Dr Oliver Hartwich: Teacher unions’ ‘colonialism’ cry doesn’t reflect classroom reality

In just two school terms, something remarkable has happened in New Zealand’s primary classrooms. According to data from the Education Review Office, the proportion of students meeting curriculum expectations for phonics knowledge after 20 weeks of schooling has increased from 36 percent to 58 percent, with those exceeding expectations more than doubling.

Phonics knowledge is not itself reading, but it is an important first step. There is every reason to expect improvement to flow through to reading comprehension.