......it’s a problem NZ does not have on its own
Education is in crisis in New Zealand — that has become a headline which will be all too familiar to readers of Point of Order. This week, Newshub’s AM show featured it with the catchline on how attendance rates in schools had fallen from 66.1% in term 4 of 2019 to just 50.6% in term 4 of 2022.
Economist Cameron Bagrie told AM’s Ryan Bridge he is “horrified” by the figures and they will have significant real-world consequences in a few decades.
“As a parent, [I’m] somewhat angry in regards to where the system has got to and really worried about where the NZ economy is going to be in 20 to 30 years,” Bagrie said.
The education system is a strong barometer for NZ’s economic future, and based on the current data “we are in trouble”.
Bagrie said: “There are three main channels where we could potentially take a hit. The first is labour supply and the availability of people for work 10, 20, 30 years down the track and I guess if kids are not turning up to school it’s not a great story in regards to their potential to be regularly turning up to work.
“The second is productivity and innovation. You know smarter, more literate kids who achieve better in school are going to be a barometer of New Zealand’s productivity performance and that drives incomes and living standards down the track.
“The third one is just the quality of institutions. The institutions across our economy really matter and if you don’t have good people across the board, then you have problems coming through that.”
Newshub also featured Sir Ian Taylor who told AM’s Bridge while the education figures are “terrible” they need to be put in perspective.
“There’s a school in Northland I visited four or five weeks ago where they have run a campaign with their kids which is a Facebook campaign that says, ‘School is Cool’. Their attendance rate has risen above 80%, so I think one of the big things that is missing is our Ministry and politicians need to start talking to our schools and the teachers at the cliff face”.
He said he’s spoken to thousands of teachers in the past few months who are working extremely hard to improve things.
NZ schools do not have these attendance problems (and the consequences) on their own.
Point of Order cites a report in The Economist headed “Empty chairs, quieter playgrounds” which recounts how persistent absence from schools “is the new epidemic”.
“Though covid is no longer closing schools or requiring pupils to self-isolate, many children are still missing from their desks. So far this school year more than one-fifth of pupils in England have been ‘persistently’ absent, a label that applies when a youngster misses at least 10% of their classes.
That is almost twice the rate that was normal before Covid. Some teachers hoped this was a blip that would vanish as the pandemic faded. But it looks as if lofty rates are sticking, says The Economist.
“This would be a problem even if the pandemic had not already hit children’s learning. Pupils who miss even 15% of their lessons are half as likely as others to get five passes in the GCSE exams they take at age 16. Youngsters with very poor attendance rates are also vastly more likely to end up in trouble with the police; perhaps 140,000 children are enrolled in school but are actually in class less than half the time”.
After traversing other aspects of the issue, The Economist says that making a real dent in the problem means fixing other overloaded systems. It reckons old-fashioned approaches, such as fining parents of absent youngsters, are unlikely to work.
“The pandemic’s woeful impact on children has not run its course”.
At least England doesn’t have a rising number of ram raids by youngsters as one of the dire consequences of the pandemic.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
The education system is a strong barometer for NZ’s economic future, and based on the current data “we are in trouble”.
Bagrie said: “There are three main channels where we could potentially take a hit. The first is labour supply and the availability of people for work 10, 20, 30 years down the track and I guess if kids are not turning up to school it’s not a great story in regards to their potential to be regularly turning up to work.
“The second is productivity and innovation. You know smarter, more literate kids who achieve better in school are going to be a barometer of New Zealand’s productivity performance and that drives incomes and living standards down the track.
“The third one is just the quality of institutions. The institutions across our economy really matter and if you don’t have good people across the board, then you have problems coming through that.”
Newshub also featured Sir Ian Taylor who told AM’s Bridge while the education figures are “terrible” they need to be put in perspective.
“There’s a school in Northland I visited four or five weeks ago where they have run a campaign with their kids which is a Facebook campaign that says, ‘School is Cool’. Their attendance rate has risen above 80%, so I think one of the big things that is missing is our Ministry and politicians need to start talking to our schools and the teachers at the cliff face”.
He said he’s spoken to thousands of teachers in the past few months who are working extremely hard to improve things.
NZ schools do not have these attendance problems (and the consequences) on their own.
Point of Order cites a report in The Economist headed “Empty chairs, quieter playgrounds” which recounts how persistent absence from schools “is the new epidemic”.
“Though covid is no longer closing schools or requiring pupils to self-isolate, many children are still missing from their desks. So far this school year more than one-fifth of pupils in England have been ‘persistently’ absent, a label that applies when a youngster misses at least 10% of their classes.
That is almost twice the rate that was normal before Covid. Some teachers hoped this was a blip that would vanish as the pandemic faded. But it looks as if lofty rates are sticking, says The Economist.
“This would be a problem even if the pandemic had not already hit children’s learning. Pupils who miss even 15% of their lessons are half as likely as others to get five passes in the GCSE exams they take at age 16. Youngsters with very poor attendance rates are also vastly more likely to end up in trouble with the police; perhaps 140,000 children are enrolled in school but are actually in class less than half the time”.
After traversing other aspects of the issue, The Economist says that making a real dent in the problem means fixing other overloaded systems. It reckons old-fashioned approaches, such as fining parents of absent youngsters, are unlikely to work.
“The pandemic’s woeful impact on children has not run its course”.
At least England doesn’t have a rising number of ram raids by youngsters as one of the dire consequences of the pandemic.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
4 comments:
"Kia wakatomuri te haere whakamua". The less educution the sooner we will return to the stone age and its revered associated te ao, tikanga etc.
Pushing Matauranga Maori into everything, including Maori spirituality into science ('Mauri' or spiritual life force in chemistry!) won't help either.
The levelling - downward.
Returning the classroom to a place of education not social engineering would make it more meaningful for children.
Studies have shown children have increased self esteem and higher achievement in the rigor of more traditional classrooms not infested with progressive (regressive) ideas we now have.
This includes orderliness,fair discipline, knowledge based, direct instruction, work centered and some rote learning of the basics. All this anathema to modern teaching practices, which persists with methods that just don't work especially for the low decile. child.
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