New Zealand was not alone, with overall average scores for maths, reading and science dropping in the 81 countries and economies participating in the tests.
Well I certainly agree teachers are undervalued, underpaid and overworked. I was a teacher once upon a time, and the workload has only increased. Couple that with dealing with increasingly difficult parents, students with increased needs while taking support away will naturally lead to things falling through the cracks. There have also been a number of changes to the ECE curriculum that were not entirely evidence based. Recently, our primary school has rolled out a brand new, evidence based, reading strategy which really appears to work well.
TBH I agree with @Splenetic@lemm.ee below - it is a difficult problem with many causes, and any one “cure all” solution will ultimately fail.
Parental involvement goes beyond direct involvement in school learning. It also includes reading and fostering an environment where reading is viewed positively, general life learning for skills like adding and subtracting, and so-on. However, I fully acknowledge that I made somewhat of a blanket statement.
Well I certainly agree teachers are undervalued, underpaid and overworked. I was a teacher once upon a time, and the workload has only increased. Couple that with dealing with increasingly difficult parents, students with increased needs while taking support away will naturally lead to things falling through the cracks. There have also been a number of changes to the ECE curriculum that were not entirely evidence based. Recently, our primary school has rolled out a brand new, evidence based, reading strategy which really appears to work well.
TBH I agree with @Splenetic@lemm.ee below - it is a difficult problem with many causes, and any one “cure all” solution will ultimately fail.
Parental involvement goes beyond direct involvement in school learning. It also includes reading and fostering an environment where reading is viewed positively, general life learning for skills like adding and subtracting, and so-on. However, I fully acknowledge that I made somewhat of a blanket statement.