Literacy and numeracy are under the spotlight as Aotearoa New Zealand grapples with how to improve student performance in these basic skills.
At the beginning of 2023, the government rolled out its new history curriculum. But further changes to the curriculum were deferred to put the focus on maths and literacy.
This decision followed a damning report revealed that by the age of 15, two out of five children are either only just meeting or failing to meet literacy standards.
It is clear the warning bells are ringing over student learning – maybe just not loud or urgently enough.
Our research shows just how essential it is that education policy addresses these basic skills now. If we don’t, struggling students – particularly in already disadvantaged groups – face lifelong consequences that reach well beyond educational success.
Our research shows just how essential it is that education policy addresses these basic skills now. If we don’t, struggling students – particularly in already disadvantaged groups – face lifelong consequences that reach well beyond educational success.
The state of New Zealand education
There is a growing sense something is wrong with New Zealand’s education system.
Level 1 National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results have been steadily decreasing since 2017. A 2022 trial of new NCEA literacy and numeracy tests – due to become compulsory in 2024 – produced abysmal results and caused alarm for a number of principals.
Against international benchmarks, New Zealand’s trends in literacy and numeracy paint a gloomy picture.
A global study found a sharp decline in New Zealand students’ proficiency in reading and mathematics.
In 2009, 14% of students fell below the baseline threshold for literacy proficiency and 15% fell below in maths. In 2018, those falling below the baseline climbed to 19% and 22% respectively.
The OECD considers the baseline level to be one that enables students “to participate effectively and productively in life”.
For Māori students, the decline in basic literacy and numeracy is even more significant. In 2009, 24% of Māori students fell below the literacy baseline. This increased to 30% in 2018. Over the decade, the number of Māori students who fell below the baseline in maths went from 27% to 37%.
The decline was smaller for Pacific students, although their starting point was less favourable. More than a third fell below the literacy baseline in 2009, with this share increasing only slightly to 36% in 2018. For maths, 40% of Pacific students fell below the baseline in 2009, increasing to 44% in 2018.
Why literacy and numeracy matter
Our research found literacy and numeracy skills correlate to the wellbeing of individuals. As such, they significantly influence life choices and outcomes.
Our ten-year study followed a cohort of rangatahi (young people) who were 15 years old in 2009. We found those with low reading and maths skills have poorer outcomes across a range of wellbeing measures including education, employment, income, and health and justice.
That those with low literacy and numeracy skills have poorer educational outcomes, particularly in attaining bachelor’s degrees and tertiary qualifications, is unsurprising. They are also less likely to be employed and have lower earnings. The difference is particularly stark among women.
But the impact of these low skills goes beyond education and employment – it also affects wider areas of wellbeing such as health and justice.
For example, those with lower literacy and numeracy skills have higher hospitalisation rates – 59% had at least one hospitalisation between the ages of 15 and 25, compared to 46% of those with higher core competencies.
They were also more likely to engage in criminal activity: just over a quarter of this group had a conviction by time they were 25, compared to just 8% of the group with above-baseline skills.
Importantly, while life outcomes are influenced by literacy and numeracy skills, we also found that higher core skills alone do not necessarily lead to positive wellbeing outcomes.
Ethnicity also plays a powerful role. For example, we found that at age 25, Māori with above-baseline literacy and numeracy skills have about the same average earnings as Pākehā with low skill levels.
Average annual earnings at age 25
Using education to address systematic inequalities
There are myriad reasons why New Zealand needs a curriculum that ensures our future generations are equipped with the skills necessary to succeed and thrive in our fast-changing global economy.
Future generations need and deserve tools that will help them navigate the complexities of life within and beyond our shores. Failure to deliver on the government’s literacy and numeracy goals for the new curriculum will merely perpetuate the existing inequities.
Most of all, failure will undermine the yet-to-be-realised potential in our individual rangatahi and across our collective communities of Aotearoa.
Gail Pacheco Professor of Economics, Director of the NZ Work Research Institute, Auckland University of Technology
Lisa Meehan Associate Director (Economics & Research), NZ Work Research Institute, Auckland University of Technology
Thomas Schober Senior Research Fellow, NZ Work Research Institute, Auckland University of Technology
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
6 comments:
What a surprise. And, what are we doing to equip these children for the complexities of modern life within and beyond our shores? Why, firstly we fill their heads with a make-believe history, then stone-age spiritulism, animism, and a language that very few within and virtually no-one offshore speaks. Talk about dumb and dumber, this is a national disgrace and heads should have rolled long ago.
While it goes back a lot further, our current PM and his immediate predecessor have a lot to answer for in regard this current 'push' for paleolithic claptrap, which will not improve outcomes one jot.
'Ethnicity also plays a powerful role' - what does this statement mean? are we saying that people choose lower paying jobs based on their own ethnicity - like all jews only apply at banks and all indians only apply at it firms? or is this alluding to racism on the part of employers? if so, what would explain the reason for pacifica being paid more than maori? wouldn't they suffer more racism due to being brown and tangata non-whenua? don't you think family values, parental engagement, positive role models, can-do vs victimhood mindset etc. have any role to play beyond a broad brush of ethnicity?
For many decades people have been very aware of the decline in education.They spoke out in a variety of ways with statistics, research, articles, reports, task forces and enquires but to absolutely no avail.
We have an educational establishment that is stuck in progressive ideology. Nothing will budge them. It is comparable to religious fanaticism, since it involves a fundamentally different world view on the nature of humanity and the purposes of education. The MoE are immune to criticism and they always know best what we need. They flick critics aside and pursue even more vile craziness.There is no end to it.
Thank you for your in depth report. Seventy years ago NZ traditional educationalists predicted precisely what we have now - a destroyed education system and broken society. These wise men said we will not change until we hit rock bottom.
Calling New Zealand, 'Aotearoa New Zealand' is a part of the problem.
If we cannot acknowledge that the countrys current and only official name is New Zealand how can we teach children cogent history or science etc.
If we consistently oblige the very people who make up the curriculum with false or ommitted information by using an anecdotal name for the country then maybe we get what we deserve.
School curriculum should be nothing more than fact based truth for a real modern world. The inclusion of animism, spirituality and ommission of fact make it a socio-eugenics program and nothing more.
The Party that promises to hold a binding referendum on weather we choose to be New Zealanders or Aotearoans will get our votes. The Country is drowning in a tsunami of maori crap. Kiwialan.
This article without mentioning that the lovely Chippies mum wants to remove all science and sense from the curriculum?
That's really going to set NZ kids up for the place on the world stage !
What would the likes of Rutherford or Pickering have to say about this unproven idealistic nonsense ?
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