Seymour keeps count of truants while his colleagues are counting on being able to halt the slide in Kiwi maths results
Our leaders in the past few days have focused on education and what they are doing – or will be doing – to improve the schooling of our children.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is braying about school attendance improvements over the first two weeks of term three, brandishing data to show “that when the government takes education seriously, so do New Zealanders”.
Moreover, he talks of better nourishing our children as well as improving their attendance. He is inviting food manufacturers, producers, wholesalers, and distributors to register their interest in the new and improved Healthy School Lunches programme.
We recall Seymour being keen to reduce the costs of feeding our offspring at school. Top marks if he can make school lunches cheaper and healthier.
But the big attention-grabber came from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford.
Under the headline Government transforms maths education, they tell us the Government will transform maths education to tackle New Zealand’s chronic problem with maths “and set kids – and New Zealand – up for success”.
But we knew this already, didn’t we?
On April 29 Erica Stanford outlined six education priorities “to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success”.
Second on the list was:
We recall Seymour being keen to reduce the costs of feeding our offspring at school. Top marks if he can make school lunches cheaper and healthier.
But the big attention-grabber came from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford.
Under the headline Government transforms maths education, they tell us the Government will transform maths education to tackle New Zealand’s chronic problem with maths “and set kids – and New Zealand – up for success”.
But we knew this already, didn’t we?
On April 29 Erica Stanford outlined six education priorities “to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success”.
Second on the list was:
- Better approach to literacy and numeracy: Implementing evidence-based instruction in early literacy and mathematics.
So was the latest news to be found in the second paragraph of the press statement?:
New data from the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study (CIPS) shows just 22 per cent of Year 8 students in New Zealand are at the expected curriculum benchmark for mathematics. It shows just 12 per cent of Māori students are where they should be and that 63 per cent of the overall Year 8 cohort are more than a year behind.
Further down the press statement, however, we learn about the … .
Make It Count – Maths Action Plan
Curriculum
- A new maths curriculum will be introduced a year early, from Term 1 2025, with resources available to support teachers.
- Resources, including teacher and student workbooks will be provided into every primary and intermediate school.
- $20 million for professional development in structured maths for teachers.
- Teaching Council agreed to lift maths entry requirements for new teachers.
Assessment
- Twice yearly assessments for maths in primary schools from the start of 2025.
- Small group interventions to support students who have fallen significantly behind.
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Drawing attention to the new data from the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study (CIPS), which show just 22 per cent of Year 8 students in New Zealand are at the expected curriculum benchmark for mathematics, Christopher Luxon and Erica Stanford say.
“That means last year, around 50,000 children in Year 8 did not meet the expected curriculum benchmark for maths. There’s no way to describe those results as anything other than a total system failure,” Mr Luxon says.
“These figures are appalling, but I suspect not a surprise for many parents who I know are frustrated and despondent about the progress of their children.
“Whether it’s the curriculum, teacher training or priorities within the education system – for years, we have not been setting kids up for success. And if we aren’t setting our kids up for success, we aren’t setting New Zealand up for success.
“For these results to change, the system needs to change and that is why our Government is taking swift action to transform maths education.”
The statement says Stanford is launching the first three components of ‘Make It Count’ – a maths action plan that will take effect from the start of next year.
“In line with our shift to structured literacy to change the way kids learn to read and write, we will bring forward the rollout of a new structured maths curriculum for year 0-8 students a year earlier than planned. It’s about getting the focus of our curriculum back to the basics.
“What that means for parents is that from Term 1 next year, children will be learning maths based on a new world-leading, knowledge-rich maths curriculum based on the best from across the OECD like Singapore and Australia, adapted for New Zealand.
“To support teachers to make this change, the Government will be working with a range of providers to introduce teacher guides and student workbooks that will go into classrooms across New Zealand.
“The expectations for what children must learn each year will be clearly laid out, so parents know exactly what their kids will be learning from the start of next year.”
Secondly, Stanford said the Government must support teachers, so they have the confidence to teach kids maths. Accordingly, $20 million is being shifted to become available for professional development in maths.
“But to build a pipeline of great teachers we also need to lift the standard for new teachers. That’s why it’s good news that the Teaching Council has agreed that anyone wanting to train to become a teacher must have at least NCEA Level 2 maths.”
Another initiative recognises the need for interventions for students who are falling significantly behind curriculum level, informed by twice-yearly standardised assessments for maths in primary schools announced earlier in the year, which are being implemented from the start of 2025.
These changes would build on others the Government has already implemented or announced.
Transforming maths achievement was another step towards closing the equity gap and giving
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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