A visiting education expert says the best teachers need to work with the toughest pupils if New Zealand's school system is to improve.
The deputy director of education at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Andreas Schleicher, says the performance of New Zealand schools in international tests is plateauing.
He says New Zealand's results have not improved as much as those of other countries, and a particular challenge for this countryis that many of the worst-performing students are at the same schools as the best.
Mr Schleicher, who is here to help organise next year's international summit on teaching, says New Zealand's schools have a lot of autonomy but they need the support of a good education system and teachers need to be able to personalise their teaching.
