Education Minister Hekia Parata today welcomed the release of NCEA Level 3 achievement standards and assessment resources for New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL).

“These new achievement standards and assessment resources will help strengthen the teaching and learning of NZSL in secondary schools so that more young people can develop the ability to communicate confidently in NZSL,” says Ms Parata.

The achievement standards and resources were developed in partnership with Kelston and van Asch Deaf Education Centres. They complete a suite of initiatives and resources for NCEA Levels 1-3 that will help to make NZSL more widely available in secondary schools.

“The new standards align with the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, and will further enable students to gain the NCEA credits needed to study NZSL at university or develop a career using sign language,” says Ms Parata.

“The resources will support the teaching and learning of the achievement standards. This is all part of the Government’s ongoing work to improve the use and promotion of NZSL as an official language of New Zealand.”

The achievement standards are available on NZQA’s website. The assessment resources to accompany the standards, along with the teaching and learning guide, are now on the Te Kete Ipurangi website.

An innovative tool designed to improve the consistency of teacher judgements about student progress is being made more widely available.

Education Minister Hekia Parata, today launched a new site that demonstrates how the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) works.

“Ensuring consistent teacher judgements is essential for parents to have confidence that their children are making real progress,” says Ms Parata.

“This Government brought in National Standards to give parents more information about their children’s achievement. National Standards rely on teacher’s judgements. So to support teachers to make consistent judgements and to help streamline their workload, the PaCT was developed.”

The PaCT enables schools, kura and Communities of Learning | Kahui Ako to understand, track and respond to individual student progress and achievement against the New Zealand Curriculum.

It’s already being used by teachers at 500 schools with overwhelmingly positive feedback.

“This Government has invested about $700 million in digital infrastructure in schools, and I expect that teachers will make the most of digital tools, such as the PaCT, especially when we’re asking our students to upskill into the digital age.

“The new demonstration site means any one can now see how the PaCT works including parents, trainee teachers and schools who aren’t already using it,” says Ms Parata.

The demonstration site is a reproduction of the live version of the PaCT, but has been populated with mock student information.

Education Minister Hekia Parata says provisional NCEA data shows that more students are achieving NCEA Level 2, the recognised minimum qualification for success.

“The results show more young people are gaining the qualifications they need to be successful in their lives beyond school, reflecting the hard work of students, teachers and parents,” says Ms Parata.

The provisional roll-based data shows achievement in NCEA Level 2 has risen by one percentage point to 77.4 per cent compared to 2015. The results for the achievement of Level 2 for all 18 year olds will be released later in the year.

“One of the highlights of the provisional results is the significant increase in Māori achievement of NCEA Level 2, which has lifted by 2.9 percentage points to an impressive 73.5 per cent,” says Ms Parata.

“When we came into Government in 2008, almost half of all Māori students were not achieving NCEA Level 2. Since then, their achievement rates have risen significantly and the achievement gap has continued to shrink.”

Overall achievement of NCEA Level 3 has also increased by 0.7 percentage points to 63.4 per cent. For decile 1-3 schools, achievement of NCEA Level 3 has risen at an even faster rate, up 2.5 percentage points to 53.9 per cent.

“These results reflect our Government’s commitment to making sure that every child and young person in every school gets a great education, no matter what,” says Ms Parata.

Provisional data for NCEA Level 1 achievement is 0.2 percentage points lower than the final 2015 figure, while provisional data for University Entrance is 0.7 percentage points lower. Both are expected to increase before the results are finalised as schools update and provide late internally-assessed results, and students apply for review and reconsideration of their results.

Ms Parata says a preliminary assessment of results for students at schools impacted by the Kaikoura earthquake in November indicates that achievement is in line with national trends and past patterns of achievement.

“This is extremely heartening and shows that our system of assessment is both responsive and robust enough to minimise the impact on students of events which were completely beyond their control.”

Overall achievement of the NCEA Level 1 Mathematics Common Assessment Task (MCAT) is in line with expectations and higher than 2015, despite some criticism that it was more difficult than previous years.

More information on the improvements in Māori student achievement has been released today by Education Minister Hekia Parata.

Based on information derived from the Ministry of Education’s Public Achievement Information (PAI) publications, the Iwi Education Profiles show iwi-by-iwi as well as rohe breakdowns of early childhood participation data and schooling achievement data.

“We know the iwi profiles have been well received by iwi and Hapu as well as the wider education sector,” says Ms Parata.

“They can be useful for iwi, schools, and Communities of Learning to identify specific educational challenges and target efforts to increase achievement.

“Quality information, especially over a period of years, is critical to understanding what’s working well for our children and young people as well as what more needs to be done to tackle education challenges.”

The latest Early Childhood Education participation rates among the three largest iwi, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Porou and Ngāi Tahu, range from 93.1 to 97.5 percent. These, and other iwi, are tracking close to achieving the Government’s Better Public Service (BPS) target of 98 percent for ECE participation.

For all three iwi, NCEA Level 2 achievement rates have improved compared to 2014. Achievement rates for the three largest iwi in 2015 ranged from 69.4 percent to 76.6 percent, up from 66.9 to 72.9 percent in 2014.

“I am incredibly pleased with the progress that these profiles are showing”, says Ms Parata.

“However, there is still work to do to meet the Government’s target of 85 percent of 18 year olds achieving NCEA Level 2 or equivalent in 2017. There is also more work to be done to raise Māori achievement at all levels, to get to the point where there is no difference between the achievement levels of our children and young people regardless of their background.”  

Education Minister Hekia Parata has extended a multi-million dollar fund for innovative teaching projects to staff in early education.

“I’m pleased to announce that teachers and kaiako from early childhood education services and kohanga reo can now apply for the $18 million Teacher-led Innovation fund (TLIF)”, says Ms Parata.

Teachers at schools and kura across New Zealand have been benefiting from the Fund since 2014. Qualified ECE teachers have been eligible to apply in partnership with primary and secondary teachers.

“Today’s announcement means that qualified ECE teachers and kohanga reo kaiako holding Tohu Whakapakari can now apply in their own right.

“I have been really pleased to see schools running TLIF projects with their local ECE providers already. Several of these are looking at ways to improve the transition for children starting primary school, whilst a school and ECE service in Canterbury are working together to better connect children’s mathematical learning.

“Extending the fund to include early learning will encourage more innovative teaching practices to be explored and shared,” says Ms Parata.

“It also makes sense to widen out the fund as we see more schools and early childhood education providers coming together through Communities of Learning | Kahui Ako.”

Two rounds of TLIF are already running for schools and kura with 85 projects having been approved. These include schools working with the Royal New Zealand Airforce to increase student achievement in physics, partnerships with local Iwi focussing on agriculture, Māori Cultural Studies and Science, and innovative methods to improve students’ and teachers Te Reo Māori skills.

A third round of TLIF is open for applications from teachers at schools and kura until 16 March 2017. A separate funding round for applications from qualified ECE teachers and kohanga reo kaiako is open until 13 April 2017.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has today officially opened the new Rolleston College in Christchurch.

Ms Parata says she was delighted to celebrate the milestone with the Rolleston community.

“Today is a celebration of everyone’s hard work and commitment to Rolleston College, as well as the continued progress being made in the Christchurch School Build programme.

“The school’s state-of-the-art facilities will support a wide range of effective teaching practices and a lift in achievement for all students,” says Ms Parata.

Rolleston College is located on a six hectare site and facilities include flexible learning spaces, a 500-seat theatre, multipurpose gym, an automotive workshop, and dance and music studios.

It will open with a roll of more than 200 Year 9 students, with 1040 students expected by 2021.

“Since the 2011 earthquake Rolleston has experienced significant population growth and this new school will help the community cater for that,” says Ms Parata.

The school has been built as part of a Public Private Partnership, along with three other schools. Future Schools Partners has been contracted to deliver these modern and innovative new schools at a cost of $298 million. 

Lemonwood Grove School in Rolleston and Haeata Community Campus in Aranui are also opening their doors for the first time at the start of the 2017 school year.

Education Minister Hekia Parata wishes children and young people well as they prepare to head to school from Monday.

“A new school year presents new possibilities and challenges. I hope kids are feeling excited about expanding their knowledge, learning new skills, making new friends and trying out a new sport or club,” says Ms Parata.

“765,400 students are expected to return to school or start school this week. Around 10,540 of those are five-year-olds who will be starting school for the first time, out of a total of 63,220 who are expected to be starting school throughout the year. Almost all of them will have the advantage of having participated in early childhood education, which gives them the best possible start.”

Latest figures show that last year, 96.7 per cent of kids participated in early childhood education. This is up from 94.7 per cent in 2011, which shows that more parents are recognising the importance of early childhood education.

“This is an exciting year for education. I’m particularly looking forward to announcing the formation of more Communities of Learning | Kahui Ako as the year progresses. Already more than half a million kids are benefitting from their school being part of one of the 180 Communities across the country,” says Ms Parata.

“Education is more important than ever before. By working together in Communities of Learning, schools will be able to further raise educational achievement for Kiwi kids.”

Education Minister Hekia Parata has thanked parents, teachers, principals, boards and support staff for their hard work, passion and commitment to ensuring that our students get a world-class education.

“As schools across the country wrap up lessons for the year, it is timely to pay tribute to all those involved in making sure Kiwi kids get the best education possible,” says Ms Parata.

“We continue to have more kids starting education earlier, staying at school longer and leaving better qualified, and we have built on that throughout the year.

“I expect we will build on that further in 2017 as we continue the momentum of Communities of Learning. We now have 1503 schools, 95 early childhood education services and three tertiary education providers working together to raise student achievement, with more expected to be announced next year.

“I wish students, families and everyone who works in the education sector all the very best for the holidays and look forward to another successful year in 2017.”

Education Minister Hekia Parata today announced an appointment to the Board of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura).

Te Kura is a distance education provider offering personalised learning programmes from early childhood to Year 13. It works in partnership with students, whānau, school and communities to support students to achieve their educational and personal goals.

“I am pleased, together with Board Chair Dame Karen Sewell, to reappoint Ms Moana-Tuwhangai to the Board of Te Kura. Her expertise in financial management and risk will be invaluable to the Board as Te Kura prepares to become a Community of Online Learning,” says Ms Parata.

Maxine Moana-Tuwhangai, Ngāruawahia, reappointed 30 November 2016 – 29 November 2019

Ms Moana-Tuwhangai is a self-employed consultant with extensive management and accounting experience in both the public and private sector.  She is Chair of Te Kura’s Risk and Assurance Committee and is currently serving her second Board term with Te Kura.

Education Minister Hekia Parata today announced two new appointments and four reappointments to the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Established in July 2015, the Education Council is the professional organisation for teachers.

“I am pleased to make these appointments on the advice of the chair Barbara Ala’alatoa,” says Ms Parata.

“These appointments will ensure that the Education Council remains well positioned to continue to raise the status of teaching, set high professional standards and achieve financial sustainability.

“I would like to thank the outgoing members for their service, and convey my appreciation for the time and energy they have given.”

The appointments are:

Claire Amos, Auckland, reappointed 1 July 2017 - 30 June 2020

Ms Amos is the Deputy Principal at Hobsonville Point Secondary School.  She brings a strong secondary perspective and expertise in information communication technology to the Education Council. 

Simon Heath, Blenheim, reappointed 1 January 2017 - 30 June 2019

Mr Heath (Ngai Tahu) has been Principal of Renwick School since 2008 and brings strong governance skills and a South Island perspective to the Education Council. 

Ripeka Lessels, Kawerau, reappointed 1 July 2017 - 30 June 2020

Ms Lessels (Tūhoe, Ngati Awa, Te Arawa, Ngati Tūwharetoa) has extensive experience in the education sector at primary and secondary levels in English and Māori medium. 

Nicola Ngarewa, South Taranaki, appointed 1 January 2017 - 30 June 2019

Ms Ngarewa (Ngati Ruanui) is the Principal at Patea Area School.  She has a proven track record in improving educational outcomes for Māori and received a Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award as a result of her work at Tamatea High School.

Michael Rondel, Christchurch, appointed 1 January 2017 - 31 December 2019

Mr Rondel leads the Audit division at BDO Christchurch and has a particular focus on the education sector. He brings demonstrated commercial, business and financial governance expertise.

Clare Wells, Wellington, reappointed 1 January 2017 - 30 June 2019

Ms Wells has been the Chief Executive of New Zealand Kindergartens Incorporated Te Putahi Kura Puhou o Aotearoa since 2008. She has a background in education policy as well as established early childhood networks.

The Chair, Barbara Ala’alatoa, Deputy Chair, Anthony Mackay and member Helen Timperley remain on the Council until 2018.