Education Counts

Page navigation links

  • Education Counts Logo
  • Skip to Primary Navigation Menu
  • Skip to Secondary Navigation Menu
  • Skip to search
  • Skip to content

Site Search

Site Search

Site navigation menus

  • Know your Region
  • Communities of Learning
  • Find your nearest school
  • Early Learning Services
  • Directories
  • Publications
  • Indicators
  • Statistics
  • Topics
  • Data Services

Search the education counts website

Find pages with

Narrow results by:

How much ‘choice’ and ‘voice’ are students given in their lessons? Publications

Publication Details

This paper describes the level of choice (autonomy) and voice (expression) students are given in their lessons and how these relate to academic and non-academic outcomes. Using data from international research studies, international comparisons can give insight into New Zealand’s relative strengths and weaknesses in this area.

Author(s): Emma Medina, Evidence, Data and Knowledge, Ministry of Education.

Date Published: August 2019

Summary

These findings will be of interest to education professionals as well as providers of initial teacher education and professional development.

Key Findings

  • Many Year 5 students have some level of ‘choice’ in their lessons, from choosing what they get to read to being able to decide their own problem-solving methods and science experiments. Year 9 students experience choice less often.
  • Similarly, most Year 5 students have ‘voice’ (they are able to express themselves) in every or almost every lesson across reading, maths and science. Year 9 students have fewer opportunities to express their ideas but approximately 8 out of 10 agree that their teacher listens to what they have to say.
  • According to PISA data, 15-year-old students are given more choice in their science classes (specifically, they are allowed to design their own experiments) in poorer disciplinary climates and lower decile schools, while students are given more voice (they have opportunities to explain their ideas) in classrooms with more positive disciplinary climates.
  • In addition to achieving higher reading scores in PIRLS, Year 5 students who are given a choice of what they read every day or almost every day also report greater confidence, engagement and enjoyment of reading compared with students who are given a choice less often.
  • In contrast, for 15-year-olds, choice (being allowed to design their own experiments) is associated with lower science scores in PISA, and lower motivation and epistemic beliefs, even after accounting for student and school socioeconomic characteristics. This implies that choice at the secondary level may be used as a technique with struggling or less motivated students.
  • 15-year-old students who are given voice (opportunities to explain their ideas) do not score significantly differently in science but do have greater enjoyment of and interest in science, sense of belonging, efficacy, epistemic beliefs, and motivation, and lower schoolwork-related anxiety.

Navigation

  • Publication Series
  • Teaching in New Zealand

Downloads

  • Teaching in NZ: Voice & Choice (PDF, 415.3 KB)

Contact Us

Education Data Requests
If you have any questions about education data please contact us:
Email:   Requests EDK
Phone: +64 4 463 8065

Home Close Menu
  • Know your Region Show submenu
  • Communities of Learning Show submenu
  • Find your nearest school Show submenu
  • Early Learning Services Show submenu
  • Directories Show submenu
  • Publications Show submenu
    • Early Childhood EducationShow submenu
      • Responding to diverse cultures: Good practice in home-based early childhood servicesShow submenu
    • MāoriShow submenu
    • SchoolingShow submenu
    • PacificShow submenu
    • Tertiary EducationShow submenu
    • Learning SupportShow submenu
      • Learning Support Coordinators Evaluation: Phase 2Show submenu
    • InternationalShow submenu
    • Publication SeriesShow submenu
  • Indicators Show submenu
  • Statistics Show submenu
    • Annual Monitoring Reading RecoveryShow submenu
    • Apprenticeship Boost InitiativeShow submenu
    • Attainment of 18-year-oldsShow submenu
    • AttendanceShow submenu
    • Attendance under COVID-19Show submenu
    • Beyond StudyShow submenu
    • Early Learning ParticipationShow submenu
    • ECE FinancesShow submenu
    • ECE ServicesShow submenu
    • ECE StaffingShow submenu
    • Early Leaving ExemptionsShow submenu
    • Entering & leaving teachingShow submenu
    • Fees Free tertiary educationShow submenu
    • Financial Support for Tertiary StudentsShow submenu
    • Funding to SchoolsShow submenu
    • HomeschoolingShow submenu
    • Initial Teacher Education StatisticsShow submenu
    • International students in NZShow submenu
    • Language use in ECEShow submenu
    • Literacy & NumeracyShow submenu
    • Māori Language in SchoolingShow submenu
    • NZ's Workplace-based LearnersShow submenu
    • Number of SchoolsShow submenu
    • Ongoing Resourcing SchemeShow submenu
    • Pacific Language in SchoolingShow submenu
    • Per Student Funding for SchoolsShow submenu
    • Post-compulsory education & trainingShow submenu
    • School BoardsShow submenu
    • School Board RepresentationShow submenu
    • School Leaver DestinationsShow submenu
    • School Leaver's AttainmentShow submenu
    • School RollsShow submenu
    • School Subject EnrolmentShow submenu
    • Stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions & expulsionsShow submenu
    • Teacher NumbersShow submenu
      • 2021Show submenu
      • 2020Show submenu
    • Teacher TurnoverShow submenu
    • Tertiary Financial PerformanceShow submenu
    • Tertiary ParticipationShow submenu
    • Tertiary Population DataShow submenu
    • Tertiary ResearchShow submenu
    • Tertiary ResourcingShow submenu
    • Tertiary Achievement & AttainmentShow submenu
    • Tertiary Summary TablesShow submenu
    • Total public expenditure on educationShow submenu
    • Transient StudentsShow submenu
    • Vocational Education & TrainingShow submenu
  • Topics Show submenu
  • Data Services Show submenu

Site information

  • Site map
  • Contact us
  • Feedback
  • About this site
  • Glossary
  • Accessibility
  • Copyright, Legal & Privacy
  • Links
  • © Education Counts 2022
  • Ministry of Education logo.
  • New Zealand Government logo.
Scroll to top of page