Inequality and achievement

Shocked by Jessica Long’s report (Nelson Mail, October 31), I rushed to the internet. Ah. No 2018 PISA figures yet (tested in September).

The situation is basically as for the last 40 years of international comparative surveys. Our proportion of top achievers puts us among the best few countries; our average is above the OECD average; our bottom group, mainly Maori and Pasifika, do badly. (Though we did better there than, say, Germany and the Netherlands, and better than the OECD average).

Inequality is the problem. Long’s article gives the impression that overall achievement is very low, but it’s the inequality that shames us. The gap is way too big. Causes include poverty, low parental educational achievement, and our huge inequality (copying the awful USA) in imprisonment, health, joblessness, housing and suicide. Inequality is also high because our top and middle kids do so well. Countries doing poorly overall are less unequal.

New Zealand is not alone. A 2012 French Cour des Comptes report slammed the Education Ministry because expenditure advantaged the advantaged, and ‘‘value added’’ measurements were lacking.

Google PISA. The detailed information and analyses tell us so much more than a brief, misleading news article.