One in seven, not one in five?

The Herald reports:

The Post Primary Teachers Association have released research which they believe shows that it is inaccurate and simplistic to say that one in five New Zealand students is failing in education.

Independent researchers Liz Gordon, who was a former member of Parliament for Alliance, and Brian Easton who is an economist and columnist for the Listener, were given access to the Education Ministry’s 2009 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) database.

They found 14.3 per cent of students failed to achieve proficiency level 2 on PISA reading.

Which would be one in seven, not one in five.

They also found 74 per cent of those who failed were male, and that socio-economic factors such as parental income and the number of books in the home were contributing issues.

Boys are doing far worse than girls at pretty much all levels of education. That’s a gender gap which should be a priority to close.

The spokeswoman for Ms Parata said ‘one in five’ was an estimate which reflected the fact that not every person is leaving school with the qualifications and skills they needed to succeed.

“It reflects the fact that 15 per cent of school leavers do not have an NCEA Level 1 qualification and the basic literacy and numeracy skills required to attain it, and that around 30 per cent of students leave school without an NCEA Level 2 qualification – the minimum level of competency required to train for a basic apprenticeship.

“The one out of five reference also drew on ERO research and reading recovery data which indicated that up to one in five young people are leaving school without the skills needed for modern jobs.

The report is here.