Children get a good level of personal attention with an average of one teacher for every 23-29 students at primary level, and one teacher to 17-23 students at secondary state schools.
There is a national curriculum and all schools, state and private, are measured against it every three years by the Government's Education Review Office. See (ERO). Individual school reviews are available from the ERO website.
Schools have internal testing of a child's learning performance. In addition, many schools also offer Cambridge International Examinations, or (IB World Schools) International Baccalaureate at senior levels. These overseas sourced exams enable students to be assessed against internationally recognised standards. Check whether the school you are considering offers this, if relevant.
In gerneral terms, a state, or government funded school, receives a fee for each student enrolled at that school. In addition, a school has a decile rating. The decile rating recognises that students from low income households require more teaching resources than do students from high income households. Low decile schools receive an additional top-up according to the decile level.
There are nine universities located in Auckland (AU, AUTC, MIT), Hamilton (Waikato), Palmerston North (Massey), Wellington (Victoria), Christchurch (Canterbury), Lincoln (Lincoln), and Dunedin (Otago). There are also 20 polytechnics and institutes of technology in the main centres and leading provincial cities as well.