New Zealand's National Education Monitoring Project: Observed Patterns in the Surveys, 1995-1998 Liz Eley Educational Assessment Research Unit University of Otago Box 56, Dunedin New Zealand Paper ELE99157, presented as part of Symposium CRO99008 at the combined annual conference for 1999 of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education and the Australian Association for Research in Education Melbourne, Australia November 29 - December 2, 1999 The National Education Monitoring Project is conducted by the Educational Assessment Research Unit, University of Otago, under contract to the New Zealand Ministry of Education
New Zealand's National Education Monitoring Project: Observed Patterns in the Surveys, 1995-1998 The task of New Zealand's National Education Monitoring Project is assessing and reporting on the achievement of primary school children in all areas of the school curriculum, the main goal being to provide detailed information on what children know and can do. Children are assessed at two class levels - Year 4 (8-9 year olds) and Year 8 (12-13 year olds); these levels being the middle and end points of primary education. Different curriculum areas are assessed each year over a four year cycle - the first four year cycle from 1995-1998; the second commencing in 1999. Each year, small random samples of children are selected nationally, then assessed in their own schools by teachers specially seconded and trained for this work. For the first cycle, about 1440 students from 130 schools each year at each level took part in NEMP (about 11,500 students in total over the four year cycle), this number increasing slightly for the second cycle. Surveys are conducted with students taking part in the National Education Monitoring Project (NEMP) for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is a recognition that attitudinal and motivational factors have an impact on student achievement - "students' attitudes, interests and liking for a subject have a strong bearing on progress and learning outcomes". Research shows that students learn best when they enjoy what they are doing and when they see a value and a purpose for what they are learning. Other factors also influence students' achievement such as the experiences and opportunities they have in and out of school, the expectations and support of significant people in their lives and the extent to which they experience feelings of personal success and capability. A further reason for finding out what the students think and feel is the increasing realisation that the needs and opinions of children should be taken into account when research or policy decisions are made which affect them. The New Zealand Curriculum Framework states that attitudes and values are an integral part of the New Zealand curriculum, and the NEMP surveys provide opportunity for monitoring students' attitudes and values. Since 1995 surveys have been conducted in the following 12 learning areas: science, art, reading, speaking, technology, music, mathematics, library and research skills, social studies, writing, health and physical education. For each of these surveys about 460 students at each level (Year 4 and Year 8) have completed the questionnaire, each student taking part in the survey of one learning area only. Although two further NEMP reports have been published (Graphs, maps and tables and Listening and viewing) students were not surveyed in these areas. It was felt that these areas were not always clearly defined in the students' timetables, so they would be unable to comment on them. The questionnaires are administered to students in one of two settings - either as part of a one-to-one interview conducted by a specially trained teacher administrator or as part of a session where four students complete written answers, again supervised by a teacher administrator. In both these cases the student completed the questionnaire privately, the teacher available to answer questions, read the questionnaire to the student or to record the student answers if required. The questionnaires are designed to allow the gathering of data for both qualitative and quantitative analysis and contain both open-ended questions and Likert-type scales. The Likert-type scales use both a verbal comparison scale e.g. lots, quite a lot, sometimes, never and a non-verbal answering scheme using faces as indicators.
The surveys have varied in length between learning areas with an average of 12.5 questions and an average time of about 8 minutes required to complete a survey. The shortest survey, speaking, had 8 questions and took the students about 5 minutes to complete; while the longest survey, reading, consisted of 24 questions and required about 12 minutes to complete. The surveys have been prepared in consultation with the curriculum advisory panels for each learning area, each survey being tailored to meet the requirements of the specific individual learning area. The questions covered areas such as how much students like the subject at school, the kinds of activities done in school, what things they are good at or not so good at in that subject, and how good they, their parents or their teachers thought they were in that subject. Students have also been asked about their pursuit of different learning areas in their own time, outside of school learning, and if they would like to continue with that subject as they got older. Favourite Learning Areas: On six occasions over the four year period students have been asked to rate their first, second and third favourite school subjects, with a list of 12 possible learning areas provided to assist the student. On each of these occasions over 60% students have selected art and over 50% of students have selected physical education as one of their three favourite subjects. Mathematics has been consistently chosen as students' third favourite with between 30% and 40% choosing this subject. Enjoyment of Different Learning Areas: In ten of the surveys (all except for Speaking and Information skills) students have been asked to rate their enjoyment of that learning area on a 4 point Likert type scale. In each of these cases, Year 4 students were likely to give the most positive rating on the scale, while their Year 8 counterparts the second highest rating on that scale. Other studies have shown that older students are less positive towards schooling in general than younger students. For this paper the top two ratings on the scale have been combined to give an indication of a positive disposition towards a learning area, the lower two ratings being combined to give an indication of a negative disposition towards a subject. Figure 1 shows a graph of how many students gave a positive rating (i.e. the top two ratings) on the four point rating scale for each of the ten learning areas that this was asked for.
Students have positive feelings towards all ten of the identified learning areas, than 80% of Year 4's giving a positive rating in 9 of the 10 areas, and than 80% of Year 8's for 7 of the 10 areas. Students were least positive about writing as a learning area - although it was still rated positively by 72% of Year 4 and 60% of Year 8 students. These ratings do not closely correlate with the favourite subject ratings given by students. Mathematics has been consistently ranked as students' third favourite subject while health has been ranked as students' least favourite subject, but that is not reflected in these ratings. Learning Activities Enjoyed: For six of the learning areas, students were asked to identify the activities within the subject area they like the most. 1. Reading: Of the eight reading activities listed, both Years 4 and 8 students liked silent reading best, followed by listening to the teacher read. The activity liked least was reading aloud (at both levels) or reading with the teacher (Year 8 only). 2. Mathematics: In this survey students were given a list of twelve mathematical activities and asked to identify three activities they liked doing and three that they disliked. Of these, Year 4 students liked doing worksheets (41%) and disliked using mathematics textbooks (29%); while Year 8 students liked working on mathematical problems and puzzles (43%) and disliked tests (45%). 3. Physical Eduction: In this survey students to choose up to three activities they like doing the most at school and up to three activities they like don't like doing at school from a list of 15 physical education activities. Swimming was the most popular physical education activity for Year 4 students (53% identifying it as an activity they like best); while a high proportion at both ages also liked ball activities (40% of Year 4 and 43% of Year 8 students). Dance was a disliked physical education activity (37% at both levels
identifying this as an activity they disliked). Te reo kori (Mäori activities) were identified by 46% of Year 4 students and 34% of Year 8 students as activities they did not like doing at school. 4. Health: In this survey students to choose up to three activities they like doing the most at school and up to three activities they like don't like doing at school from a list of 13 health activities. Year 8 students most liked doing activities related to foods and healthy living while Year 4 students enjoyed both this and learning about friendships. The least popular activities were learning about risks to being healthy and knowing about diseases and illnesses. 5. Writing: Students were also asked what writing activities they liked most at school, choosing from a list of 6 activities. Over 70% of students at both levels preferred writing stories. Keeping a diary dropped in popularity from Year 4 to Year 8 (42% to 25%). 6. Music: This survey asked students to rate how much they liked different music activities at school on four point Likert scales. Each of the four activities listed - singing, playing instruments, listening to music and dancing/moving to music - were viewed positively by the students. Year 4 students liked playing instruments best (88% giving a positive rating to this) while the Year 8 students preferred listening to music (94% giving a positive rating). Out of School Activities: There is also a recognition that students' enjoyment of learning areas out of school influences both their achievement and enjoyment of those areas in school. A general question on leisure activities was asked in the speaking survey. A list of nine activities was presented to the students and they were asked to tick up to three activities which they most like to do in their spare time. The three favourite activities of Year 4 students were playing video or computer games (49%), making things (42%) and doing art (40%). The favourite activities of Year 8 students were playing games or sport (51%), playing video or computer games (45%), playing with friends (41%) and watching TV (41%). In eight of the surveys, students were asked about their leisure activities in that subject in their own time - when not at school. In three surveys (technology, music and writing) students were asked what activities they do, and in six surveys (science, art, reading, mathematics, physical education and writing) students were asked to rate how much they like doing it in their own time. The technology survey asked students in an open question what technological activities they did in their own time - construction activities were the most popular (40%) with using computers being identified by 26% of the students. The music survey had two questions on out of school involvement. Students were asked first if they learnt music or belonged to a music group outside of school - 25% of Year 4 and 30% of Year 8 students did. They were also asked how much of their own time did they spend on playing music, singing, listening or dancing to music, 36% of Year 4 and 39% of Year 8 students choosing the "heaps" rating. The writing survey asked students which of seven activities they did in their own time and over a third of the students at both levels said they wrote stories. The results for the six surveys that asked students to rate how much they like doing those activities in their leisure time are shown in Figure 2. The students again were asked to choose from a four point rating scale and the two positive responses have been combined to give these results.
Students gave a high rating of their enjoyment of art, physical education, science and reading with over 80% of Year 4 students and over 70% of Year 8 students giving these a positive rating. Year 4 students were positive in each of these areas, especially science, except for physical education. In mathematics and writing, over half the Year 4 students gave a positive rating for doing these in their own time, but this was not true at Year 8 where the proportion of students dropped to 40%. It is also interesting to note that although reading was not identified as one of students' three favourite leisure activities, it is still an activity that they enjoy doing. There has been concern expressed over the decline of reading for leisure with the rise of television, video and computers as out of school activities (Elley, 1994) however it is somewhat encouraging that students still viewing reading as an enjoyable activity. Perceptions of Ability: Students were also asked to rate on a 4 point Likert-type rating scale how good they thought they were in seven of the learning areas surveyed. The Year 4 students were again likely than the Year 8 students to use the top rating, while Year 8 students chose the second rating. The top two ratings on the Likert scale have been combined to give an indication of how positive students felt of their ability in the different learning areas. These results are shown in Figure 3.
Over 70% of the Year 4 students rated themselves positively as being good in each of these learning areas and this was true for the Year 8 students in six of the seven learning areas. Year 4 students thought they were best at art (92% giving a positive rating), while Year 8 students thought they were best at physical education (85% giving a positive rating). Both Year 4 and Year 8 students were least positive about their performance in writing (76% of Year 4 and 64% of Year 8 students giving a positive rating). In each subject except technology, responses from Year 4 students were slightly positive than Year 8 student responses. However for technology the survey showed that a high proportion of Year 4 students were unable to distinguish technology as an independent learning area and this will have affected their perception of their ability in this subject. The gap between Year 4 and Year 8 student perceptions of how good they are was greatest in the learning areas of reading, writing and mathematics. Perceptions of Good Practice: In four learning areas students were asked to identify, either in an open question or by selecting three activities from a list, the aspects of what makes for good practice in that learning area. For mathematics students were asked to nominate in an open-ended question what they considered to be three very important things a person needs to learn or do to be good at maths. Both year groups felt that knowing basic facts and tables were the most important things - 67% of the Year 8 students and 102% of the Year 4 (some students nominated two or three things that could be coded into the same category, so the totals could exceed 100%). Other attributes identified as contributing to good mathematical practice were paying attention, concentrating and studying or practicing hard. In the reading survey students were given a list of ten approaches and asked to select three important things a person needs to do to be a good reader. Year 8 students saw enjoyment as the most important factor (52%), where Year 4 students put emphasis on the technical skills required - go back and try again (45%), learn hard words (44%) and concentrate hard (42%). The writing survey also required students to identify three important characteristics from a list of ten options. Imagination was seen as the most important factor
(68% of Year 8 students and 56% of Year 4s). Again Year 4 students seemed to place emphasis on the technical side of writing while Year 8 students emphasised the need to enjoy writing: a quarter of the Year 4 students compared to 10% of the Year 8's identifying "writing neatly" as important, but 38% of Year 8's compared to 17% of Year 4 students identified "like writing" as important. The technology survey asked students to identify what they thought a person had to do to be really good at technology. The answers received to this were less subject specific than in the other learning areas. A third of the students referred to concepts of intelligence - saying that a person needed to be brainy, or to read lots of books about technology to be good at it. A further 30% referred to attributes such as "be a good listener" or "listen to the teacher's instructions" and over a quarter thought that you had to be good at building or making things. Subgroup Analysis of Survey Responses: National monitoring has provision for reporting on performance differences among subgroups of the sample. Nine demographic variables have been used to create subgroups for national monitoring and the relative performance of students within those subgroups have been reported on in the NEMP reports. For this paper, the differences in responses between students in three variables have been examined. These variables are gender, ethnicity (students who are identified on their school roll as Mäori, and those who are Non- Mäori), and socio-economic index. The subgroups for the socio-economic index have been determined using the decile ratings allocated to schools by the Ministry of Education. By taking into account household income levels, categories of employment and ethnic mix within census areas an SES index of ten subdivisions has been determined. Each subdivision contains ten percent of schools, deciles 1 to 10. For NEMP purposes, the bottom three deciles (1-3) form the low SES group, the middle four deciles (4-7) form the medium SES group, and the top three deciles (8-10) from the high SES group. Comparisons within the subgroups in responses to the survey questions are made for the questions using rating scales only, so comparison of means may be made. The number of questions that were compared for statistically significant differences in responses varied between each survey. The questions covered such aspects as: how much the students like the subject; their perception of how good they are at it; how much they enjoy it in their leisure time; and if they would like to keep learning about that learning area as they got older. For comparison for gender or for ethnicity, two subgroups were compared, and differences in responses between the two subgroups were checked for statistical significance using t-tests. Where the three subgroups for SES level were compared, one way analysis of variance was used to check for statistically significant differences among the three subgroups. The number of students within the subsample is quite large (over 450) so, in order to reduce the likelihood of attention being drawn to unimportant differences, the critical level for statistical significance was set at p=0.01 so that differences this large or larger would not be expected by chance in than one percent of cases. Gender Differences in the Survey Responses: Girls were positive in their responses than boys in six learning areas: music, writing, reading, art, health and speaking while boys were positive than girls in three learning areas: technology, physical education and science. The number of questions that had statistically significant different responses for the gender subgroups are shown in Table 1. The four learning areas where the girls had positive responses are shown first, followed by the two areas where there was a mix of both boys and girls having a positive responses, then the three learning areas where boys were positive. There was
no difference in response between boys and girls for social studies, so this learning area is not included in the table. Table 1: Statistically Significant Differences in the Survey Questions - Gender Year 4 Year 8 Learning Area # Questions # Differences Girls + Music 7/12 Like music at school Like to sing Like to dance Like to play an instrument Learn music in own time Spend of own time on music Like to learn as get older 5/12 Like music at school Like to sing Like to dance Learn music in own time Spend of own time on music Writing 4/8 Like writing at school Write at school Higher selfperception as writers Like writing own time 1/8 Like writing own time Reading 4/16 Enjoy reading -own time (2) Like to read aloud to teacher Like to read aloud to class 5/16 Like reading at school Higher selfperception as readers Listed books read in year Enjoy reading -own time (2)
Art 2/9 Higher enjoyment in own time Do good things in own time 5/9 Like art at school Think they learn at school Like to do art at school Higher enjoyment in own time Keep learning as grow older Health 0/4 2/4 More positive in doing at school More positive in value at school Speaking 0/4 1/4 Like talking to the class Mixed Information Skills 3/7 Girls enjoy looking for info. Girls enjoy writing down Boys feel need to find info. 1/7 Girls feel need to find info. Mathematics 1/9 Girls enjoy in own time 2/9 Boys think they are better at math Girls enjoy in own time Boys + Technology 2/4 Use computers at school Use computers out/school 3/4 Like technology at school Use computers at school Use computers out of
school P.E. 2/8 Think they are better at P.E. Think their teachers think they are better 3/8 Like P.E. at school Think they are better at P.E. More positive trying new things Science 2/9 Think they are better at science Make a better scientist when older 7/9 Like science at school Think they learn at school Like to do at school Think they are better at science Like it in their own time Do good things in own time Keep learning as get older The number of questions with differences in responses between girls and boys increased between Year 4 and Year 8. The older students became polarised in their perceptions - especially in art where girls are positive and in science where boys are positive about their enjoyment of science at school, confident in their performance and ability, their involvement in their own time and their interest in further study. It is also interesting to note the learning areas that boys and girls feel positive about. Girls show a positive feeling towards subjects that have traditionally been regarded as "girls' subjects" - music, writing, reading, art, health and speaking. Boys show a positive disposition towards the areas that have traditionally been regarded as "boys' subjects" - science, technology and physical education. For mathematics there was a mixed response - Year 8 boys think that they are better at mathematics but at both levels girls enjoy mathematics in their own time - when they can presumably choose their activity and perform it without pressure. These results also show a consistent relationship between attitude and achievement. In the learning areas where girls indicated a higher enjoyment and perceived themselves as better at the subject, their achievement in the NEMP assessment tasks in that area was also higher. The converse was also generally true - where the boys had a positive response rate in the survey questions, their achievement in the assessment tasks was generally higher. Table 2 shows the learning areas, which gender group was statistically significantly positive in the survey and the number of tasks where there was a statistically significant difference in achievement in the NEMP tasks. The analyses of the relative performance of subgroups use an overall score for each task created by adding scores for
the most important components of the task. Statistical difference between subgroups in performance in a task is then determined in the same way as for the survey questions. The table shows how many tasks had statistically significant differences out of the total number of tasks in that learning area. Table 2: Survey Responses and Achievement in NEMP Tasks: by Gender Learning Area Survey Responses Achievement in NEMP Tasks Music Girls + Y4 girls + in 3/20 Y8 girls + in 4/20 Writing Girls + Y4 girls + in 19/24 Y8 girls + in 24/28 Reading Girls + Y4 girls + in 7/14 Y8 girls + in 9/14 Art Girls + Y4 girls + in 3/12 Y8 girls + in 1/12 Health Girls + Y4 girls + in 1/23 Y8 girls + in 5/26 Y8 boys in 1/26 Speaking Girls + Y4 girls + in 4/11 Y8 girls + in 1/11 Info. Skills Mixed Y4 girls + in 6/20 Y8 girls + in 7/26 Mathematics Mixed Y4 boys + in 1/50 Y4 girls in 2/50 Y8 boys + in 1/53 Y8 girls in 7/53 Technology Boys + Y4 boys + in 1/15 Y4 girls in 2/15 Y8 boys + in 1/17 Y8 girls in 2/17
P.E. Boys + Y4 boys + in 10/21 Y4 girls in 5/21 Y8 boys + in 10/21 Y8 girls in 7/21 Science Boys + Y4 boys + in 3/33 Y8 boys + in 10/33 Social Studies No Difference Y4 boys + in 2/14 Y8 boys + in 6/19 Y8 girls in 3/19 A very positive picture for girls emerges from this data - they are doing better in school and enjoying school, which should lead in turn to greater involvement and therefore better results. Ethnicity Differences in the Survey Responses: When responses to the survey questions were examined for statistically significant differences between response rates for the two ethnicity subgroups there were some differences in response rates. Mäori students were positive in their responses than non-mäori in six learning areas: mathematics, health, social studies, writing, information skills and art. Non-Mäori students were positive in speaking and there was a mixed response for music. These results are shown in Table 3. There were no statistically significant differences in the following four learning areas: science, physical education, technology and reading. Table 3: Statistically Significant Differences in the Survey Questions - Ethnicity Year 4 Year 8 Learning Area # Questions # Differences Maori + Mathematics 5/9 Like maths at school Would like to do at school Think that they are better at maths Like to do new things in maths Like it in their own time 0/9
Health 3/5 Like health at school Like to learn when older Thinks class does health 0/5 Social Studies 1/4 Like social studies at school 0/4 Writing 1/5 Like writing at school 0/5 Information Skills 1/7 Look for information because they want to 0/7 Art 0/9 4/9 Spend own time on art Do good things in own time Keep learning as get older Think would make good artists Mixed Music 1/12 Mäori listen to music - school 3/12 Mäori sing at school Mäori dance at school Play instruments at school (Non-Maori)
Non- Maori + Speaking 1/4 Can talk to class Mäori students were generally positive towards their schooling than their non-mäori counterparts. This was especially true for the younger students who appeared to enjoy their learning at school. When the differences in students' responses to the survey questions are compared with their achievement in the NEMP assessment tasks, a different picture emerges. In spite of the positive disposition of Mäori students towards the learning areas, the achievement results of non-mäori students were higher in every area except physical education. Table 4 shows the learning areas, which ethnicity group was statistically significantly positive in the survey and the number of tasks where there was a statistically significant difference in achievement in the NEMP tasks. Table 4: Survey Responses and Achievement in NEMP Tasks: by Ethnicity Learning Area Survey Responses Achievement in NEMP Tasks Writing Mäori + Y4 Non-Mäori + in 11/24 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 11/28 Art Mäori + Y4 Non-Mäori + in 3/12 Health Mäori + Y4 Non-Mäori + in 6/23 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 7/26 Info. Skills Mäori + Y4 Non-Mäori + in 11/20 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 15/26 Mathematics Mäori + Y4 Non-Mäori + in 40/50 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 41/53 Social Studies Mäori + Y4 Non-Mäori + in 5/14 Y8 Non-Maori + in 13/19 Y8 Mäori + in 1/19 Music Mixed Y4 Non-Mäori + in 3/20 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 3/20 Speaking Non-Mäori + Y4 Non-Mäori + in 2/4 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 2/4 Reading No difference Y4 Non-Mäori + in 10/10 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 6/10
Technology No difference Y4 Non-Mäori + in 3/17 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 2/13 P.E. No difference Y4 Mäori + in 4/21 Y8 Mäori + in 6/21 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 1/21 Science No difference Y4 Non-Mäori + in 19/31 Y8 Non-Mäori + in 9/33 There was no consistent relationship between attitude towards a subject and achievement when ethnicity is considered. The Year 4 Mäori students appeared consistently positive than their non-mäori counterparts but this dropped off by Year 8 - a fairly bleak picture emerges of lower achievement and waning enthusiasm as these students progress through their schooling. SES Differences in the Survey Responses: When responses to the survey questions were examined for statistically significant differences between responses for the three subgroups based on the school decile ratings (SES groups) there were some differences. Students from the lower SES schools gave statistically significant positive responses than students from the other two SES groups in seven learning areas. In technology, there was one statistically significant different response in the survey - students from lower SES schools reported a lower frequency of use of computers in their own time than the students from the other two groups. The results for the lower SES group only are shown in Table 5, as almost all of the differences occurred here. There were two occasions where this was not true: in the music survey Year 8 students from high SES schools reported greater opportunities to play instruments and to dance or move to music at school; and in the writing survey Year 8 students from high SES schools reported a lower frequency of writing things like stories, poems or letters at school. There were no statistically significant differences in the following three learning areas: speaking, physical education, and art. Table 5: Statistically Significant Differences in the Survey Questions - Low SES Year 4 Year 8 Learning Area # Questions # Differences Mathematics 4/9 Like maths at school Would like to do at school Like to do new things in maths Like it in their own time 1/9 Like it in their own time
Health 3/5 Like health at school Like to learn when older Thinks class does health 1/5 Like to learn when older Writing 3/5 Like writing at school Think teacher thinks they are good Like it in their own time 0/5 Social Studies 2/4 Like social studies at school Like to do when older 1/4 Feel they learn at school Info. Skills 1/7 Like looking information 0/7 Reading 1/16 Enjoy reading in a group 1/16 Enjoy books at school Science 0/4 1/4 Would like to do at school Technology 0/4 1/4 Use computers less at school However, in spite of a generally positive disposition of students from the lower SES schools towards the learning areas, the achievement results of these students were lower in every area except physical education, where the results were mixed. Again, the younger students from the low SES group appeared consistently positive than the students from the other two SES groups but this dropped off by Year 8. Table 6 shows the learning areas, those learning areas where the students from the lower SES schools responded positively and their achievement in the NEMP assessment tasks. As the students in the team tasks came from the same schools, and these schools therefore had the same SES rating for each team member, the mean score for the team activities could be included in the analysis. This means that slightly tasks are included in this table. The table also shows only the results for the lower SES groups as almost all the statistically significant differences
were in this group, some differences did occur between the medium and high groups (usually favouring high) but these differences were not great. Table 6: Survey Responses and Achievement in NEMP Tasks: for Low SES Schools Learning Area Survey Responses Achievement in NEMP Tasks Health Low SES + Y4 Low SES - in 11/25 Y8 Low SES - in 11/29 Info. Skills Low SES + Y4 Low SES - in 17/21 Y8 Low SES - in 15/27 Mathematics Low SES + Y4 Low SES - in 45/53 Y8 Low SES - in 43/56 Social Studies Low SES + Y4 Low SES - in 9/19* Y8 Low SES - in 19/26 Reading Low SES + Y4 Low SES - in 10/14 Y8 Low SES in 13/14 Science Low SES + Y4 Low SES - in 20/37 Y8 Low SES - in 22/39 Technology Low SES - Y4 Low SES - in 5/13 Y8 Low SES - in 7/17 Writing Low SES + Y4 Low SES - in 20/24 Y8 *** Art No difference Y4 Low SES - in 1/12 Y8 Low SES - in 1/12** Music No difference Y4 Low SES - in 6/20* Y8 Low SES - in 9/20 Speaking No difference Y4 Low SES - in 8/12 Y8 Low SES - in 8/12 P.E. No difference Y4 Low SES + in 4/21 Y8 Low SES - in 3/21 Y8 Low SES + in 1/21 * Students from the middle SES had 1 activity scoring lowest in music and in social studies. ** Students from high SES schools scored higher in one activity in art
*** Writing had statistically significant differences in 21/29 tasks - these results were mixed but showed a trend of improvement from low SES schools to high SES schools The Year 4 students from the lower SES schools were consistently positive in their survey responses than their counterparts but this dropped off by Year 8 - the same bleak picture emerges for these students of lower achievement and waning enthusiasm as they progress through their schooling as is shown for the Mäori students. Conclusion: As attitudes and motivation have an impact on student achievement, the highly positive attitude to learning shown by students at both Year 4 and Year 8 is heartening. Students are enjoying their learning in all curriculum areas in schools and most students are positive about pursuing learning in these areas in their leisure time as well. Year 4 students consistently rate their enjoyment of schooling higher than Year 8 students but overall a very positive picture is presented. The majority of students are also very positive about their achievement in different learning areas, with Year 4 students again being positive than Year 8 students. The learning areas that students rate as their favourites - art for Year 4 and physical education for Year 8, are the areas that students perceive they are achieving best in. Writing received the lowest rating for enjoyment, both in school and out of school and also for student perception of their achievement in that area. Girls are positive than boys about their learning and boys appear to become less enthusiastic compared to girls as they get older. Girls were not only positive about their learning in most learning areas but their positive attitudes had dividends in their achievement. This raises as an area of concern as boys have already been identified as not achieving as well as girls in their schooling. A different picture emerges when student responses are analysed according to ethnicity and SES levels. In these cases Mäori students and students from low SES schools were generally positive about their learning, but this was not reflected in their achievement results. Factors other than attitude are affecting these students' achievement. The very positive attitude of these students is hopeful as it indicates that schooling itself remains a positive experience for these students. This provides a good starting place for working towards closing the gap in the achievement levels between the different subgroups. The twelve surveys conducted over four years of national monitoring show that students are enthusiastic towards their education - most students enjoy the curriculum areas, think they can achieve in them, enjoy learning in these areas in their own time and would like to learn as they get older. The picture is heartening - teachers and all those who contribute to the educational experience are making this experience a good one for our children. References: