Treasury’s Advice on Lifting Student Achievement in New Zealand: Evidence Brief
March 2012
Treasury’s 2011 Briefing to the Incoming Minister of Finance (BIM) summarised Treasury’s current advice on education
policy: New Zealand’s compulsory education system produces good outcomes for most students, as evidenced by our strong
performance in international tests. However, despite large funding increases, achievement levels remain unacceptably low
for some groups. Student achievement can be raised by improving the quality of teaching, which the evidence shows is the
largest in-school influence on student outcomes. Increasing student/teacher ratios, and consolidation of the school
network, can free up funding that could be used to support initiatives to enhance the quality of teaching, such as more
systemic use of value-add data and a more professionalised workforce. This note provides a short summary of the evidence
base that underpins this advice.
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