National’s ‘back to basics’ plan to address the literacy crisis

Christopher Luxon says the policy is what’s needed to address serious issues with reading, writing and maths in primary schools. Others aren’t so sure.

Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, March 24, by Catherine McGregor. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.

In today’s edition: Tory Whanau criticises Wayne Brown over LGNZ withdrawal; Let’s Get Wellington Moving consultant costs skyrocket; Bernard Hickey says Labour’s approach is damaging the Emissions Trading Scheme. But first, are our primary school children getting the education they deserve?

Photo: Getty Images

Back to basics – and a lot more tests

In December 2021, two weeks after becoming National Party leader, Christopher Luxon told Businessdesk (paywalled) that New Zealand’s poor educational achievement rate was “without doubt the most startling and worrying" discovery of his political career so far. Yesterday he unveiled his turnaround plan: under a National government all primary and intermediate students will learn reading, writing and maths for at least an hour a day, and will undergo “standardised, robust assessment” in those subjects every six months. In many respects, the Teaching the Basics Brilliantly policy echoes the arguments of education expert Michael Johnston, a senior fellow at the NZ Initiative thinktank. The current curriculum, he argued in the NZ Herald, “offers teachers little guidance on the specific knowledge that they should teach, and almost none on how to sequence learning so that children proceed on firm foundations”. Last Friday the Ministry of Education itself released the first phase of its new common-practice model for maths and English pedagogy, part of a wider refresh of the New Zealand curriculum and how subjects are taught.

Testing times for literacy rates

When it comes to literacy, nearly everyone agrees there’s an urgent need for improvement. A report last year by Dr Nina Hood of Education Hub noted that just 35% of students in year eight are achieving at or above the curriculum level for writing, while reading ability at both primary and secondary school levels is steadily declining. “Only 60% of 15-year-olds in New Zealand are achieving above the most basic level of reading, meaning a staggering 40% are struggling to read and write,” wrote Hood. The decline in writing ability appears to be of particular concern. When the Ministry of Education piloted its new NCEA Level 1 literacy and numeracy standards, only one in three students passed the writing component, while around two-thirds passed reading and numeracy tests, reported the NZ Herald (paywalled). “Even more concerningly, just 2% of students in decile 1 schools passed the writing assessment, compared with 62% in decile 10 schools.”

National Standards by another name?

National’s proposal for two standardised tests a year for all primary and intermediate school children attracted immediate pushback from the NZEI, the union that represents primary school teachers. The policy was the return of National Standards by stealth, said NZEI president Mark Potter who said it promised “an even more intensive form” of the testing system introduced by the National government in 2010 and scrapped by Labour in 2017. "National Standards narrowed the curriculum, put undue pressure on children, increased teacher workload and weren't even an accurate measure of a child's progress," then NZEI president Lynda Stuart said at the time. Defining the curriculum year-by-year was an "old and unsatisfactory" policy that wasn't suitable for Aotearoa, Potter told TVNZ Breakfast yesterday. "Children don't come in a lovely production line all operating at the same time, at the same level. What we do know about learning, that's evidence-based, is that they all learn at different times and different rates," he said.

An alternative to testing

Not every country believes regular standardised testing is the best way to help children learn. The poster child for the standardised testing-free system is Finland, the country with the world’s best education system according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). In Finland, “all children… are graded on an individualised basis and grading system set by their teacher” says the WEF, while its education system is “grounded on equal opportunities for all, equitable distribution of resources rather than competition, intensive early interventions for prevention, and building gradual trust among education practitioners, especially teachers”, wrote one policy analyst. 

A message from Anna Rawhiti-Connell, co-editor of The Bulletin and head of audience at The Spinoff

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone reading who is a Spinoff Member. Thank you for valuing independent journalism and helping keep it free for everyone. If you’re not a member yet but would like to support our mahi, sign up today!

Fellow mayors round on Wayne Brown’s ‘Auxit’

Auckland Council’s withdrawal from Local Government NZ (LGNZ) has been criticised by Wellington’s mayor Tory Whanau. “Obviously, Mayor [Wayne] Brown and his supporters believe ‘Auxit’ is good for their city and not being a team player is OK. It’s not a view I share,” she told The Spinoff’s Toby Manhire. Yesterday Brown cast the deciding vote to leave the national association, spurred by an estimated cost-saving of around $400,000 for the cash-strapped Auckland Council. Among the LGNZ benefits identified by councillors was participation in a collective street lighting programme that had saved Auckland around $1 million, Manhire wrote. Brown said his experience as a live musician had informed his decision to leave. “Watching 800 members of local boards… getting completely pissed and dancing all night long for no benefit whatsoever to ratepayers has kind of questioned my value of it.”

Let’s Get Wellington Moving consultant costs in the crosshairs

The capital’s transport overhaul will have spent $130 million on consultant fees by the end of next year, Stuff reports. Let's Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) expects to spend $60 million on outside experts in the coming year, after already spending $38.5m in the past three years and $35m this year. Greater Wellington Regional councillor Simon Woolf said the figures had left him “horrified” but his colleague Thomas Nash, chair of the transport committee, said the costs were justified. “[W]ith this much money being invested in Wellington’s transport and urban development future I would hope that we are doing the absolute best due diligence we can get.”

Missed something? Then you need The Weekend, a weekly digest of the best of The Spinoff’s writing, compiled by staff writer Shanti Mathias and delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning at 9am. Sign up to The Weekend here.

How Labour just hurt the Emissions Trading Scheme

Chris Hipkins' dump of Ardern-era policy has potentially jeopardised a major part of the government's climate change response. In this week’s episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks to climate policy expert Christina Hood from Climate Compass to find out why this month’s Emissions Trading Scheme auction failed and how she feels cabinet have destroyed confidence in the market by accident.

Click and collect

• Rainbow and human rights organisations have filed for a judicial review of the decision to allow anti-trans rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull into NZ.

• MFAT has confirmed that former NZ soldier Kane Te Tai has been killed in Ukraine. Te Tai’s video of the moment he was unexpectedly reunited with a Ukrainian friend went viral earlier this month.

• A supposed chemical spill that brought Picton port activity to a halt for more than five hours and delayed the arrival of the overnight Interislander, was in fact just water.

• An incredible sight: thousands of eels, parched and “writhing in masses” on a Canterbury farm, after a seawall breach swept them onto dry land. 

• Auckland’s North Wharf hospo strip is up for sale, and buildings of up to three storeys could replace the single-level complex.

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.

If you liked what you read today, share The Bulletin with friends, family and colleagues.

Right now on The Spinoff

Chris Schulz finds that predictions of Huntly's demise have been greatly exaggerated. It's been a year since teenager Levi James was killed – asks Tommy de Silva, has anything changed for Auckland cyclists? Sam Brooks wonders if a new PlayStation VR headset will convince him that the future is in 3D. Hera Lindsay Bird ponders whether it’s better to leave a party too early or too late. And Mad Chapman wonders at the motivations of anti-trans protesters while our books department has some multimedia recommendations to learn more about rights for trans people.

Sporting snippets

• A 10-man All Whites team were held to goalless draw by China in last night’s international friendly

• Disgraced Olympian runner Zane Robertson says financial pressures and “frustration and anger at the sport itself” were behind his decision to take EPO, a banned substance.

• Long read – The impossible job: Inside the world of Premier League referees.

It’s Friday, so…

Eat your heart out, Mick Jagger. A 90-year-old radiated tortoise named Mr Pickles is a proud new father after his partner Mrs Pickles, 53, gave birth to three hatchlings. Houston Zoo has named the offspring Dill, Gherkin and Jalapeño. (New York Times, gift link)