Educators have mixed reactions to new parent portal

On Sunday, Education Minister Erica Stanford announced the launch of a new education “Parent Portal”, aimed at keeping parents and whānau informed about their child’s education.  

The portal includes a breakdown of what children will learn in English and Maths at each year level, with the other learning areas to be added as the New Zealand curriculum refresh continues.  

Whānau can find activities and resources to support learning at home, and information and videos about how parents can expect their child to progress through school.  

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There are also resources on structured literacy, and guidance on how to implement phonics approaches at home.  

During the announcement at Silverstream School in Wellington, Stanford called the website a “comprehensive and practical resource. 

“Until now, parents haven’t always had consistent access to this information – this new tool will change that.” 

The website will expand in the future, with Stanford promising it will be a “rich library of information and resources to help raise achievement and close the equity gap.”  

Speaking on RNZ’s Morning Report, Stanford said that parents and principals had been asking her for a similar resource, saying the website will facilitate a “partnership with schools and parents to raise achievement.”  

She expects that parents will be able to use the portal to check for gaps in their child’s learning, or even to be accelerated. Stanford said it was important that school learning was supplemented at home. She also said principals “have already indicated that they love this tool” because they don’t have to do the work of explaining curriculum to parents themselves. 

“We’ll see our statistics change. When we see accelerated learning and kids hitting milestones they’re supposed to be hitting.” 

Mixed reactions from educators  

The education sector’s reaction to the new parent portal has been mixed. Vaughan Couillault, President of the Secondary Principals Association of New Zealand and Principal of Papatoetoe High School said that the website was a great initiative. 

“Any opportunity to involve parents and whānau in learning is a good opportunity because we know kids learn better when their families know what’s going on at school.”

He admits that the website probably won’t add anything new, as active parents will already be involved in their child’s learning. However, he said the website will curate information and is a good resource for informing families about the curriculum refresh.  

“It’s a good idea. [The portal] is not fully populated at the moment, [but] it’ll hopefully get better over time.” 

But NZEI Te Riu Roa Te Manukura | President Ripeka Lessels says that the website won’t help to raise achievement. 

“No video or online resource will provide as much information to parents about their children as a conversation with their teacher. 

“Teachers can tell you about the progress of a child not only relative to national ‘norms’, but more importantly, in relation to their own learning. 

“To ensure all tamariki get the support they need to thrive at school, we need to see significant investment in learning support. It’s this that would make the biggest difference to teachers and parents and to children on their learning journey.”