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4/11/2025
Thomas Irving
[FYI request #32222 email]
Tēnā koe Thomas
OIA: [1353345] – information relating to student achievement rates
Thank you for your email of 4 September 2025, transferred to the Ministry of Education (the
Ministry) on 17 September 2025, requesting the following information:
Can you please provide any all evidence which:
1) Demonstrates that Māori students are currently achieving in the maths and English
strands of the curriculum at the same rate as non-Māori students
2) Demonstrates that Māori students are currently achieving in the maths and English
strands of the curriculum at the same rate as pākehā students
3) Compares the achievement rates of different ethnicities since [Minister Stanford] became
the Minister of Education
4) Demonstrates the change in achievement for students in the maths and English strands
of the curriculum since [Minister Stanford] became minister
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Both the Minister and the Ministry of Education are committed to closing the equity gap and
delivering better outcomes in the classroom for Māori learners and all learners of te reo Māori.
The Māori Education Action Plan sets out the Government’s approach to closing the equity gap
and lifting attendance and achievement for Māori learners. This includes ensuring the availability of
support for Māori language use and teaching across the education system, building a world-
leading curriculum and investing in teacher capability and curriculum resources tailored to Māori-
medium and Kaupapa Māori education settings.
If you are interested you can find out more about the Māori Education Action Plan at
education.govt.nz/our-work/maori-education-action-plan and the Budget 2025 Māori Education
package at
education.govt.nz/budget-2025/maori-education.
Wellington National Office, 1 The Terrace, Levels 5 to 14, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140, DX SR51201 Phone: +64 4 463 8000
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Alongside this, as part of Budget 2025, targeted investment has been made in learning support,
curriculum and assessment, property and workforce development to help bring the Māori
Education Action Plan to life and ensure strong outcomes for ākonga Māori.
The Ministry does not hold data which “evidences” the propositions set out in parts
one and
two of
your request. We understand that the Minister’s comments regarding Māori students “
learning at
the average rather than behind” were informed by the experiences of schools using structured
literacy and maths approaches who had noted improved achievement amongst Māori learners.
It is therefore necessary for me to refuse these parts of your request under section 18(g) of the Act
as the requested information is not held by the Ministry and we have no reason to believe it is held
by any other agency covered by the Act.
With regard to parts
three and
four of your request, the Ministry has measured and monitored
student achievement in a range of different ways since Minister Stanford took office and you may
find the following to be of particular interest to your request:
Curriculum Insights and Progress Study (Curriculum Insights)
The Curriculum Insights and Progress Study (Curriculum Insights) generates valuable insights into
student progress and achievement across Aotearoa New Zealand. The study began in 2023, in
association with the updates to the New Zealand Curriculum, and builds on the foundations laid by
the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA).
Curriculum Insights provides evidence about how Year 3, 6 and 8 students in English-medium
education are achieving and is the lead indicator used to measure progress towards the
Government’s achievement target of 80 percent of Year 8 students being at or above the expected
curriculum level for their age in reading, writing, and maths by 2030.
You can access the 2024 Curriculum Insights results, relating to the Foundational Area
assessment programme carried out in Term Four 2024 and released in August 2025, at the link
below:
https://nzcer.shinyapps.io/cohort_assessment_2024/
You can sort the data by assessment type (i.e. mathematics or writing), year level and, within each
year level by gender, ethnicity and EQI band.
These assessments provide an early indication of student achievement against the expectations of
the refreshed curriculum, but results should be interpreted with care due to the newness of
refreshed curriculum material and the early state of its implementation in schools.
NCEA Co-requisites Achievement data
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) co-requisite assessment,
administered by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), ensures that students
demonstrate foundational literacy and numeracy skills by successfully completing separate
assessments in reading, writing, and numeracy, which are required to be awarded an NCEA
OIA: [1353345]
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qualification. You can find further details about the co-requisite assessment on the Ministry’s
website here:
The NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisites - Ministry of Education
You can find the 2024 and 2025 achievement data, broken down by subject and ethnicity, on
NZQA’s website at the link below:
www2.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/subjects/litnum/literacy-and-numeracy-data/ If you have further queries about the NCEA Co-requisites data, these are best directed to the
NZQA.
As the Curriculum Insights and NCEA Co-requisites data are publicly available at the links provided
above, it is necessary for me to refuse your request, to the extent it seeks this information, under
section 18(d) of the Act.
Phonics Achievement data
As you may be aware, phonics checks were introduced to schools in 2025 to help teachers and
kaiako ascertain how students are progressing with the knowledge and skills needed to become
successful readers.
The phonics checks are short assessments that tell teachers how children are progressing with
their phonics learning. The phonics checks are carried out in a child’s first year of school, with a
check at 20 weeks and again at 40 weeks after starting school. If you are interested, you can read
more about the phonics checks on the Ministry’s website here:
Phonics checks - Ministry of Education
Please find attached, as
Appendix A, the results of the Term 3 phonics checks. The sample of
Phonics Checks data across all terms is broadly representative of national student ethnicity
distribution, with a small skew towards European students. As you will see, these results show
significant gains in student achievement across both the 20 and 40 week checks and the
percentage of students achieving at or above expectation has increased across all three terms in
2025 (see figures 1-3).
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review my decision
on your request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Hayley Welch
General Manager – New Zealand Curriculum and Te Whāriki
Te Mahau | Te Poutāhū | Curriculum Centre
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1353345 – APPENDIX A: PHONICS ACHIEVEMENT DATA
All students
Fig. 1 - Distribution of results by curriculum expectation per term for 2025
Timepoint
At or Above expectation
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
20-weeks
36%
51%
58%
40-weeks
26%
28%
35%
Represented as a graph:
Māori Students
Fig. 2 - Distribution of Māori at 20-weeks and 40-weeks in Term 1, Term 2 & Term 3 2025
Timepoint
At or Above expectation
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
20-weeks
25%
39%
43%
40-weeks
18%
21%
27%
Represented as a graph:
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European Students
Distribution of European at 20-weeks and 40-weeks in Term 1, Term 2 & Term 3 2025
Timepoint
At or Above expectation
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
20-weeks
41%
59%
67%
40-weeks
27%
30%
37%
Represented as a graph:
Pacific Students
Distribution of Pacific at 20-weeks and 40-weeks in Term 1, Term 2 & Term 3 2025
Timepoint
At or Above expectation
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
20-weeks
27%
38%
43%
40-weeks
17%
16%
24%
Represented as a graph
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Asian Students
Distribution of Asian at 20-weeks and 40-weeks in Term 1, Term 2 & Term 3 2025
Timepoint
At or Above expectation
Term 1
Term 2
Term 3
20-weeks
44%
54%
63%
40-weeks
38%
37%
45%
Represented as a graph
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