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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.

Aotearoa New Zealand is becoming more ethnically diverse, and this is changing quickly. It is critical that education meets the needs of all our children. This report finds that many learners from ethnic communities are succeeding in education but encounter racism, isolation, and lack of cultural understanding. We must achieve significant change if Aotearoa New Zealand is to be a great place to learn for children and young people from ethnic communities.

This short report, aimed at primary school leaders, sets out how prepared students and schools felt ahead of the Covid-19 lockdown in August and provides recommendations for how schools can support their students as they return to the classroom. 

Since 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption to schools, their staff, learners, and whānau. Three years on from the start of the pandemic, this report has found significant and concerning ongoing impacts on learners’ progress, particularly for learners in poorer communities, and on teachers and principals.

This report shares strategies and approaches from schools that had contributed to improving achievement by developing genuine learning partnerships with parents. It also includes some simple strategies a few of the schools used to involve parents more in supporting the things children were learning at school.

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.

As New Zealand’s schools become more diverse, there is an exciting opportunity to look again at what we teach and how we teach. Many schools are already changing to embrace diverse ethnicities, but more change will be needed. This report includes options for change to make Aotearoa New Zealand a great place to learn for our children and young people from ethnic communities.

This report provides findings from ERO's evaluation of how well schools were promoting and supporting student wellbeing through sexuality education.

It includes high-level findings, examples of good practice and recommendations for schools and policy audiences. It is accompanied by a series of short publications for whānau, students, and trustees.

Brochures aimed at students, whānau and Boards of Trustees are also available.

More than a third of our principals have less than five years’ experience in the role, and it’s important that they are set up for success. This report looks at pathways and supports for new principals.

Each year, Alternative Education provides education to over 2,000 young people who have been disengaged from education and who have high and complex needs. The Education Review Office (ERO), in partnership with the Social Wellbeing Agency (SWA), has looked at how well the education system is supporting young people in Alternative Education. This study describes what we found and what is needed to significantly improve educa

Teacher aides can make a real difference for learners. They have a wide range of valued roles and responsibilities, and can enhance learner outcomes by drawing on positive relationships, good training, collaborative practices, and cultural expertise. ERO was commissioned by the Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa to find out what good teacher aide practice and support looks like. This summary gives an overview of what we learnt.

This evaluation looks at the Ako Panuku programme, which is funded by the Ministry of Education for Māori secondary/kura teachers. ERO conducted an online survey of all teachers involved in the programme and also visited a number of schools and kura. Our findings show that a high proportion of teachers found the programme to be highly effective or effective for them. Ako Panuku has had positive outcomes for participants and their students.

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.