National standards will secure a brighter future for all children
NEW ZEALAND has produced generations of resilient and resourceful people.
It is our people – particularly our young people – who are our greatest asset.
But in a knowledge-based global economy where growth is driven by rapidly changing advances in technology, we need more than ever to equip them with the skills and knowledge to compete and succeed.
It is critical that every child has the chance to achieve his or her full potential. Education is central to this goal and New Zealand’s success.
We are slipping down the global education league table, largely because others are improving while we remain the same or, in some cases, slip behind. As a country that depends on the skills of our people to earn our living, we should be concerned. If we do not change the way we do things, our standard of living is likely to drop in the next generation. We cannot afford to let that happen.
A growing number of Maori and Pasifika youth – mainly boys – do not have the skills to succeed in today’s economy, let alone the higher skilled, technologydependent labour market of the future.
We have known about this problem for decades and many well-intentioned plans to improve their prospects have been introduced. Yet none have worked on any significant scale.
Hand-wringing will not help. Nor will repeating more of the same tried-and-failed strategies of the past few decades. We need to be focused and deliberate.
A lack of clear information about where progress is – and isn’t – being made has held us back from developing effective strategies that make a real difference.
New Zealand has not had sound information on how students are progressing, other than qualification results at senior secondary school. By then, it is very challenging to achieve better results at an individual level.
Lack of information prevented us from knowing when learning for 20 per cent or so of our children faltered. But that has
. . . others are improving while we remain the same or, in some cases, slip behind.
changed. National standards data shows most primary school children start well. For many, their rate of progress appears to slow after four or five years.
At this point, they are only 9 or 10 years old, much earlier than many had believed. For the first time, we can see where we need to focus to help these students before they slip further behind.
This is only the second year we have had national standards information but already we are learning a lot about how we might go about improving achievement for all students, no matter their background or ability.
We now have better evidence than ever before about what works, and shining examples of success.
One is Sylvia Park, a low-decile primary school in south Auckland. Its national standards results show year-on-year improvement for its students, who are largely Pasifika and Maori. The school aims to have students ‘‘well above’’ the national standard at each year level and the results are moving in that direction.
The formula at Sylvia Park is clear: A relentless focus on the quality of teaching and learning for every child, regular use of moderated data on what students know and are able to do, and active engagement of parents and caregivers to support their children’s learning.
Other schools are keen to emulate Sylvia Park’s results, and want to learn more about what it is doing. The school’s success – particularly in getting parents and caregivers involved from the day their child starts school – is even gaining international attention. Auckland University has worked alongside the school to evaluate the results of its home-school partnership approach – Mutukaroa.
Some schools will need time and support to bed in changes to their approaches and we are committed to helping them. The progress and consistency tool – Pact – was developed in consultation with teachers to help them make more consistent judgments.
Parents want to know how their children are doing. The Government’s five-year public achievement information plan will provide the information they need. And for the first time this year, Nga Whanaketanga Rumaki Maori will give parents with children in Maori medium education settings better achievement information.
Parents want the best for their children, as do teachers, principals and boards of trustees. We must be relentless in focusing on the progress and achievement of every child.