Kerre Woodham: The post-Covid education collapse has halted

Well, I don't know what we're going to do... Good news! How on earth do you make a talkback show out of good news? That's not what we're here for. Indeed, it is very good news, though. The post-Covid collapse in education has halted, and the equity gap is narrowing as disadvantaged students improve at higher rates than their richer peers. That's according to New Zealand's 2025 PISA, Programme for International Student Assessment, results, which is a benchmark for 15-year-olds in the OECD in science, maths, and reading. Oh yes, sure, there are legitimate qualifiers. Results in other countries fell, so it was easier for us to catch up and look good. And no, thank you media, we're not back to the 2009 levels, which is when our schools delivered truly world class results in the PISAs, but come on, this is fantastic news.

The Minister for Education, Erica Stanford, believes, as indeed do I, as indeed do many of you, that your socioeconomic circumstances should not dictate your academic achievement. That a world class education should be available to every child in New Zealand, not just those who can afford private schools and tutoring. Education should be a way up, and it should be a way out for those who do not want to live the same lives as their parents. Understandably, Erica Stanford is very, very pleased with the results.

ES: To see these kids who are in the bottom quartile who have gained in science a year, in maths three terms, and in reading two terms or six months, that is beyond what we could have expected. And the reason I came to politics and to education was to close the equity gap that has been stubborn for decades, and this is the first time we've seen a turnaround. One of the things I put this down to is actually kids turning up to school.

MH: I was going to say, right. So just being at school helps.

ES: Well, if you look back to 2022 when we last did PISA, in term two our attendance rate was about 39% 39.6 In 2026 in term two, 64.3 Still a very long way to go, but when kids are turning up to school and our message has been over the last three years every single day counts, this is what happens, and it matters the most for the kids at the bottom who need education to change their lives.

You cannot doubt the Education Minister's passion for her portfolio. You also cannot doubt the results that she is getting. I don't know what the teachers' unions are going to do now. How can they complain because our kids are succeeding? And in large part, it is thanks to very, very good teachers who were always motivated, who were always professional, but who had a dog of a curriculum under Labour to deal with. I don't know what the principals who said, "Oh, you can't test children, you know, these give a false result," were talking about. No, they don't. They give an international benchmark. They let us know how we're doing compared to the rest of the world.

For a very, very long time, we were world leaders. And for those of us who grew up with an education in the 70s and early 80s—I'm talking the 1970s and 1980s, not the 1870s and the 1880s, just for clarity—it was a world-class education. Erica Stanford's been trying to ensure that no matter if you're in Whangārei or you're at school in Bluff, the core subjects will be the same. There'll be localised differences, there'll be regional differences, but the basics, the standard stuff, will be the same, and that's as it was. We turned out world-class scientists from tiny country schools because we had a great curriculum and brilliant teachers.

We've always had good teachers, but they've been dealing with absolute politically motivated, ideologically unsound curricula over the last couple of decades. All parents want is their children to achieve their potential, to have a chance to succeed. I went to school in Pukekohe, Tokoroa, Turangi, and Waihi, and I could foot it with anybody from around the world education-wise. You were allowed to explore what you wanted to explo