26 Aug 2017

National wants primary schools to measure student progress

8:50 pm on 26 August 2017

The National Party wants to start measuring primary school students' progress, as well as their National Standard results, its education spokesperson Nikki Kaye says.

Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye

Nikki Kaye Photo: RNZ / Tom Furley

She said the education sector had raised concerns about not being able to show a student's progress over time, particularly if they were below the standard.

"Monitoring student progress gives teachers more data on which to tailor learning plans for their students - and we want to roll this out to all primary schools and kura," Ms Kaye said.

"It is quite a big shift for our education system to move from just providing national standards data to providing much more comprehensive information.

"Not just in reading, writing, and maths but potentially in other subject areas."

Teachers might find it was extra work in the beginning, she said.

"Over time some of what [teachers] have previously been doing can be automated. So if we get the tools right then I think we can manage that workload."

Ms Kaye would get input from the sector about the practical details and would hold an education summit later in the year to provide specialist input, she said.

The change would be rolled out within three years.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs