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ERO guides for parents have been written for everyone who parents a child - those who have care and responsibility for children attending a school. The booklets include questions you can ask, as well as general information that you may find useful. Click on the booklet to read and download.

How is my child doing? suggests questions parents can ask teachers in primary and secondary schools about their child's learning and wellbeing at school, and what to expect. It also looks at what makes a successful school.

Starting school is a major childhood event. It can be an exciting time for children and their families. But it is a big change, and so it can also be an uncertain time. A good start at school sets children up to succeed at school. We looked to see how changing to cohort entry impacts on children, their peers, and whānau, as well as their schools and early childhood education services.

This report looks at how well science is led in services and schools, how well science is woven through the curriculum, and how well kaiako/ teachers include science in a responsive curriculum. Each section of this report provides leaders, kaiako, and teachers with reflective questions to consider, which could support improvements. We also identify opportunities for improvement at both the individual service / school level, and for the system.

This report is the companion report to Science in the Early Years: Early Childhood and Years 1-4. This report looks at, in more depth, good practice in science teaching and learning in English-Medium early childhood education. It presents examples of good practice of science in the curriculum, from eight services identified during their ERO reviews.

Quality early childhood education (ECE) affects how well disabled children do at school and in life – from academic achievement and earning potential, to health and wellbeing.

This work explores global best practice for measuring education system change. It considers the variation found between different approaches to measuring education system change, looking particularly at how select individual countries and multilaterals each approach this.  This work will also consider what can support countries to monitor education performance.   

In Term 3, 2014, ERO undertook a cluster review of five Puna Whakatupu as part of scheduled education reviews. During the course of these reviews, we identified a range of good practice that was investigated further and has become Tuia te here tangata: Making meaningful connections.

Early childhood education services had to quickly adapt to changing requirements and periods of uncertainty due to Covid-19 in 2020. ERO undertook work to understand how this affected early childhood education services. This report presents our findings on how Covid-19 impacted children, whānau and services, how services responded and what they learnt, and the challenges that services expect they might face in future alert level changes.

Going to school is critical for our children’s futures. The evidence is clear that every day of school matters, missing school leads to lower achievement.  In New Zealand, learners are expected to attend school every day the school is open. And yet many don’t. New Zealand has lower attendance than other countries and alarmingly attendance is falling.

While there are a range of factors that impact on attendance, our research shows that some are more important than others. This report sets out the drivers of attendance that have the biggest impact on whether learners go to school regularly. These include parents’ attitudes, learners’ attitudes, and how learners experience school.  

Quality early childhood education (ECE) affects how well all children do at school and in life – from academic achievement and earning potential to health and wellbeing. Quality ECE supports children to develop the social, emotional, communication, cognitive, and motor skills which enable them to thrive. This is particularly critical for disabled children as it sets the foundation for their future learning.

This good practice report looks at how children’s cultures and languages can be reflected in everyday practice, supporting their learning and wellbeing. Drawn from home-based ECE settings, this new report is a collection of useful examples to inspire kaiako to grow their ability in culturally responsive teaching. 

Receiving a quality education, from early childhood education (ECE) through to secondary school, positively affects how well all children and young people do at school and in life – from academic achievement and earning potential to health and wellbeing. Education is even more critical for disabled learners. When disabled learners receive a quality, inclusive education they are more likely to achieve better outcomes, to complete secondary schooling and to go on to further study and employment.

The Education Review Office (ERO), in partnership with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the Office for Disability Issues (ODI), looked at how well the education system is supporting disabled learners in schools. We found that we need to improve education for disabled learners so they can thrive. This report describes what we found and what is needed to significantly improve education for these priority learners.

Disabled learners have the right to enrol and receive a quality, inclusive education at their local school. When disabled learners receive a quality, inclusive education they are more likely to achieve better outcomes, are more likely to complete secondary schooling and to go on to further study and employment. This study looked at how well the education system is supporting disabled learners. It found we need to improve education for disabled learners so they can thrive.

Going to school is critical for our children’s futures. The evidence is clear that every day of school matters – missing school leads to lower achievement. Aotearoa New Zealand has lower attendance than other countries and, alarmingly, attendance is falling. This short summary looks at some of the reasons why.

This booklet is for all parents and caregivers who have infants and toddlers in an early childhood education service, or who are thinking about enrolling their child in an early childhood service. It gives you an idea of what you can expect from high quality early childhood education and the questions you can ask a service about the education and care of your child. 

Public consultation document inviting the public to provide feedback on the substance and scope of the chosen topic of the Long-Term Insights Briefing: “Responding to Diverse Cultures: Schools’ Practice”.   

We invite your thoughts on the topic and scope of ERO’s Long-Term Insights Briefing: “Responding to Diverse Cultures: Schools’ Practice” to be published by the end of the 2022.