International testing indicated New Zealand had more bad readers among its 10-year-olds than other developed nations, but the picture improved for teenagers.
The 2020/21 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) found 29 percent of New Zealand Year 5 pupils failed to meet its intermediate benchmark for reading proficiency, a group which included the 10 percent who did not even meet the lowest benchmark for reading proficiency.
Internationally, 25 percent of participating pupils fell short of the intermediate benchmark and just 6 percent were below the low benchmark.
However, another testing system found older students performed better when compared to their peers around the world.
The 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test found 21 percent of New Zealand 15-year-olds were reading at the lowest level - meaning they struggled with all but the simplest reading tasks measured by the test.
“The proportion of Aotearoa New Zealand students who performed below Level 2 was 21 percent, which was less than the OECD average of 26 percent. The proportion of low achievers in Aotearoa New Zealand was similar to that of Australia and the US - countries that had similar average reading performance,” the report said.
It said the percentage of New Zealand students reading at the highest level, level 5, was relatively high.
“In reading, Aotearoa New Zealand had 13 percent of students performing at or above Level 5 compared to the OECD average of 7 percent. The proportion of top performers was similar to that of Australia (12 percent) and the US (14 percent), but this proportion was also better or similar to Estonia (11 percent), Japan (12 percent) and Ireland (10 percent), countries with average scores significantly above Aotearoa New Zealand.”
So what this shows us is that education is complicated, and when trying to decode statistics we need a broad approach to ensure we aren’t missing the forest for trees.
Almost as if these kinds of decisions shouldn’t be left to politicians with no background in the field, and there should be a body of experts informing decisions…
I’ve also just noticed the study with poor results is for 2020/2021, where as the better results test was in 2022.
At young ages, brain development is a key factor for academic skills. Maybe we fell behind during covid because of our heavy handed lockdowns compared to other countries, but then kids quickly caught back up to the level they were capable of based on their brain development.
So what this shows us is that education is complicated
I feel this could be applied to pretty much anything that politics argues over.
I think our schooling style has something to do with it. I have some experience with overseas education systems, and New Zealand values teaching learning techniques and critical thinking above straight rote memory. This can lead to lower test results at earlier ages but an increased ability to learn later.
I feel this could be applied to pretty much anything that politics argues over.
Agreed wholeheartedly.
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