Minister to Study Primary School Assessment

  • Brian Donnelly
Associate Minister of Education (Early Childhood Education and Maori Education)

The Associate Minister of Education, Brian Donnelly, will be studying assessment systems in primary schools during a visit to Toronto and London.

He will be in Toronto from July 4-9 and then London until July 17.

The New Zealand education sector is currently considering the Green Paper, Assessment for Success in Primary Schools.

Mr Donnelly says a number of education representatives have returned from Toronto, a leader in the field of assessment, with conflicting messages and it is important that he should see things for himself.

"New Zealand currently doesn't have an assessment system that provides valid and reliable information about student progress and achievement in terms of the national curriculum in primary schools," Mr Donnelly said.

"Systems for large-scale assessment in primary schools have been implemented with varying degrees of success overseas. It is important that the design of our assessment package and implementation are informed by the experience of other countries.

"Discussions with policy makers and managers in Canada and England will provide first-hand information of both successful practices and avoidable pitfalls."

Mr Donnelly will be accompanied by his wife, Linda, his Senior Private Secretary, David Tunnicliffe and Frances Kelly, Senior Manager, Learning and Evaluation Policy, Ministry of Education.