Education Minister Erica Stanford is celebrating new data showing a “significant boost” in phonics achievement rates at primary schools.

The data, released today by the Ministry of Education, showed 58% of students were at or above expectations at their 20-week phonics check in Term 3. This is up from 36% in Term 1.

In Term 3, 43% of students were classed as exceeding expectations – more than double the Term 1 rate.

“This is an incredible improvement in reading scores in less than half a year and reflects the brilliant work teachers are doing,” Stanford said.

“I want parents to know that we are ambitious for your children. We want them to be confident readers.”

The data identifies which students require more support after their 20-week phonics check. This has decreased from 52% in Term 1 to a third in Term 3. This extra support could be going off in small groups with a teacher or one-on-one instruction.

For Māori students in mainstream education, 47% required further support with phonics in Term 3, down from 62% in Term 1.

In Term 1, a quarter of Māori students were “at or above expectations”. This increased to 43% in Term 3.

“These results are a significant step in raising Māori achievement and closing the equity gap,” Stanford said.

In high equity (low-decile) schools, children meeting expected levels increased from 17% to 35%, and for Pacific students from 27% up to 42%, between Term 1 and 3, she said.

Education Minister Erica Stanford unveiled the data on Monday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Structured literacy, which involves explicitly teaching word identification, including through phonics, became mandatory in schools at the start of this year. It was used in many schools before this, but not necessarily by every teacher at every year level.

Stanford has called it a “back-to-basics” approach, after several studies that found reading results were declining. For example, New Zealand’s results have been declining since 2006 in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, which is done every five years.

Alongside structured literacy, phonics checks have also been available to teachers to understand a child’s ability to read words by sounding out their letters.

These checks are initially done 20 weeks after a child has begun school, or after about six months. They aren’t mandatory yet but will be in 2026.

The results are collected by the Ministry of Education “to build a picture of how well the education system is working for our beginning readers”.

In their phonics check, children are asked to read from a list of up to 40 words. Some of these are real words, while others are made up, requiring the child to use their knowledge of the relationship between letters and sounds to read out the word.

Teaching structured literacy was a key education election promise by the National Party in 2023.

Budget 2024 included $67 million to provide teachers with professional development and resources for structured literacy.

Before it became compulsory, the Government announced that, depending on their roll sizes, schools could receive funding of up to $5000 a year over four years to buy structured literacy materials such as decodable books and games.

While the mandating of structured literacy and phonics checks was welcomed by some in the sector, others have said focusing on phonics is a narrow approach to teaching reading and some students benefit from personalised learning.

“I’m a bit concerned that this preoccupation with phonics and phonics testing is going to put a lot of attention on one element of what is required for young children to learn to read, and it isolates that one element and seems to ignore the others,” University of Canterbury education lecturer Dr Jae Major told RNZ last year.

When Stanford announced funding for structured literacy last year, she said it was a “critical part” of reaching the Government’s target of getting 80% of Year 8 students to curriculum level by 2030.

“Structured literacy goes hand-in-hand with our requirement for schools to teach an hour a day of reading, writing and maths, as well as implementing a curriculum that is rich in knowledge and clear about what students should be learning and when.”

Jamie Ensor is a senior political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist this year for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.