Key Findings

• New Zealand students’ awareness of global issues was slightly lower relative to students in OECD countries on average. They were most aware of gender equality and climate change and least aware of international conflicts, global health and economic issues.
• Positive attitudes towards immigrants, respect for people from other cultures and adaptability were relatively high amongst New Zealand students; perspective-taking and interest in other cultures were similar to the OECD average.
• When talking to someone whose native language is different from theirs, New Zealand students reported slightly higher than average communication skills. Compared to their peers of similar background, Asian, Pacific and Māori students reported greater awareness of intercultural communication.
• Compared to the OECD average, New Zealand students reported greater agency regarding global issues (80% thought of themselves as global citizens), but lower capacity to take action (less than 30% participated in activities like signing petitions). Pacific students reported greater agency than non-Pacific students; Pākehā/European students reported lower agency than non-Pākehā/European students.
• Students’ exposure to learning activities that promote global competence was similar to the OECD average; however, this was not equitable between socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged students and between boys and girls.
• Most students’ schools included global issues (ie, migration and international conflicts) in their formal curriculum, but topics about intercultural understanding (ie, respect for cultural diversity and critical thinking skills) were included less than the OECD average.
• Multicultural teaching practices were considered widespread by principals, with almost all students learning about different cultural perspectives on historical and social events. Students were more than twice as likely as the average OECD student to be in a school that celebrates festivities from other cultures.
• Contact with people from other countries was more common for New Zealand students than the OECD average, especially for Pacific and Asian students, and this experience was associated with greater global competence. Pākehā/European students were less likely to have contact with people from other countries.
• While multilingualism and learning a language were less common in New Zealand than on average across OECD countries, Asian, Pacific and Māori students were multilingual and were learning languages at rates higher than their peers – qualities associated with higher global competence.
• Nearly all students’ principals said that many or all teachers in their school shared ‘multicultural and egalitarian’ beliefs such as the importance of students learning that people from other cultures can have different values.
• However, 15% of students reported that most, all, or almost all their teachers had lower academic expectations for students of some cultural groups. Māori and Pacific students reported significantly greater discriminatory school environments compared with non-Māori and non-Pacific students, respectively.
• Across many global competence measures, girls, immigrant and socio-economically advantaged students’ self-reports were higher than their peers. This was particularly the case for attitudes towards immigrants, respect for and interest in other cultures, perspective-taking, and agency regarding global issues. Differences may be attributed to varying opportunities to learn, as reported by students themselves.