The Post Primary Teachers’ Association has challenged the usefulness of the OECD’s PISA tests as New Zealand prepares for the next round, arguing the programme is a narrow and unreliable way to judge an education system and should not drive policy.

In an analysis released today, PPTA Te Wehengarua says PISA’s appeal lies in simple rankings, but those rankings are often used selectively by governments and can overshadow more meaningful data. The union argues the tests focus on a limited slice of learning — reading, maths and science for 15-year-olds — and that heavy reliance on them risks squeezing out the arts, humanities and broader outcomes valued by schools.

The release takes aim at policy built around climbing the PISA tables, noting National’s stated goal for New Zealand to be in the “top 10” by 2033 and the coalition’s new twice-yearly progression checks in reading, writing and maths for Years 3–8. It also references Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s comments that schools could defer arts and music to lift literacy and numeracy. PPTA says this “laser focus” is being validated by rankings rather than by a balanced view of what education should deliver.

PPTA also questions the comparability of results across countries, pointing to sampling decisions and regional participation rules that can skew outcomes. The union highlights concerns raised internationally about how some jurisdictions have entered only their strongest regions, and notes the Ministry of Education’s own 2022 non-response bias analysis found New Zealand’s PISA sample included slightly more high achievers than the overall student population.

Beyond methodology, the union argues PISA’s influence has encouraged more testing and a greater reliance on quantitative measures that do not capture creativity, wellbeing or the realities of different national contexts. It cites OECD material showing socio-economic disadvantage accounts for a large share of score differences between countries, and says inequality, classroom behaviour and parental engagement are the levers most consistently linked to achievement here.

The association is not calling for New Zealand to abandon participation, but says PISA should be treated as one data point among many, not a single yardstick. “I hope the government reads the writing on the PISA wall and realises that if it is serious about improving educational achievement, the most important thing it can do is address the widening gap between the haves and have nots in Aotearoa New Zealand,” PPTA president Chris Abercrombie says.

PPTA wants teachers involved as “architects” of reform and says any useful response to international assessments will focus less on rankings and more on the longstanding issues those assessments continue to surface: inequity, variable classroom behaviour, uneven achievement within schools, and the importance of collaborative teaching.