Mixed feelings on PISA results
While Education Minister Erica Stanford wakes “every single morning with a huge knot in my stomach” thinking how Aotearoa will improve education, some principals say the latest international results are “not something on the radar”.
New Zealand has recorded its worst results yet in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, particularly concerning mathematics. It ranked 19th among 38 OECD countries for maths, just seven points above the average at 479 – a drop of 15 points from the last survey. For comparison, NZ placed seventh in reading and science at 501 and 504 points respectively, though both results were also lower than previously. “Unsurprising” was a common word principals used to describe the findings.
They say the international programme is not a reliable indicator of student performance, as New Zealand schools don’t teach to it, instead using the national curriculum.
“A number of schools see no value in it,” said Scott Haines, vice-president of the Secondary Principals’ Association of NZ (SPANZ). “There’s stories of kids who didn’t opt out but circled ‘C’ for every answer just to get through it,” said Haines, who is also the principal of Burnside High School in Christchurch. “... Our (SPANZ) view is that it is no longer fit for purpose.”
NZ’s response rate was below the PISA standard this year, with just 72% of selected schools and students opting in. As a result the country was subject to a non-response bias analysis, which revealed our results may be skewed upwards by 10 PISA points, with more high-achieving students participating.
Hornby High School was among schools that didn’t take part, principal Iain Murray saying it wasn’t a priority. “They’re based on an old-school examination style. We work more fluidly than that [now],” Murray said.
Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said the results were “worrying”, but questioned whether PISA is a valid tool to measure NZ performance. “I have been told by so many principals that students just aren’t motivated to try hard in these assessments,” she said and acknowledged the results were affected by Covid, which delayed the test a year.
The PISA survey showed nearly universal achievement declines, especially in maths. Stanford blamed the previous government for falling standards. “This Government has high aspirations for our learners and we refuse to leave essential learning to chance.”
She was confident the Government’s 100day education plan would improve outcomes.
“Our ‘Teaching the Basics Brilliantly’ policy builds an important foundation to ensure young people receive the high-quality education they deserve,” she said.
NZ mathematics results have been declining since 2003, when students scored 44 points above the 2022 results. Since then, the number of high performers has halved, and the number of low performers doubled.
Joe Eccleton, president of the Canterbury West Coast Secondary Principals’ Association, agreed the results were alarming but said schools were already teaching the basics brilliantly. He said the country needed a “more focused and evidence-based approach”, but acknowledged the Government’s changes may ensure consistency among schools.
“I think there is a cause for concern. If you look at it across the board, by any standard of measurement, education seems to be declining,” the Cashmere High School principal said. The downward trend has been occurring for many years and it was time to reflect, he added.