Foreword

I am pleased to present Ngā Ara o te Mātauranga: The pathways of education, 2023. It provides an overview of how New Zealand’s education system is performing from early learning through to schooling and tertiary.

The reading of this report is not pretty, it shows long-standing declines in student achievement and low levels of student attendance. Our Government is committed to lifting achievement and closing the equity gap in our education system. We have clarity, determination and purpose to deliver an education system that sets up our children for success. We have six clear priorities, that are the big levers of system change that will work together to deliver the reform we need.

• A knowledge rich year by year curriculum grounded in the science of learning.
• Better approaches to literacy and numeracy.
• Consistent use of assessment tools with twice yearly assessment to measure progression and then report progress to parents.
• Building the workforce of the future through improved teacher training and leadership pathways.
• Stronger learning support.
• Greater use of data and evidence to drive decision making.

It is intentional and by design and every policy we are rolling out touches each of these key areas.

As a Government, we have responded with urgency. As part of our 100-day plan we have made changes to ensure that all primary students will be taught reading, writing and maths for an hour each day. We’ve removed the distraction of cell phones from classrooms, we’re adding an additional 1500 teachers to the workforce. We’re delivering 8000 new student places through new schools and extra classrooms and investing heavily in maintenance of our school property portfolio.

We are changing the way our kids learn to read, write and do maths through rolling out new structured literacy and structured maths curricula. We are ensuring the entire curriculum is knowledge-rich, clear and easy to use and underpinned by the science of learning to better prepare our children for success.

In the tertiary sector, my colleague the Hon Penny Simmonds Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills has been leading the way in changes to ensure that we have a sustainable tertiary education sector that supports and incentivises hard working learners, businesses and tertiary education providers.

There is a lot of hard work ahead of us to change things around.

Our education system is made up of amazing, dedicated people and this Government is committed to continuing to work alongside them to deliver a world-leading education system.

I am pleased to present to Parliament Ngā Ara o te Mātauranga: The pathways of education, 2023.

Hon Erica Stanford

Minister of Education