“Participation rates for Māori and Pasifika children in ECE continue to rise faster than the overall increase. Since December 2012, participation has risen by 2.3 percentage points for Māori children and 3.4 percentage points for Pasifika children,” says Ms Parata.
“All our kids deserve the best start in life and we know that regular participation in ECE gives them a greater chance of educational success, which is why we set such an ambitious target.
“The closer we get to reaching our targets, the more challenging it is to make significant gains, but this is a challenge we accept,” she says.
The government’s NCEA Level 2 target is that in 2017, 85 per cent of all 18 year olds will have this qualification or an equivalent.
“Final NCEA Level 2 results are not yet available, but we expect that the results will show progress towards our target.
“This is an exciting year for education and these BPS results show how committed the government is to ensuring all kids achieve educational success. They also show how hard kids, parents, teachers and principals are working and I would like to acknowledge them for that.”
Hekia Parata
19 FEBRUARY, 2015