No Surprise PISA Results Show Drop says NZPF President

The New Zealand Principals' Federation (NZPF) is not surprised by the country's declining reading, writing and mathematics scores in this year's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), given the impact of Covid-19 and significant dropout rates among participants.

Growing inequality between top and bottom performers is NZPF's primary concern, according to President Leanne Otene, who urged the government to focus on creating stable education policies and bridging the equity gap.

To achieve this, Otene called for greater investment in programmes offering free lunches, smaller class sizes and cultural engagement, as well as increased education funding in general to lift performance.