The Government says it is delivering a Writing Action Plan to supercharge writing achievement and better set Kiwi kids up for success.
New baseline data collected in 2024, prior to this year’s introduction of the new English curriculum and structured literacy supports, shows writing achievement declines as a child progresses through school.
The data showed 41% of Year 3 students are at the expected curriculum benchmark, 33% are in Year 6 and just 24% of Year 8 students are where they should be; while 61% of Year 8’s are more than a year behind.
“This data confirms what many parents, teachers and the Government already know: we’re not where we need to be. We are highly ambitious for Kiwi kids, which is why we have taken a whole system approach to lifting achievement,” said Education Minister, Erica Stanford.
“Writing is a critical skill for learning, thinking, and communicating. We’ve already mandated the teaching of at least an hour a day of the basics, we’ve mandated structured literacy and introduced a world-leading English curriculum. Today the Government is launching ‘Make It Write’, a targeted action plan to further strengthen the teaching of writing.”
From Term 1 next year, a new Writing Acceleration Tool will be available to support 120,000 Years 6–8 students who are below expected writing levels and won’t have the benefit of structured literacy from Year 1.
“Teachers will be supported to deliver explicit teaching and will be able to monitor student progress in real time, adjusting how their teaching based on individual needs and responses to intervention,” said Minister Stanford.
“Every Intermediate and Secondary School will be funded to train their own structured literacy intervention teacher. This training will be tailored for older students and extends what is already available for those teaching in Years 0-6. As requested by the sector, teachers will gain the skills needed to work with small groups of students who need targeted support, using structured, evidence-based approaches.”
New Handwriting Teacher Guidance will support explicit teaching from Years 0–8, aligned with the refreshed English curriculum. This guidance will support cognitive development and memory retention at an early age, so students are fluent and confident when they write, said Ms Stanford.
“Every student deserves the chance to succeed at school and beyond. Our education reforms are helping make sure that every student has that chance,” she said.
