Summary

A high proportion of teachers of Year 7-10 students in New Zealand often have students use ICT for projects and class work. Most teachers feel confident using a variety of assessment strategies, particularly experienced teachers.

Key Findings

A high proportion of New Zealand Year 7-10 teachers use ICT for projects and class work, with 80 percent of teachers reporting that their students often used ICT for learning, an increase of 25 percentage points since 2014, and much higher than the OECD average of 53 percent. Three quarters of New Zealand teachers (76%) felt confident to support student learning through the use of digital technology, compared to 67 percent of teachers in other OECD countries, on average.

New Zealand teachers reported more frequent use of cognitive activation practices, such as giving tasks that require students to think critically, and having students work in small groups or decide on their own procedures to solve problems, than on average across the OECD. Teachers who reported that they participated in professional development in the previous 12 months which had a positive impact on their teaching were more likely to also report that they often employed cognitive activation practices.

Most teachers (79%) felt confident in using a variety of assessment strategies, although experienced teachers (81%) more often agreed that they felt confident in using a variety of assessment strategies than novice teachers (72%).¹ Teachers’ frequent use of written feedback has increased from 68 percent to 71 percent since 2014, but the frequent use of student self-evaluation has dropped by five percentage points during this same period. Fewer New Zealand teachers (73%) often administer their own assessments than across the OECD on average (77%).

Footnotes

1. Novice teachers are defined as those with fewer than or equal to 5 years of teaching experience