The Front Page revisited: How New Zealand’s low literacy rate impacts the economy

Many young New Zealanders are struggling to learn how to read and write. Stock image: / 123rf

The Front Page podcast is revisiting some of the major stories covered in 2022.

At the start of this century, New Zealand was considered one of the most literate countries in the world.

However, multiple reports in recent years have shown that this is no longer the case.

Our literacy rates are falling, and it’s a problem that doesn’t stop in the classroom. The effects are being felt all across society, going as far as even impacting the workforce.

Joining The Front Page in August, NZ Herald education reporter Dubby Henry said the impact extends well beyond those who aspire to attend university.

“If you want to be a plumber or a mechanic, you still need to be literate and numerate,” Henry said.

If people don’t have these fundamental skills by the time they leave school, then the path to entering the productive economy becomes that much more difficult.

A research report published by The Education Hub earlier in 2022 revealed that by the age of 15, 35.4 per cent of teenagers struggle to read and write.

Since the late 2000s, the performance of New Zealand students in international standardised tests measuring numeracy, literacy and science performance has steadily declined.

These trends are worrying, given that literacy rates can be a strong predictor of the economic and career prospects of young people leaving school.

At the extreme end of this, you see this reflected in the prison population across New Zealand.

“The Department of Corrections believes that about three out of five prisoners don’t have [an] NCEA Level 1 level of literacy or numeracy,” explains Henry.

“So, they’re not going to have qualifications when they leave prison. And they’re not going to be able to get a job, which is also a really important predictor of whether you’re going to stay out of prison.”

So how did this problem become so severe in the first place? And what is now being done to address it?

Listen to The Front Page podcast to hear Henry’s full explanation of the systemic crisis unfolding in the New Zealand education system.