Cyber-bullying, supportive teachers and wagging were among factors that had a big effect on teenagers’ scores in the PISA international test results published this week.
The study of more than 700,000 15-year-olds included questions about their classroom experiences and attitudes and linked those with their science test scores to indicate the factors most strongly linked to performance.
Internationally, students’ average maths and reading scores have dropped 27 points and science seven points since the pre-Covid pandemic testing round of 2018.
New Zealand bucked that trend. Its science score increased slightly to 509 points, its maths score remained almost unchanged at 480, and its reading score fell slightly to an all-time low of 497.
The Education Ministry said the changes in New Zealand’s scores were not statistically significant and the scores were likely to be 10-15 points overstated because the sample of students who sat the tests last year was skewed toward higher achievers.
The study showed the gap between New Zealand’s lowest and highest performers was 284 points in a scale where 20 points was equivalent to a year of learning.
Average scores between students from rich backgrounds and those from poor backgrounds closed to 89 points thanks to a 20-point improvement in performance by the poorest students. Australia and the UK had slightly smaller gaps (80 points).
The study showed the gap between New Zealand’s lowest and highest performers was 284 points in a scale where 20 points was equivalent to a year of learning. (File photo)
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Invest more in less well-off communities – union
Post Primary Teachers Association president Chris Abercrombie said the results showed New Zealand should invest more in schools in poor communities.
“We need more investment in those schools be it learning support, be it lunch in schools – any of those things that promote good learning, good teaching in those communities,” he said.
“We need to meet the unmet need in our schools and at the moment this government and successive governments seem to want to have the world’s best cheapest education system and you can’t have those two things at the same time.”
Abercrombie said the results showed New Zealand had a high-performing education system and other jurisdictions were also struggling with literacy and numeracy.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the results indicated New Zealand’s scores were stabilising but more needed to be done.
Secondary Principals’ Association president Louise Anaru said the improved average scores of students from poor backgrounds was genuinely encouraging.
She said it was due to culturally responsive teaching that gave effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in schools.
“There’s a genuine argument here for continuing what has worked,” she said.
“The gap hasn’t narrowed because we pulled back on these practices over time. It’s clearly had an impact.”
The factors influencing Kiwi kids’ science scores
- Wagging – A third of Kiwi students admitted to skipping at least one day of school in the two weeks prior to the PISA test and one in five said they skipped some classes. They scored 36 points less in the science test. The number of students admitting to missing classes was slightly less than in the previous PISA round in 2022.
- Classroom delays – New Zealand students who said their science teacher never or almost never had to wait a long time for students to quiet down scored 28 points better than those who said it happened frequently.
- Safety – Students who felt safe in their classrooms scored 32 points more on average than those who did not, and students who felt safe on their way to school scored 19 points higher than those who did not.
- Belonging – Students who felt they belonged at school scored 22 points higher than those who did not. Those who said they made friends easily at school scored 16 points less.
- Teachers – Students who said their science teacher helped students with their learning in every or most lessons scored 41 points more than those who said their teacher seldom helped.
- Homework – Every extra hour of science homework reduced New Zealand students’ average science score by 10 points. The same effect was seen across the OECD. Increasing total homework for all subjects by an hour had almost no effect.
- Digital learning – New Zealand teens used digital devices for learning more than most in the OECD and their science scores improved the more they did, but only up to a point. Students who used digital devices for learning from two to five hours per day had the highest scores, and those who used devices more or less than that had lower scores.
- Digital leisure – Students who used digital devices for up to an hour of play a day recorded New Zealand’s highest average science score, 551, but it was all downhill from there with the highest users, five-seven hours a day, scoring a whopping 87 points less.
- Digital distraction – Thirty-eight percent of students in New Zealand reported distracting by digital resources in most or every school science lesson, one of the highest rates in the OECD but it had little effect on scores.
- Artificial Intelligence – Students who never or almost never used AI in their school-work had the highest science scores. The effect of greater use of AI was larger in New Zealand than in other OECD countries.
