National standards by stealth? Why the government’s latest plan for schools might fail the history test
- Written by Jade Wrathall, Teaching Fellow, Te Kura Toi Tangata – School of Education, University of Waikato

The New Zealand government’s plan to purchase a standardised tool to assess reading, writing and mathematics for school children between Year 3 and 10 has caught parents, schools and education groups by surprise.
The tool would essentially be a return to a form of national standards, a policy introduced in 2008 under John...