Covid damage ‘ongoing’ in school system

"Significant risks exist if we fail to act. Many learners are likely to experience poor academic outcomes."

Cabinet paper

Newly released official documents provide a strongly-worded warning about the damage Covid-19 has done to the school system.

The Cabinet paper and Education Ministry briefing papers explain the urgent need for a $43 million package announced in September to recruit more teachers and provide catch-up learning for thousands of teenagers.

The documents said there was a small window of opportunity to head off significant ill-effects to both student achievement and the supply of teachers.

“The impacts of Covid-19 on the education system are significant and ongoing,” a September Cabinet paper said.

“Significant risks exist if we fail to act. Many learners are likely to experience poor academic outcomes, particularly those in their final years of schooling. This would also risk teacher supply issues worsening, which could lead to further disruption in access to quality in-person education.”

The paper said there was a larger than usual number of nonenrolled learners.

“Some learners will not be reengaged in schooling or will not make sufficient progress, leading to lower achievement and qualification attainment, potentially embedding poor outcomes and other inequities,” it said.

Figures provided to RNZ by the Qualifications Authority showed by the end of November students had recorded fewer NCEA credits on average than at the same time in any of the previous three years.

An August briefing paper showed the ministry considered but ruled out asking schools to focus on key parts of the curriculum or extending the school day.

A September Cabinet paper indicated the supply of teachers was similar to worst-case scenarios forecast last year.

“Recent data also shows that the outlook for teacher supply in 2023 is materially worse than previous years and in line with the more challenging projections from the annual teacher demand-supply planning exercise in late 2021,” the paper said.

“We consider these issues a priority to both mitigate harms already caused by lost learning, and to proactively address shortterm teacher shortages before they become more critical.”

It said without action, pupils might experience more disruption to their learning, and a shortage of teachers could make teaching harder.

The report said more school teachers were leaving their jobs, more vacancies were being advertised, and vacancies were being readvertised nearly twice as much as previous years.

“If the current trends continue, 200 to 800 additional primary teachers and 400 to 1000 secondary teachers may leave regular teaching in 2022 compared to 2021 when the borders were closed,” it said.