Shifting students’ thinking to “insight” to gain Excellence in statistical enquiry

In New Zealand secondary schools, both students and teachers frequently express frustration with the challenges of achieving the highest level of success—Excellence—in the statistical mathematics standards assessed through the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). A central criterion for attaining Excellence is the demonstration of insight, a term that remains ambiguously defined and therefore difficult to operationalise in classroom practice. This Set article explores a collaborative project led by a secondary school teacher and her department, in partnership with teachers in other schools and an academic from the University of Auckland. The project aimed to raise student attainment at the Excellence level by explicitly developing students’ understanding and application of critical thinking. Through sustained, agentic dialogue among these educators, the initiative sought to clarify the expectations of insight and embed critical thinking more effectively within students’ statistical reasoning.