9 September 2005

Kiwi kids make good progress in reading, music and technology

A national evaluation of primary and intermediate school children shows that our students have progressed in reading, speaking, music and technology, Education Minister Trevor Mallard said today.

The Education Minister released the four-yearly National Education Monitoring Project (NEMP) evaluation of eight and nine-year-olds, and twelve and thirteen-year-olds at Naenae Primary School today.

The latest NEMP reports surveyed nearly 2,800 children from around the country examining reading, speaking, technology and music at year 4 and year 8 levels and compared the results to those identified in 2000.

“This latest investigation has found that overall, primary school children’s skills in reading, speaking and technology have improved since 2000,” the Minister said. “That’s very pleasing. The study also found that these students generally had very positive attitudes to the four subjects assessed and I‘m delighted about that too – kids are enjoying these subjects at school.

"New Zealand has a world-class education system. Our children are among the top in the world in reading and maths, and we are committed to making our education system even stronger."

The latest NEMP reports also reveal the first achievement results in music since the new arts curriculum was introduced and show students’ achievement in music has been maintained.

In comparing the latest NEMP 2004 results to the NEMP 2000 results the latest 2004 investigation found: Overall, progress has been made between year 4 and year 8 students in reading and speaking, music, and technology. Both Year 4 and Year 8 students had very positive attitudes towards the subjects in which they were assessed and liked doing each subject at school. Disparities have reduced noticeably between year 4 Pakeha and Mâori students and Pakeha and Pasifika students, in reading, speaking and technology.

There were only small differences in achievement between girls and boys at both levels for music and technology. Girls are slightly better at reading and speaking than boys. There were almost no difference in music achievement between students of different ethnicities, and between students who mainly speak English at home and students who do not.

ENDS

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