Focus on Pasifika Students Achievement in Reading Literacy: Results from PISA 2000

Overview

In 2000, around 3,500 Pasifika students in New Zealand schools reached school-leaving age after completing some ten years of compulsory schooling. By 2003 this number is estimated to have exceeded 4,000 and is projected to increase further. In the years ahead these young adults will need to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in school to meet the challenges of adult life, and over time they will need the capacity to build on what has been learned as these challenges change and proliferate. How well prepared are they, and why are some in a better position than others?

Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2000 (PISA 2000) provide some answers to these questions. The current report first reviews educational outcomes for Pasifika 15-year-olds drawing on the PISA 2000 study, and then focuses on reading literacy and the factors associated with high achievement among Pasifika students. By highlighting the differences between high and low achievers within the Pasifika population, this report should assist in identifying some of the factors associated with success for Pasifika in education.

Related Education Counts Documents

See PISA publication home page.