When clarity slipped away
When our first child started primary school, student-led conferences were already the norm. Rather than parent–teacher meetings being a conversation between adults about a child’s progress, the primary formal opportunity to meet teachers was structured around the child leading the discussion, typically twice a year, with very little written commentary to support parents in understanding or supporting their child’s learning.
For those who have not experienced student-led conferences, the dynamic is very different. Instead of the teacher explaining how a child is tracking academically, socially and emotionally, the child presents their work while parents listen and teachers step back into a coaching role.
On paper, this sounds empowering. In practice, for many parents, it was unsatisfying. That certainly was our experience, and when I asked around, it was clearly shared. Parents were engaged, but often left without the professional insight they were seeking.
Most parents already have a reasonable sense of what their child is doing day to day. What we want to understand is something else: how our child is tracking against expectations, where they might be struggling, and what the teacher is seeing across weeks and months that we cannot.
Instead, the moment that should have provided that clarity often became performative. Children explaining their work. Teachers encouraging. But a missed opportunity to really understand how learning was progressing.
Children should absolutely have a voice in their learning. But there is a difference between involving children and displacing professional judgment. For many parents, student-led conferences blurred that line.
When the approach changed
What became clear over time was that this was not inevitable. It was a choice, reinforced by culture rather than requirement.
At the school, new leadership came in and the approach changed. Student-led conferences were removed. In their place, the school introduced a mana meeting at the start of the year, giving parents and their child the opportunity to meet the teacher one-on-one and understand expectations early. This was followed by two parent–teacher meetings across the year, alongside clearer written reporting.
The school also introduced regular celebrations of learning each term. These provided a more informal setting where children could share their work and parents could see progress building over time. For us, they made visible the impact of a more back-to-basics approach, with proper maths books in use and reading and writing once again at the centre of learning.
Together, these changes created a more balanced model. Parents had clearer insight into how their child was tracking. Teachers had space to exercise professional judgment. Children still had opportunities to showcase their learning, but without any single moment carrying the full weight of reporting.
That experience also highlighted a deeper issue. The clarity we experienced depended on leadership and local culture. Not every school will identify the problem. Not every leadership team will feel able to challenge prevailing practice. And not every parent will experience a school willing to recalibrate on its own.
When clarity depends on individual school culture rather than shared expectations, inequity is baked in.
A system built on inconsistency
This experience is not just anecdotal. For more than a decade, the Education Review Office (ERO) has raised concerns about the consistency and clarity of assessment and reporting in primary schools. While many schools do this well, the ERO has repeatedly found wide variation in how progress is assessed and communicated to parents.
Student-led conferences were never mandated by government policy. They emerged from a broader shift towards student agency and learner ownership. These ideas were well-intentioned, but in some schools, student involvement became student substitution. Teacher-led explanation receded. Professional judgment became more implicit than explicit.
The result was not failure, but inconsistency. Some parents left conferences with clarity. Others left unsure whether everything was fine or whether they should be worried.
That inconsistency is exactly what the Government’s new reporting framework is designed to address.
Why clarity matters early
Recent data out of Auckland shows this challenge begins well before children enter classrooms. A survey of more than 120 primary and intermediate schools found nearly 90% are seeing an increase in new entrants lacking basic foundations, from recognising the letters in their own name to holding a pencil or communicating confidently.
This is not about blaming children or parents. But it does point to a system where expectations and guidance have become unclear. When expectations are vague, outcomes should not surprise us. Confusion is not a neutral setting.
By the time children arrive at school, teachers are often already playing catch-up. That reality makes one thing clear: professional judgment needs to be surfaced early and shared clearly with parents, not softened or delayed.
This is precisely where clear, consistent reporting becomes most important. Early visibility allows gaps to be identified before they widen, and support to be put in place while it can still make the greatest difference.
Education Minister Erica Stanford at a post-Cabinet press conference. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Clearer conversations
The Government’s decision to introduce five nationally consistent progress descriptors is a sensible and pragmatic step forward. In the new reports, each descriptor sits alongside narrative commentary, clear next learning steps and practical guidance for parents. Progress over time is visible rather than implied, helping families understand whether learning is moving forward or stalling.
Used well, this approach avoids blunt labelling and recognises that learning is not linear. It also removes the burden from individual schools to decide how much clarity is too much.
National consistency matters for another reason. When children move between schools, shared reference points make it easier to assess progress, identify support needs early and maintain continuity. For families, it reduces the need to start again each time a child changes schools.
Good schooling relies on partnership. Students need agency. Teachers need space to exercise professional judgment. Parents need clarity.
Over time, that balance has tilted. In trying to avoid pressure or judgment, we have made it harder for parents to understand how their children are really tracking.
The Government’s reset on school reporting is an important correction. It recognises that clarity cannot be left to individual school cultures or leadership capability alone. It needs to be built into the system. Clearer reporting does not undermine student voice. It supports it. And it does not increase pressure on children. It reduces uncertainty for parents and enables earlier, more constructive support.
This reform will not solve everything. But combined with clearer classroom communication and stronger early learning signals, it can help ensure fewer children arrive at school already behind, and fewer parents are left trying to read between the lines.
More broadly, in my opinion, there is no doubt that this Government has made some of the most positive changes we have seen in education in a long time. As a parent with a child now in Year 9, I am encouraged by the direction of travel at secondary level and look forward to seeing the changes to NCEA take shape. Done well, these reforms can restore confidence, coherence and credibility across the education system.
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