New Zealand

Reading Instruction in the Primary Grades

While neither the New Zealand Curriculum nor Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (TMoA), the partner document for Māori medium teaching and learning, specifies time allocations for reading instruction, all schools are required to offer a balanced curriculum. School principals and teaching staff are responsible for interpreting the curriculum, determining the most appropriate approaches for teaching students, and selecting instructional materials for reading and other subject areas. Results from PIRLS 2011 showed that the estimated average time spent on formal and informal reading in Year 5 was about 24 percent of the total instructional time during the course of the school year.³⁹

Instructional Materials

The Ministry of Education’s Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1 to 4 and Effective Literacy Practice in Years 5 to 8 are the principal handbooks for teachers to use in developing their literacy programs in English medium primary school settings.^40,41 They set out the theoretical basis for effective literacy teaching practice in New Zealand and describe characteristics of instructional practice that have been found to work best to improve student outcomes in English medium settings.⁴² These handbooks also underpin three other key professional resources for use in literacy programs: Literacy Language Progressions and English Language Learning Progressions Years 1–4, Years 5–8, which provide a nationally consistent set of progressions for learning the English language, and Learning Through Talk, an oral English language resource for Years 1 to 3 and Years 4 to 8.

The Ministry of Education (through a contracted supplier) publishes and distributes an extensive range of reading materials and classroom resources in English, Māori, and Pacific Island languages free of charge to state and state integrated schools. Several private New Zealand publishers also produce a range of high quality reading texts and supporting aids for teachers.

Ready to Read, published in English, is the core instructional series for students in their first three years of schooling (Years 1 to 3) and the basis for making judgments against the reading standards for these years. The series is published for three stages of reading: emergent, early, and fluent. The content of the texts reflects the lives and interests of New Zealand children. Ready to Read, which has purposely been designed to not look like a series, includes single titles, big books, poem cards, and tapes and CDs. Teacher support materials accompanying individual titles describe specific features of the texts and give suggestions for teaching strategies.

The Junior Journal is an instructional reading series for Year 3 students working at Level 2 of the New Zealand Curriculum. It is designed for use alongside the Ready to Read texts for students at the upper fluency levels, bridging student reading from individual instructional books to the assortment of texts in the School Journal.

The School Journal, the main instructional material for reading at Years 4 to 8, is aligned to curriculum Levels 2, 3, and 4. The magazine style publication includes a mix of fiction and nonfiction material. Recently, the School Journal has featured longer texts for curriculum Levels 3 and 4 (Years 5 to 8), with more in-depth content for extending students’ reading skills. The teacher support materials that accompany certain issues describe how they can be used for different instructional purposes in at least two curriculum areas, provide suggestions for purposeful teaching, and show how the characteristics of selected pieces of text relate to particular reading standards.

Teachers also have access to a range of materials supporting learners with reading difficulties. The Electronic Storybook, for example, is an interactive resource using texts from the School Journal and other series designed to accelerate literacy achievement for students in Years 5 to 8 who are two to three years below the expected reading level.

A range of instructional material has been aligned to Te Marautanga o Aotearoaand Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori, including: Ngā Kete Kōrero, the core program of sequential early readers and support materials designed for children from emergent to fluency stages who are learning to read in Māori; He Purapura, a series of graded readers available for students in Years 1 to 4; He Kohikohinga, a collection of traditional and contemporary stories designed for students in Years 4 to 6; and Tāiki E!, a take home magazine for students in Years 3 to 8.

Use of Technology

Both the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa acknowledge the role of e-learning in supporting effective pedagogy. Furthermore, by 2020, digital technologies will be formally recognized and linked to all learning areas in both curricula.⁴³ Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI), a bilingual education portal, provides schools, teachers, and students with an extensive range of resources and information related to the curriculum, assessment, and school leadership.⁴⁴ There also is a dedicated area of the TKI website called Literacy Online for literacy and reading resources. Down the Back of the Chair is the Ministry of Education’s online catalog of teaching and learning resources for schools. Schools also may choose to integrate commercially developed materials and Web based investigative activities into their literacy programs. Audio versions (i.e., MP3 files and CDs) of the Ready to Read student books and selected Level 2 School Journals allow teachers to help build students’ reading confidence and comprehension, using authentic New Zealand voices often from a range of cultural backgrounds.

An example of a website for children ages 7 to 12 (Years 3 to 8) is wickED. The site, which students can use independently or with a teacher, contains curriculum based learning activities in English and Māori with a focus on literacy and numeracy.⁴⁵

Role of Reading Specialists

Primary school teachers generally teach all curriculum areas, including reading. At many schools—particularly in the junior syndicate (Years 1 to 3)—an experienced senior teacher is responsible for the leadership and organization of the school’s literacy program.

Second Language Instruction

The Ministry of Education provides additional funding and resources to schools to meet the language needs of all students, including students learning English as their second language (e.g., new immigrants and refugees), New Zealand-born students from non-English speaking backgrounds, and students learning in Māori medium settings. Schools are responsible for the organizational arrangements for teaching students with language needs. For example, English language learners typically are in a regular class setting, although those with high English language learning needs may work separately with teachers with specialist training. Sometimes, in-class support such as a teacher’s aide or a peer support program supplements this arrangement.⁴⁶ Those in Māori medium settings in Levels 1 and 2 are able to access the services of Resource Teachers of Māori, who work alongside classroom teachers of Years 1 to 8, providing professional support in the curriculum and the Māori language.^w

Accommodation Policies for Instruction and Testing

Wherever possible, students with (special) learning needs are catered to in their local schools. Children and young people attending their local schools who are assessed as having very high, high, or moderate learning needs are provided with additional support in accordance with Ministry criteria. Support could include extra assistance, adapted learning programs, or specialized equipment or materials. Services and support that can be provided include speech language therapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, advisors, mobility instructors, sign language specialists, and teacher’s aides for in-class support. Items such as extra-size pens and pen grips, Braille machine paper, computer software, and laminating pouches also can be provided.⁴⁷

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) provides guidelines to secondary schools for accommodating students with learning needs during examinations or assessments. Support can include a reader, writer, or reader-writer support; a sign language interpreter; extra time; alternative formats (e.g., enlarged font); use of assistive technology (e.g., computers); rest breaks; and/or a separate accommodation (e.g., a room without other test takers).⁴⁸ While NZQA is particularly targeting assessment for qualifications, these types of accommodations also can be used for younger students. Furthermore, achievement and progress of all primary school students—including those with special learning needs—are assessed against the National Standards under a set of guidelines.^49,50