New Zealand Education

BBC News –Timeline: New Zealand. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1138430.stm

Educational Structure

Ministry of Education (2008). New Zealand education system: An overview. (n.d). Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://www.minedu.govt.nz/~/media/MinEdu/Files/EducationSectors/InternationalEducation/ForInternationalStudentsAndParents/NZEdSysOverview.pdf

International Benchmarking

• Strengths
• 99% Literacy rate
• 77% aged 25-64 completed secondary or tertiary qualifications (well above the OECD average of 67%)
• Proportion of adults with a bachelors degree or higher rose from 8% to 20% between 1991 and 2005.
• 15 year old students perform well above the OECD mean in reading, math and scientific literacy.
• Weaknesses
• Average achievement is high, but New Zealand should target and increase achievement in the lower achieving range, which is primarily comprised of Maori and Pacifika students.

Ministry of Education (2008). New Zealand education system: An overview. (n.d). Retrieved March1, 2010 from http://www.minedu.govt.nz/~/media/MinEdu/Files/EducationSectors/InternationalEducation/ForInternationalStudentsAndParents/NZEdSysOverview.pdf

Current Education Initiatives

• Early Childhood Education
• Primary and Secondary
• Tertiary
• Ka Hikitia
• Pasifika Education Plan

Early Childhood Education

• Government Reform Standards
• Curriculum development-Te Whariki
• Regulation: Minimum standards and teacher quality
• Funding, support and initiatives
• Funding
• Partial government funding, not government owned or managed
• Options
• Whanau
• Playcenters, Kohanga Reo, and A’oga Amata
• Special education and distance learning

Bignold, W., & Gayton, L. (2009). Global issues and comparative education: Perspectives in education studies. Southernhay, England: Learning Matters.