‘Disconnected’ schools face blame for education gaps

NCEA results have improved but many issues facing Ma¯ori, Pasifika and female students persist – or have worsened – over the past decade. Lee Kenny reports.

Achievement gaps between groups of students have persisted and in some cases worsened over the past decade despite an overall improvement in NCEA results, the Sunday Star-Times can reveal today.

Data from the 16 education regions between 2010 and 2020 was provided to the School Report project, which re-launches today on Stuff – the Star-Times’ parent company and website.

Although some areas showed improvements, and NCEA attainment rates rose overall, the data showed many longstanding problems were not resolved.

Among the findings, Ma¯ ori and Pasifika students remain behind those from other backgrounds and boys continue to outperform girls in science and maths at the highest level, scholarship – which carries monetary awards of between $500 and $30,000.

Perry Rush, national president of New Zealand Principals’ Federation, said the country has one of the ‘‘most decentralised schooling systems in the world’’, which has led to vastly differing learning experiences for students.

‘‘Every school reinvents the wheel, we are all disconnected from each other, we’re all governed by boards of trustees that are separate from each other,’’ he said.

‘‘The problem is, you don’t have national coherence. One school could articulate what they think the curriculum means, that could be quite different from the school down the road.’’

The curriculum was revised in 2007, shifting the emphasis from content to ‘‘competency-based learning’’, he said.

‘‘I think this has had a significant impact on what young people have been learning over the past 13 to 14 years. In such an environment we have a challenge to establish the role of knowledge and how that enables or disables learning for young people.’’

Since 2010, NCEA level achievement attainment had improved across all ethnicities. That included huge improvements for students with Ma¯ ori and Pasifika backgrounds.

In 2010, less than one student achieved NCEA levels for every student who did not achieve.

In 2020 that ratio had improved to 2.3 students with whakapapa Ma¯ ori achieving for every student who did not achieve, and 2.9 Pasifika students achieving for every student who did not. However, although both student groups have improved, it was at a slower pace than others, particularly Pa¯ keha¯ .

The Star-Times data showed NCEA achievement levels for a¯konga Ma¯ori (Ma¯ori learners) were similar no matter whether students attended kura kaupapa Ma¯ ori (Ma¯ ori immersion schools) or mainstream classes. Endorsements (students gaining NCEA with merit or excellence) were slightly higher at kura kaupapa.

Rawiri Wright, co-chair of Te Ru¯ nanga Nui o Nga¯ Kura Kaupapa Ma¯ ori, said his experience was that students enrolled in kura kaupapa achieved at higher rates. ‘‘We attribute that to our methodology, our pedagogy and our whole ‘believe’ system that we teach within our schools, which encourages kids to do their best,’’ he said.

Wright, a former journalist and journalism tutor, said although there had been improvements in ‘‘majority culture’’ schools, there could be a cultural ‘‘gap’’ between Ma¯ ori students and teachers.

‘‘If there isn’t sufficient cultural connection then those teachers are not going to get the best from those students. The whole philosophy of those schools is based on a Eurocentric education model. Unless there are significant changes in what teachers do and how they do it, in terms of creating connections with those students, it’s going to be probably more difficult to get those kids across the line.’’

O‘‘Every school reinvents the wheel, we are all disconnected from each other.’’

Perry Rush, left Principals’ Federation president

‘‘You can’t be what you can’t see. It is really important that young women see someone that they can aspire to be.’’

Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh

ther patterns that existed in 2010 also persisted. Education Minister Chris Hipkins said school-leaver and NCEA achievement data showed girls now outperformed boys in maths and science subjects.

But scholarship data obtained by the Star-Times showed that this pattern was reversed at the highest level of achievement. For every 1000 female year 13 students, six gained scholarship endorsements in maths, compared to 16 male students.

In science subjects, the scholarship rate was 12 per 1000 female students and 20 per 1000 male students.

Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh is director of Women in Technology at AUT and founder of She Sharp, which aims to bridge the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) Industries.

Although New Zealand boasts high-profile female scientists – such as Dr Michelle Dickinson and Dr Siouxsie Wiles – female students needed more role models to inspire them to study STEM subjects, Mohaghegh said.

She was not surprised that young women were still trailing behind young men in those subjects at senior levels.

‘‘We need to change what society thinks a technology expert or a computer scientist looks like,’’ she said. ‘‘You can’t be what you can’t see. It is really important that young women see someone that they can aspire to be.’’

Studies had shown that STEM subjects were often perceived as male-dominated, so female students opted not to study them, she said.

‘‘This is why we don’t really see that many graduates coming from that pipeline and as a result the number of female students coming to university in STEM fields is very low. As a result of that, the industry cannot actually hire female engineers.’’

Work needed to be done to get more girls interested in technology from an early age, Mohaghegh said, citing a study which showed that only 3 per cent of 15-year-old female students in New Zealand considered technology as a career path. ‘‘Those who do pursue a career in tech or take science technology subjects, they are really successful.’’

Chris Hipkins said the Government ‘‘knows there are areas where we need to improve the NCEA system, and is working on a programme of change’’.

The NCEA Review, launched in 2018 as part of Ko¯ rero Ma¯ tauranga – a ‘‘national conversation’’ on edu

cation – consulted 20,000 people, Hipkins said.

‘‘It found there was broad support for NCEA, but that there were a number of challenges which we are now working to address.’’

One of those was improving outcomes for Ma¯ori and Pasifika students, he said.

To address this, the Government was making changes to ensure students had a ‘‘broader,

more foundational learning programme at level 1’’.

It was also looking at introducing a swathe of new subjects at levels 2 and 3 that would reflect and cater to students’ interests, including tourism, Pacific studies, Ma¯ori studies, raranga (weaving) and whakairo (carving). The changes proposed would also include new subjects within Te Matautanga o Aotearoa (the Ma¯ ori medium curriculum).

‘‘In the new NCEA subjects, barriers to equitable access and participation hidden in the design or content of achievement standards are being identified and removed, alongside ensuring the achievement standards retain their rigour and validity,’’ Hipkins said.

National Party education spokesman Paul Goldsmith pointed to increasing truancy rates,

Labour’s decision to scrap National Standards and insufficient funding for students with learning needs as among the reasons education standards had stalled over the past 10 years.

‘‘Overall NCEA pass rates have been improving, but international comparisons haven’t, so that raises a number of issues.’’

Truancy rates were ‘‘appalling’’ and improved attendance was