%201.svg)
Now We Are 15 | Snapshot 01
Education
01
Introduction
In 2024 the New Zealand Government set nine targets to improve the lives of all New Zealanders. Two of these relate to education, recognising that educational success is a key contributor to social, cultural, and economic wellbeing. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the influences school, whānau and community factors have on young people’s educational experiences.
This snapshot explores the educational experiences of young people at 15 years of age including school satisfaction, academic buoyancy and concepts of achievement. We considered how these experiences were shaped by factors such as cultural connectedness, discrimination, and material hardship. Our aim is to provide evidence that can inform policy decisions that address these educational outcomes.
02
Key findings
Key findings from this research are:
1.
Greater cultural connectedness was associated with young people reporting higher school satisfaction while the experience of any form of discrimination was associated with young people reporting lower school satisfaction.
2.
Greater cultural connectedness was associated with being better able to cope with everyday setbacks and stresses at school (academic buoyancy). Conversely, experience of any form of discrimination was linked to reduced ability to cope with everyday setbacks and stresses at school.
3.
Most caregivers reported high satisfaction with how schools respond to their child’s needs. Satisfaction was highest for wharekura and lowest for English-medium schools.
4.
Caregivers experiencing material hardship and more deprivation were less likely to feel that schools were meeting their child’s needs compared to those not experiencing hardship.
5.
Overall, young people with a disability reported lower school satisfaction and lower levels of coping with academic stress (academic buoyancy). This was compounded by young people with a disability also experiencing more discrimination compared to their peers without a disability.
6.
Most 15-year-olds aspired to continue into further education. Many young people described school as both motivating and stressful.
03
About the report
This snapshot examines the school and learning experiences of 15-year-olds in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Key definitions that are integral to the interpretation of findings of the snapshot:
School satisfaction: young person
School satisfaction refers to young people’s agreement with the statement ‘I like school’. Responses of ‘Never’ and ‘Sometimes’ were grouped together into ‘lower school satisfaction’, while responses to ‘Often’ and ‘Almost always’ were grouped together into ‘higher school satisfaction.’
School satisfaction: main caregiver
Caregivers were asked how well their child’s school understands and responds to the learning needs, cultural needs, and social and emotional needs of their children.
Academic buoyancy
Ability of an individual to deal with everyday setbacks that are common parts of everyday school life, such as the stress related to marks, deadlines, or schoolwork challenges.
Cultural connectedness
Feeling of closeness to, engagement with, and having a sense of belonging to the cultural group (or groups) with which one identifies.
Discrimination
Being treated unfairly, differently or with prejudice compared to others. This treatment may be based on characteristics such as age, skin colour, way of dress or appearance, race or ethnicity, accent or language spoken, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, disability, health status, or other attributes.
English medium school
Schools that use English language as the primary medium of instruction. They can include local and state schools, state-integrated schools, charter schools, and private schools.
Wharekura
Māori-medium education where students are taught in te reo Māori language (for at least 51% of the time) and curricula is grounded in kaupapa Māori and tikanga.
04
Research methodology
Young people answered questions about school satisfaction, academic buoyancy, cultural connectedness, experience of discrimination, disability status, academic expectations and aspirations. Primary caregivers provided information on school type, satisfaction with school support for social/emotional, cultural, and learning needs, and household material hardship.
All young people were counted in each of the ethnic groups they identified with (Māori, Pacific, Asian, Middle Eastern/Latin American/African (MELAA), Other). In this report, sole European refers to the group of young people in the cohort who only identified as belonging to a European ethnic group which we use in our analyses to provide a group for comparison.
Caregiver experiences of material hardship trajectories between 9-months and 15-years of age were categorised into four clusters: No material hardship, some exposure to hardship, persistent material hardship, and increasing material hardship.
Further details are available in the Education Snapshot document, the ‘Material Hardship technical report’ and ‘Education Snapshot Supplementary Material report’.
05
Insight one
School satisfaction at age 15.
At age 15, higher school satisfaction was indicated by 35% of rangatahi Māori, 46% of Pacific young people, 48% of Asian young people, 37% of MELAA young people, 39% of young people of other ethnicities, and 38% for Sole European young people.
Young people who felt more connected to their ethnic or cultural group tended to feel more satisfied with school. Young people who experienced any form of discrimination – many reported doing so at school – had lower school satisfaction.
This graph is best viewed in landscape.
06
Insight two
Caregiver satisfaction with how schools support their child’s needs.
Overall, caregivers were highly satisfied with the school support of their child’s needs. The average score of primary caregivers’ satisfaction with school support was 4.0 for rangatahi Māori, 4.1 for Pacific, 4.2 for Asian, 4.0 for MELAA, 4.0 for young people of Other ethnic groups and 4.2 for Sole European young people. Primary caregivers reported the highest average school satisfaction for Wharekura (average score 4.4), followed by Other (average score 4.3; e.g. Bilingual Unit, Special Character School, Te Kura, Home School. The average caregiver school satisfaction was in a similar, slightly lower range for Specialist School and English medium school (average score4.1).”
Primary caregivers who reported ‘some’, ‘increasing’ or ‘persistent’ material hardship were less satisfied with their child's school than those who reported no hardship in their child's lifetime. Caregivers reported lower average satisfaction with how their school supported their child’s needs if their child had reported any experiences of discrimination.
This graph is best viewed in landscape.
07
Insight three
Dealing with academic challenges at school.
The average academic buoyancy score at age 15 for rangatahi Māori was 4.4, 4.6 for Pacific young people, 4.4 for Asian young people, 4.2 for MELAA young people, 4.0 for young people from other ethnic groups, and 4.2 for Sole European young people. Academic buoyancy was higher amongst cisgender boys, young people with higher cultural connectedness and young people who reported no experiences of discrimination. It was lower for those experiencing any form of discrimination. Academic buoyancy was also higher for those young people with higher cultural connectedness, and lower for those young people experiencing any form of discrimination.
This graph is best viewed in landscape.
08
Insight four
Experiences of young people with disability.
Young people living with disability were less likely to report high levels of school satisfaction (26%) than their peers without a disability (43%). Young people with a disability reported lower levels of academic buoyancy at 15-years (average score 3.6) as compared to those with no disability (average score 4.4). Disabled youth also reported lower cultural connectedness and more experiences of any form of discrimination than their peers reporting no disability.
What young people said:
“I'm special and I think differently to others”
“I love the way my brain works and I'm always entertained by myself”
“That I'm a fast learner, bright, kind, clever, quick minded, and have the ability to be okay with being alone”
This graph is best viewed in landscape.
09
Insight five
Educational aspirations.
Most young people felt very or quite well prepared for year 11 at school. University was the most common post-school aspiration, but pathways were varied — including employment, vocational training and apprenticeships. Education featured strongly in young people’s hopes for the future, yet was also a source of stress, particularly around NCEA, exams and career decisions.
What young people said:
“Being good at my sport and having the opportunity to go further with a good schooling system and good parents”
“Living my best life got good parents, good friends, good family, good school”
“Finishing school, going to university and experiencing new things”
This graph is best viewed in landscape.
10
Implications for policy & practice
Improving educational achievement to prepare learners for success is a government priority, and national strategies recognise that supporting young people to achieve will require support for their specific needs.
This report reveals differences in school satisfaction and academic buoyancy by cultural connectedness, socioeconomic conditions, and experiences of discrimination. Schools can help mitigate these influences by providing tailored support to students and families, and fostering inclusive environments. Policy actions that empower schools to eliminate discrimination, and to develop tailored support plans, are essential to achieve equitable outcomes.
Support should be tailored to the needs of each learner.
School satisfaction is lower for Māori young people and students who identify as having a disability.
- Disparities across the cohort could reflect unmet needs at a systemic level for groups who identified as requiring tailored support.
- Further research should investigate the various pathways through which these disparities could support enhanced student satisfaction and educational outcomes.
- Coupled with the existing literature that speaks to experiences of discrimination in school settings, resources committed to understanding school specific needs could enable the development of programmes, interventions, and policies to eliminate discrimination in school settings.
Improved achievement calls for stress management support.
Many young people expressed concerns about exams, gaining university entrance, and their future career pathways.
- Policies to strengthen the resourcing of wellbeing interventions that help young people navigate academic stress could help improve school satisfaction and achievement.
- Further research is required to understand the nature of academic stressors and the best coping and support mechanisms.
Young people’s schooling experiences are not isolated from their wider context
Young people do not exist in isolation and their experiences at school will be shaped by their friends, whānau, communities and broader societal factors. Parental school satisfaction is linked to child disability status, child ethnicity, and experiences of material hardship. This emphasises the need for schools and wider social services to work with families to provide appropriate supports.
Decision makers should develop policies that:
- enable families to actively participate in schooling
- ensure schools have resources to adequately meet diverse needs, and
- provide support to offset the effect of household material hardship and area-level deprivation and uphold the rights of young people by ensuring they can access all the things they need for a healthy and safe life.
Social conditions influence how young people experience the education system.
Young people who experienced discrimination in the school context were more likely to report decreased school satisfaction and lower academic buoyancy. Conversely, those reporting higher cultural connectedness were more likely to experience higher school satisfaction and higher academic buoyancy.
- Further research should investigate the various pathways through which discrimination plays out in educational settings and strategies to address them, while strengthening cultural connectedness.
11
