Erica Stanford: Education Minister on the NCEA prerequisite test failure rates

The Education Minister says NCEA results are disappointing.  

More than half of the 55 thousand teens who attempted the new NCEA prerequisite tests failed their numeracy assessment. 

Reading had a pass rate of 59%, while 56% of the students passed writing. 

The Government's aiming for 80% of Year eight students to be at or above curriculum level by 2030. 

Education Minister Erica Stanford told Mike Hosking this will take some time. 

She says there's a whole range of levers they're pulling to make sure primary school kids are learning structured maths and literacy. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Back to school, back to the education slog. We get
more results this week seem to confirm the pass rate
success we aim for an NCEEA is proving elusive. The
latest results are from the May tests. More than half
of the fifty five thousand who took part and the
literacy and numeracy test failed and now principles say it
might be time for a bit of a rethink here.
Education Minister Erica Stanford is back with this a very
good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning mate.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
The results as you look at them, disappointing or not.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Of course they're disappointing. They've been disappointing for a number
of years. In fact, a number of decades. I've been dropping.
We know that and we've got to do something about it,
which is why you've seen me have my foot on
the accelerator recently.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
As hard as that foot is on the accelerator, When
do we see some results?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Okay, it's going to take some time. We've got a
lot to make up. I think the key for me, though,
is we put this literacy and numerousy assessment in three
or four years ago, but did nothing at primary school
to change the trajectory of kids to get there. So
just putting in a test doesn't change anything. You've got

(01:02):
to do other things at the back end. So what
we've done is introduced a new curriculum, new teaching practices.
We've made sure that we're as testing our kids twice
a year. We're changing the way we train our teachers.
There's a whole range of levers that we're pulling to
make sure our kids at primary school next year we'll
be learning structured less mass and structured literacy to make
sure they can get there. So, yes, it will take

(01:22):
some time. It was always going to. If it started
this six or seven years ago, we wouldn't be in
this state.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay, So when the principals say it's time for a rethink,
can you seen pushback here? They want to make the
tests easy or whatever, or we all on board.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
But I see it from their perspective because they are
trying their very best high school principles to get these
kids over the line. The starting point for high schools
is two kilometers back. These kids are coming in and
they're eighteen months or two years behind curriculum. It's really
hard for a high school teacher to get kids up
to standard. So I hear it from their perspective that
they want to make some changes to try and make

(01:57):
it easier or get rid of these tests. We have
to aim higher, We have to have aspiration for our
kids that they can get there and everything we can
to get them there, Because, Mike, these are functional foundational
literacy and numeracy assessments. These are not something that you
have to aim for to get to by the time
you're fifteen or sixteen. They are aimed at either time

(02:18):
you finish intermediate or start high school. That's where they
are aimed at. They are relatively straightforward. You should be
able to pass, and then the fact that we can't
shows that we have a huge problem we've got to fix.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Is the disparity part of it? Well, I know it's
part of the problem. But so when European gets sixty
two percent pass right versus specific at forty four, is
sixty two on a tract to something reasonable or is
sixty two still hopeless?

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Set two really still isn't great. Given as I just said,
this is something that's aimed at upper level for lower
level five of the curriculum, which is end of year
eight beginning of sort of year nineteen, it's not something
that you know, we should be seeing these results on
fifty percent at our our high DASYL schools. I think
it was sixty percent of NUMEROUSY at our high d

(03:05):
CEL schools. Indicates we still have a huge problem right
across the board.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
I do excuse my ignorance because I've forgotten the number.
Is it eighty percent by twenty thirty that you're aiming for?

Speaker 2 (03:15):
That's right, and we think we can get there because
that gives us a whole cohort of kids through primary
school using structured maths, structure literacy under the new curriculum.
What's the twice yearly assessments. Part of this other problem
we've got is these kids are sitting this assessment, this
literacy and NUMEROUSY assessment, and it can be the first
time you've ever actually set an exam. And so we've

(03:38):
got to start building that in And I actually said
to end VQA this week, I want you to start
creating some of these literacy and numerous THEY assessments, dummy
ones for year seven and eight, so our intermediate kids
can start understanding what's going to be required of them. Choos.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Is there any comfort to be drawn on reading Australia
NAP plan that they've got the same problem. One in
three performed below expectations and literacy and numerous receive forty
percent of year nine children fat, so that they're no
doing no better? Can we all just sit there and go, well,
we're all a bit useless or.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Well at COVID certainly hasn't helped things, but we have
been on a trajectory of decline for a very long
time and we should definitely be aiming higher. There's no
reason that our kids can't do better, and we've already
seen incredible results through structures are traceeed in reading and writing.
We've started to see it in mathematics with schools who
are using structured maths. I know we can get there.

(04:28):
We just have to pull all levers that I mentioned
earlier and things will change.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Good stuff, all right, Go well, Erica Stanford Education Minister there.
I mean, I don't know. It's the disparity, is the thing.
When she goes eighty percent by twenty thirty, it's the disparity.
So if you're European at sixty two percent, can you
get to eighty percent of them passing? Sure? Asian fifty
three percent Pacific forty four numeracy. You're down at twenty three.

(04:53):
Twenty three percent of Pacific kids pass. How do you
go from twenty three to the majority of the part?
You know, that's a massive hall, wasn't it. For more
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