Minister uses incorrect data to blame schools for achievement gap
QPEC co-convenor Dr Liz Gordon is calling for the Minister to use the correct figures on the achievement gap between the
richest and poorest in New Zealand.
“The Minister uses the figure that 18% of the achievement gap is caused by socio-economic background”, says Dr Gordon.
“That figure came from a wrongly calculated OECD report, and is significantly out of kilter with the overwhelming
evidence that social factors are the main determinant of educational outcomes, across nations, across cultures, across
schooling systems, public or private, large or small.”
Dr Gordon says that she does not know why the Minister continues to use a discredited figure.
“What does the research say? It says that children from high-education homes with more than 500 books, a bedroom for
every child, a computer for learning and a range of other factors start school around two years ahead of those in the
poorest, education-poor areas. Not only that, but the kids who are ahead in the race have all their ducks in a row to
spring ahead even further.
“By age 15, the average literacy and numeracy gap between the 500-plus book group, and the fewer-than-10 book families,
is over three years of learning using the OECD’s index of learning. Those at the lower end have more barriers to
learning than those at the top, and this is made worse by harder lives, worse conditions and fewer resources.
“Under NCEA there are multiple routes and a number of pathways to achievement and the number of children from poor
families achieving qualifications has expanded. The changed system allows people with different abilities to turn these
into qualifications. It does not mean that the wealth and resource gap has closed”
“External factors such as high levels of child poverty (nearly every child in each decile 1-3 school, plus others, now
lives in a family where there are never enough resources to meet all the family needs) and the flight from low decile schools (making those schools smaller and removing
economies of scale) make these gaps worse.
“School resources and programmes, such as health-promoting schools, social workers, PB4L and other schemes work the
other way, to close the gap.
Dr Gordon says that a pre-requisite for a successful review of the Education Act is to have a strong research-based
understanding of what causes the learning gaps, and what heals them”.
ENDS