National Testing and Valuing Teachers

Response to NZ Herald column

Cecilia Robinson is an impressive entrepreneur, but her recent claims in the NZ Herald that national testing and standardized learning lead to better student results are incorrect. They simply serve to gaslight the great job teachers in this country do.

Where she is right is that we have one of the highest equity gaps and child poverty rates in the OECD, but this is a product of our economic policies that have led to inter-generational poverty, not of schools. Every day, teachers aim to lift the aspirations of learners and to provide the scaffolds, in spite of chronic under-resourcing for learning support, that children need to succeed in their learning.

If we want our schooling system to be fairer, we need a fairer society. It’s that simple.

But when the government and columnists dog-whistle that teachers are somehow to blame and characterize them as selfish, incompetent, and whiny, it's no wonder that teachers are furious.

And until we are a fairer society, assuming we actually have a government committed to closing the equity gap, what do schools, teachers, and children need right now?

Funding healthy and nutritious school lunches for all children, a teacher aide in every classroom, more specialists to support children with challenges, and investing in keeping and attracting great teachers would go a long way.

Robinson compares New Zealand students’ achievement unfavorably with Sweden, where she implies that students do better, and argues that regular national testing of children from Year 3 explains why Swedish families trust public education and don’t use private tutoring.

Unfortunately for Robinson, this is demonstrably wrong. New Zealand has consistently scored above Sweden in international rankings of student success. Most recently in the PISA rankings published in 2023, New Zealand students scored in the top ten countries internationally for reading. We scored 11th in science and were above the OECD average and on a par with Sweden for maths, at 23rd. All of this has happened without national testing and without private tutoring.

Robinson also argues that in the age of AI, creativity and problem-solving are even more important in schools. But this is where New Zealand is among the highest-performing education systems in the world, ranking fifth out of 81 OECD countries. New Zealand teachers are sought globally because they take a hands-on, practical approach to learning that encourages students to express their ideas and to think critically and collaboratively. Creative thinking and problem-solving are the foundation for our economic success in a wide range of tertiary and career fields, from arts, engineering, technology, and biomedicine to infrastructure and mathematics.

Where we could usefully improve ourselves compared with Sweden is in terms of public funding (noting Sweden also has higher rates of taxation) for education. Sweden has the 7th highest per-student spend for primary schooling and is 26.3% above the OECD average. NZ is 29th and is 24.7% below the OECD average. (OECD Education at a Glance 2024)

Robinson also uses sloppy data drawn from a poll of her friends to argue that private tutoring is increasing and “widespread,” and that the solution to inequity and accessing more support is more national testing.

This is completely fallacious. Good assessments, such as our robust PAT tests, are already being used in primary schools, both to inform teachers of where children are at and where they need to go next. Teachers use these assessments to inform their teaching so that it better meets the needs of the individual child, not to rank them.

The government’s plans to introduce national testing twice a year for literacy and numeracy for children from the age of seven (Year 3) is far more likely to lead to anxiety than sudden spikes in achievement.

Instead of undervaluing and blaming teachers and schools, let’s celebrate the complex and skilled job they do. And as we head towards Suffrage Day, let’s pay them fairly and commit to bringing back pay equity so the value of their work is properly examined and assessed. Finally, let’s build more of what Robinson praises in Sweden: a commitment to excellence and fairness for all children, and a society where families see education as a collective responsibility between themselves and teachers.