Literacy Achievement in Aotearoa New Zealand: What Is the Evidence?

In recent years, literacy achievement among school-aged students has received growing attention in Aotearoa New Zealand. Particular focus has been paid to reports of declining literacy levels over the past decade. In both the academic literature and popular press, a myriad of reasons have been proffered for this decline; however, the evidence base on which some of these claims are based is not as robust as often is implied. Given the number of literacy-focused policy initiatives currently being developed in Aotearoa New Zealand and the critical importance of young people developing strong literacy skills, this paper explores what evidence exists to support (or challenge) some of the claims most commonly made about literacy achievement in New Zealand. It also offers two further claims that are not frequently mentioned in research or policy discussion of literacy but none-the-less have a strong evidence base behind them to suggest they are impacting current literacy levels in Aotearoa New Zealand.