Stats NZ is developing a Census Teacher’s Toolkit to help teachers bring the 2023 Census on 7 March to life for students in the classroom and at home.

The 2023 Census Teacher’s Toolkit includes a tailored lesson plan, activity pack and a competition in which students can create their own census.

Dancer and entertainer Elvis Lopeti has been brought in to inject some fun and humour into the lessons through Tik Tok videos that will be available for use in the classroom and at home. The lessons are aimed at Years 3 to 7 but can also be adapted for Years 8 to 10.

“We hope that the excitement that these lessons will generate in classrooms will spill over into homes across the nation and encourage all whānau to take part in the 2023 Census. We look forward to seeing what tamariki and rangitahi come up with when developing their own censuses and what’s important to them,” says Simon Mason, deputy government statistician and deputy chief executive census and collections operations.

There are around 100 stationery voucher prizes, valued at $100 each, up for grabs for those participating in the census competition.

The Teacher’s Toolkit is available in English, Te Reo Māori and nine Pasifika languages. It has been developed with teachers, alongside tamariki and rangatahi, and reflects connections to culture, values and community. The toolkit aligns with Level 2 and 3 social studies curricula.

The toolkit relates specifically to the 2023 Census and is not part of the CensusAtSchool programme.

For further information, and to sign up for early access to the resources, please visit www.census.govt.nz/schools

The New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings is on March 7

The New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings is the official five yearly nationwide survey of all people and dwellings in Aotearoa New Zealand. Data gathered through the census is used by communities, iwi, councils, businesses and government to make important decisions about where to fund and locate services and infrastructure across the motu; services like hospitals, schools, roads, public transport and parks and recreation facilities, power, internet, water, and housing.

Teacher guides for CensusAtSchool 2023 are now available:

Inside, you’ll find a questionnaire preview, a “behind the questions” guide, and an essential classroom preparation list.

Happy New Year!

We hope you found (or soon find) some sunshine to enjoy this summer break! 

It’s less than a month until CensusAtSchool 2023 launches! We have had over 650 registrations already. Please help us make this year’s CensusAtSchool the biggest ever by registering (only takes a minute if you haven’t already) and forwarding this email to other colleagues. 

CensusAtSchool is a fantastic, engaging, and positive hands-on activity for your students and a great way to kick off the school year. It forms an integral part of your statistics curriculum coverage and we have excellent resources to support your teaching. 

Register now

Key Dates:

February 13: CensusAtSchool 2023 launches!
March 7: National Census – check out the videos!

Register today to take part with your students next year. Even if you have registered before in the past, you’ll still need to register for 2023.

CensusAtSchool 2023 launches on February 13. See the full questionnaire preview.

Many thanks to Ravinesh Chand of Avondale Intermediate for sharing these photos of his maths class taking part in CensusAtSchool.

Thanks to Heather Willocks from Balclutha Primary for sending these photos of her class taking part in CensusAtSchool.

Three in ten Year 11-13 students want the legal vaping age to be lowered – but a similar number want it pushed even higher.

31% of the 2,678 senior students surveyed wanted the age for buying vaping products to be decreased, but 27% wanted it increased.

The insight comes from CensusAtSchool TataurangaKiTeKura, a non-profit, online educational project that brings statistics to life in both English and Māori-medium classrooms. Supervised by teachers, students from Years 3-13 anonymously answer 34 questions in English or te reo Māori on digital devices. The project is run by the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Stats NZ.

This year, more than 19,000 students from 400 schools have taken part to date. Year 11-13 students (aged 15-18) were asked a series of additional questions, including “At what age do you think it should be legal to do the following? a) Drive b) Vote c) Buy alcohol d) Vape”. The results for the senior students taking part to date showed that 65% agreed with the legal driving age, 52% agreed with the legal voting age, 55% agreed with the legal age to buy alcohol, and 41% agreed with the legal age to buy vaping products. In addition, 27% wanted the legal voting age to be lowered to 16.

CensusAtSchool schools advisor Anne Patel says, “It is a good sign that 27% want the legal age for buying vaping products to be even older than it already is at 18. Young people need leadership from people they look up to who acknowledge and confront problems they’re facing, with the students themselves being drivers of the solutions.”

The senior students were also asked how they feel about the future. They were able to choose a range of options on a scale from ‘very positive’ to ‘very negative’. 8% felt very positive, 30% felt positive, 40% felt neutral, and 15% felt negative, and 7% felt very negative. Figures were similar for both Māori and New Zealand Europeans.

CensusAtSchool co-director Rachel Cunliffe says that this is a positive message for young people with everything going on in the world today.

The findings correspond with a Colmar Brunton/NZME survey in February and March of 1,000 adults in New Zealand which showed 42% felt that overall, things will improve in the next 12 months.

In other findings for the Year 11-13 students surveyed:

• 61% said they felt included at school always or very often, 31% said sometimes, and a further 8% said they rarely or never felt included at school.
• 57% said they did no paid work at a part-time job in the past week. 13% said they did up to 5 hours, 13% said 5 to 10 hours, and 13% said 10 to 20 hours. The remaining 4% said they did 20 or more hours of paid work at a part-time job in the past week.

CensusAtSchool runs every two years. This year’s census, the tenth, was launched on May 10 and runs until the end of 2022. More than 19,000 students from 400 schools have taken part to date.

See the questions, which schools are taking part, and a live dashboard of results on CensusAtSchool’s website.

Watch this short talk with your class about how data science skills are a superpower.