Zealand: Student performance (PISA 2022)", at gpseducation.oecd.org.
6: Ministry of Education (2023), Briefing to the Incoming Ministers: November 2023, page 15, at education.govt.nz.