Section Heading for Video 1
As you will all be aware, we are halfway
through our
significant
100.47,NaN
The next part of the puzzle
in our reforms uh is
to make sure that we give a
clear
timely and
complete analysis of a school's
performance to parents so that you can
really clearly see the strength of your
school and any areas there are for
improvement.
Now, every parent will tell you and the
parents in the room, you'll know this
because I've heard it for years and it
has been a bugbear of mine. The ERO
reports have been complex, they've been
difficult to understand and more often
than not parents will go to their
communities, they'll go to Facebook
they'll go to friends for that
information, which are all valuable
sources of information. But, a really
valuable source of information that has
been missing has been our Education
Review Office reports because they have
been difficult to understand, overly
complex and they didn't tell parents
what they needed to know. And if we are
serious about creating this
world-leading education system where
every child can reach their full
potential, we do need to be able to
celebrate the success of schools, but
also to be able to be open and honest
about where we need to improve. So
today I'm really proud to announce that
we have completely overhauled
the ERO reports which you have in front
of you. You will see that they are
clearer, easier to understand, they
provide more detail about what parents
want. And the reason that we're able to
do this is because ERO have worked very
closely co-designing these reports with
parents and with principals
understanding what it is that you want
to know about your local school.
Uh and it also allows us to have honest
conversations to understand where those
areas for improvement are so that school
boards know exactly what their focus
needs to be. And for the ministry, we
know in a very uh
uh targeted way where we can put
resource and where we need to put
resource. And as I said earlier, you uh
would have heard me say about all of the
resource that we're putting into the
school system, packages of resource.
Over the last 2 years I've announced uh
everything from literacy intervention
teachers to maths intervention teachers
to catch-up for uh young people who are
behind in their mathematics and behind
in their reading and all of those
resources.
With this clear, consistent
reporting across the country, we will be
able to target uh those resources and
that support to help schools with the
areas that they need to improve. So, as
a system, we can raise our performance
over time to make sure that your
children are getting access to a
world-leading education system, no
matter which school they are in.
So, as we move to this more structured
and consistent way of reporting, we can
target all those resources. And my
parent message to parents is that while
we will celebrate the strengths of
schools
we will continue to target that support
and resource in to ensure that areas for
improvement uh are able to be achieved
by schools across New Zealand. And a
really smart use of the targeting uh and
data and information that we have into
schools to get those resources to where
they are needed so that our young people
can reach reach their full potential.
Now, you will see from the documents
you've got in front of you, it looks
completely different compared to what we
had before, which was a wall of
information, uh which didn't really tell
you uh what you needed to know. You can
now see that there is a real clear uh
and easy-to-understand framework uh
and as Ruth will explain to you, ERO are
doing what they've always done. They've
not changed uh how they go into schools
and what they look at. What has changed
is the way they report it to you so you
can be really confident and engaged in
your child's learning because you know
exactly uh how your school is tracking
and what the areas for improvement are.
I'm just going to hand over to Ruth now
just to go through some of the some of
the detail uh in uh the new reporting
framework.
>> Thank you, Minister. And thanks everyone
for having us today. It is my absolute
pleasure to announce the biggest change
in ERO's school reporting we have done.
And we're doing this to achieve three
things. Firstly, so that parents can
understand how well their school's
doing, its strengths, and its areas for
improvement, and that they don't have to
decode education speak. Sometimes words
are clear to us, but not clear to
schools and parents. Um the second is so
that we can celebrate what schools do
well more clearly, and in particular
have a focus on progress. So schools
that are in challenging circumstances
are celebrated for the progress they
make from their students. And thirdly
as the minister just said, so we're very
clear about schools that are struggling
and why, and about their difficult
context they're working in, and about
the support they need.
So because of those three things, the
three changes we're making, and I'll
then take you through the detail, is
reports that parents can understand
really clearly setting out what the
school's great at, what it needs to work
on, and why. Um the second is
and we co-designed that with parents. Um
the second we've worked with principals
and they've said, "Could you untangle
achievement and progress and be much
clearer about the progress and the
context of the school?" And the third is
setting out practical next steps for
school leaders. The reason I'm so
excited is because as the minister said
the education review office is in
schools up and down the country every
day. We are parents' eyes and ears and
schools' eyes and ears on the ground. We
have 700 schools a year, so that's a
third of all schools we go to. We are
experts in knowing what works for
children and what things matter the most
for children's achievement. And now, we
can put all our knowledge in the hands
of parents, and that's really exciting
for me. So I'll just take you through a
little picture of what it looks like. So
here are some mocked up of our reports.
These will start in term two.
So as I said, we go to 700 schools a
year, so from term two, which is at the
end of April, every school that gets a
new review by ERO, that's where we go
in. We look at classes, we look at we
talk to parents. We're not changing what
we do, but we are changing how we report
it. And these will look like this. So
if we move into previously So
previously our reports were looked like
this. It's a lot of text. And the
minister asked, "Here, could you make
this understandable for parents?"
She was right. We went out and we talked
to parents up and down the country and
worked closely with a hundred who have
really clear.
For example, the word embedding, which
is one of our judgments, it means a lot
to us in education. Parents have no idea
what this word means. So, we've changed
it to doing well. So, the schools that
are doing well can tell their parents
and community they're doing well.
So, we've changed it from this, which
parents have told us consistently it
doesn't really tell them what they need
to know. And schools have said to us
"Because it brings things together, it
doesn't celebrate what schools are good
at and separate and understand their
context." So, in terms of what we're
moving towards we're moving to something
very simple, clear, useful, and
accessible for parents. We're still
using the same four-point judgment. And
we're still reporting on the same areas
but now we're setting them out in 14 key
areas that we know drive good outcomes
for students.
We give a summary at the beginning, so
you can see how your school overall is
doing. How many areas is it really
excelling at? How many areas is it good
at? And are there any areas it needs to
improve? So, as a parent, you can get a
quick glance of overall this is how my
school is doing.
But then parents have told us, if we
look at the next slide parents have told
us they actually are more interested in
the different areas. Because with their
children, they want to know, for
example, if their child's been bullied
previously, is this a school that is
good at engagement and well-being? If my
child's doing reading, is this a school
that's good at that? So, each of those
areas we just set out really clearly how
the school's doing and why in a
easy-to-understand way. These 14 areas
are based off evidence. We've always
looked at them because we know they're
what drives children's outcomes. They're
things like, obviously, reading
writing, maths, and attendance, but
they're also things which are important
for getting good student outcomes, like
good leadership, a really knowledge-rich
curriculum. So, that's what we measure
and we just put it out there.
And then, for those who are more
interested, and some parents are, and
for schools to find these reports
useful, we've still included a full
report, which sets out more detail about
the context and the why.
If a school's got something it's great
at, why is it great at it? If there's
something that's working on, what's it
working on and why? It's just a really
clear explanation with no jargon. Well
we've co-designed this with over 100
parents, and they've tested it. It was
amazing to watch the number of times
that we thought, "Well, that makes a lot
of sense." And the parents were like
"What does that mean?" So, what we've
tried to do is, and we will keep an eye
on, is make it really clear and easy to
understand.
Um, then we say clear steps. So, schools
we talked to, and we did work with
principals across said, "Often our
reports previously, they were confused
or uncertain about what to do next." And
because ERO spends a week reviewing a
school, it's that rich knowledge that we
can bring as a new person, a fresh pair
of eyes. And they actually said, "If
you're a fresh pair of eyes, could you
more clearly set out what you think we
should do?" And so, that's what we've
included in this report. It's really
clear steps that boards can look at and
go, "Okay, this is what my school most
needs to do from ERO, who are the
education experts."
And then lastly, we set out explainers.
On the next steps, if we go back one
the other thing is the minister said
"If we find a school that is struggling
on key elements, and they need support
we will say that. And we will say really
clearly what support the school needs.
Does it need some more um development on
literacy? Does it need some help with
its attendance management plan? We will
say it really clearly and precisely so
that that support can then come into
place and there isn't a delay.
So, that's what we're also shifting is
to be really clear what school support
do schools need if they need it so that
they can get the support they need.
And lastly, cuz it's we're really keen
that parents understand it, we have got
these little explainers. The reports
look like this. It's only about six
pages.
Um but we've also got a little explainer
for parents.
And next term, at the beginning of term
two, we will release a guide to schools
for parents, parents guide to schools
to help them more understand schools.
As the minister said, we know that
parents engagement in their students'
education makes a huge difference. It
makes a difference for the student. It
makes a difference for teachers and
teachers in this room know that. An
engaged parent helps the learning and it
makes a difference for the school. So
what we need to do as Education Review
Office is make sure that we're sharing
our knowledge so parents can engage in
their students' education.
So, yeah, that's a exciting day for us.
Um and I just wanted to thank the
hundred plus parents, the 12 schools
which let us practice on them, and the
many other principals who have
contributed to this work because we
would not be here, believe me, without
their contribution. Schools and parents
know best what will work for them. And
now we will have a a report that is more
fit for purpose for both parents and
schools. Thank you.
>> Excellent. Okay, thank you for the
explainer. I I guess overall, this is
really about good data and making sure
that we uh targeting resource to the
areas where we need it the most so that
we can raise uh
achievement standards across the board
and have that world-leading education
system
so that every child can reach their full
potential. And this is a really key
important part in that puzzle. And I'm
looking forward to seeing the first lot
of these reports come through at the
beginning of term two. Thank you very
much for coming and sharing today with
us.
803.03,NaN
>> [applause]
831.91,NaN
>> Cuz no one's been in this space looking
at it from a Pacific lens and for
Pacific people
um it makes it really exciting, but also
we don't know and I guess until we look
at what this research has to show us.
>> So, just tell us a little more of the
the masters and and and public health