Go to Reading The Signs: Why Literacy Rates Are Falling | Newsroom for the full version.
Student performance in the building blocks of education is worsening here in Aotearoa.
Since the late 2000s, the performance of New Zealand students in international standardized tests measuring numeracy, literacy, and science performance has been slowly but steadily declining.
Last December, 13-year-olds recorded their worst-ever score in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.
In 2019, 15-year-olds recorded their worst-ever score in the PISA test.
"We don't exactly know why," says Dr Nina Hood, who runs Education Hub, a non-profit research organisation, "and while the research is a little bit patchy, I think we can intuit that there's something going on around increasing use of devices and decreasing literacy."
Hood says one of the difficulties in this area is that there's no quick fix: encouraging more reading for pleasure, re-examining the role of technology in the education system, these are things that take time and measured minds to maximise.
But she says she supports a coordinated approach, where reading among young people is encouraged and resourced; where the value of libraries is appreciated; where teachers are supported and educated in how to cultivate literacy across disciplines; where technology is used in a targeted, judicious way; where students who fall behind are identified and supported in getting back up to speed.
Bronwyn Yates, te Tumuaki of Literacy Aotearoa, works with adults with low levels of literacy to help them to improve.
She says one of the key difficulties in this sphere is a lack of understanding from people who have never struggled with literacy about the everyday difficulties people with low functional literacy face.
"We know we have a huge number of neuro-divergent people going through our school system. We've got children with a range of different interests and capabilities".
"At the same time, I don't think that can be an excuse for why we don't support a child to be able to read and write."
Here at VisionLink, we often use Vision Therapy to improve the eye movements and eye-brain coordination that are so critical to Reading Vision development.
We understand the issues that are holding our Kiwi Kids back, and we're here to lift their performance.
You'll be surprised what you learn about your child!
