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The coalition government says it's determined to get NZ's education system back on track. Failing students, truancy and a teachers shortage stand in the way.
School is back in New Zealand and so too are the problems - from the school lunches fall-out and teacher shortages to low attendance and the growing number of students failing NCEA.
Today's episode of The Detail looks into the country's education system, with long-time RNZ education correspondent John Gerritsen put to the test to answer what is going on and what is going wrong. (He's well qualified, having reported on every aspect of education for much longer than the 13 years of standard schooling.)
The first question is simple: what grade would he give New Zealand's education system?
The answer: "needs to improve... must try harder!"
Hardly a glowing report, but it is hard to argue with it.
First on the list of problems: NCEA.
Only 64 percent of Year 11 students attempted level one last year and only 70 percent of that group were successful, down from 82 percent in 2023, according to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
The new literacy and numeracy requirements, only recently introduced, have been blamed for the decline.
"One of the interesting things that will come up this year are these new tests, which young students must pass before they get any NCEA certificate," Gerritsen says.
"Last year, there were two rounds of these tests - kids can have multiple attempts - and about 100,000 kids had a go. The pass rates were 70 percent for reading, 66 percent in writing and 55 percent in numeracy... so you have got about 40 thousand young people who tried to pass these tests, but they have failed at least one and they can't get an NCEA certificate.
"How this plays out in the next few years is going to be critical because you have got to get across the line, or you don't get an NCEA certificate."
Part of the problem is the teacher shortage. The situation has been described as dire - with low pay, high workload and burnout being blamed.
Educators are seriously worried about a lack of teachers for 2025, with a shortage of about 350 full-timers.
"I've talked to secondary principals, who say 'we are hiring teachers we would not normally hire'... so they are scraping the bottom of the barrel sometimes. That's not to say all the teachers they're hiring are in this situation, that's not the case at all. But there are some teachers who are being hired who would normally not get a job.
"And there's been a big increase in the number of teachers over the age of 65 - about 7500 are over this age... and over 700 of them are 75 or older.
"And also, people who don't have a teaching qualification are being dragged in to teach. It's under something called 'Limited Authority to Teach'... so you can see schools are going to great lengths to get enough teachers."
Some teachers are being lured to higher paying roles at charter schools, which have been re-introduced this month after being announced by Act's leader David Seymour last year.
Charter schools are government funded but privately run. In the past fortnight, seven have already opened across the country in a bid to improve overall educational achievement, particularly for students who have been underperforming or disengaged from the traditional education system.
"They say they have more flexibility with their funding so they can hire different types of staff, not just teachers, they may have other support staff," says Gerritsen.
"But, look, last time around, it was hard to see much innovation in the way they teach, and state schools certainly weren't rushing to copy anything they were doing."
So, overall, is the coalition government doing enough to fix the education system and trying new workable options?
"Look, they are, and there's a real determination there to just get on and get things done," says Gerritsen. "There's a real willingness to try things and the government has looked at a few issues around the teaching of maths, reading and writing and they are saying 'this is the right way to go' and doing it.
"It's like 'forget the consultation, we are just going to go ahead', whether it's going to be the right thing remains to be seen, we'll see in a few years' time... but they are certainly getting on and trying to make things happen."
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