Derek Cheng writes:
“Almost all socio-economically disadvantaged children fell behind in maths last year by Year 3, with 95% below curriculum level and 70% more than a year behind.
The proportion for this cohort of disadvantaged kids was almost as high for writing: 91% were already below curriculum level in Year 3, with 80% already more than a year in arears.
That’s according to the latest foundational assessment data, for 2025, which shows the inequity gap widening not only in maths and writing but also in reading, where two out of three disadvantaged kids in Year 3 were more than a year behind.
For reading, in 2023, 52% of socio-economically disadvantaged Year 3 students had fallen more than a year behind curriculum level. In 2025, it was 67%.
The proportion for the same cohort for Year 6 kids was 61% in 2023, barely moving to 62% in 2025. For the same grouping of Year 8 students, the leap from 2023 to 2025 was from 56% to 66%.
For writing, in 2024, the Year 3 “more barriers” cohort who were more than a year behind was 56%. Last year, it swelled to 80%.
The share of the same cohort for Year 6 kids was 74% last year (up from 65% in 2024), and for Year 8 students it was 79% (up from 69% in 2024).
The pattern is mirrored but far less pronounced for maths, when comparing the cohort’s 2023 and 2025 data: 67%-70% for Year 3 and 79%-83% for Year 8.
Year 6 bucked the trend, though the proportion of socially disadvantaged kids more than a year behind remained stubbornly high: 84% in 2023, and 82% in 2025.”
The article does contain some positive points for the current government’s change in approach for some children and in some situations.
Genuine change will come – as I have stated before:
That’s according to the latest foundational assessment data, for 2025, which shows the inequity gap widening not only in maths and writing but also in reading, where two out of three disadvantaged kids in Year 3 were more than a year behind.
For reading, in 2023, 52% of socio-economically disadvantaged Year 3 students had fallen more than a year behind curriculum level. In 2025, it was 67%.
The proportion for the same cohort for Year 6 kids was 61% in 2023, barely moving to 62% in 2025. For the same grouping of Year 8 students, the leap from 2023 to 2025 was from 56% to 66%.
For writing, in 2024, the Year 3 “more barriers” cohort who were more than a year behind was 56%. Last year, it swelled to 80%.
The share of the same cohort for Year 6 kids was 74% last year (up from 65% in 2024), and for Year 8 students it was 79% (up from 69% in 2024).
The pattern is mirrored but far less pronounced for maths, when comparing the cohort’s 2023 and 2025 data: 67%-70% for Year 3 and 79%-83% for Year 8.
Year 6 bucked the trend, though the proportion of socially disadvantaged kids more than a year behind remained stubbornly high: 84% in 2023, and 82% in 2025.”
The article does contain some positive points for the current government’s change in approach for some children and in some situations.
Genuine change will come – as I have stated before:
- When, as a nation, we truly enhance parenting and significantly increase the proportion of children arriving at school ready to go.
- When we get significantly more than 48% of children at high Equity Index schools fully attending.
- When the Equity Index spend is much greater that a maximum of 3% of a school’s funding to help students overcome disadvantage (EQI spending is a mere $250m out of a VOTE Education of approx. $7.5b.
- ….. among other things.
Alwyn Poole, a well-known figure in the New Zealand education system, he founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. This article was sourced HERE
8 comments:
I agree.
Problem: “Gap grows in maths, writing: More than 90% of poor children fall behind by Year 3” (NZH)
Solution: Don't have children if you can't afford them.
I really appreciate your continued insights on education, Alwyn. And I agree with most of your suggested solutions. What's driving the increasing disparity between the well-nurtured kids and the badly-nurtured kids is that the latter aren't made to attend school, don't arrive in a fit state if they do attend, and are not given the message that education massively increases your chances of a happy and prosperous life. For all the attention and wealth redistribution that we direct towards those with some Maori DNA, it's not working. And I suspect that they are heading down a slippery slope from which there is no return, and we are going to inherit an underclass the likes of which we have never seen. The message is completely lost on them, and part of the reason is that we keep using terminology that reinforces the hopelessly deluded way that the woke see things. Instead of using the white guilt expressions like "underprivileged" or "disadvantaged" can we not start calling it what it is - "poorly parented".
In tutoring maths , I found even in a high decile ( low equity area ) all students were not even doing year 8 maths in class. Many teachers couldn't teach it ! A survey not long ago found student teachers entering teachers' training colleges were deficient in knowledge of fractions, decimals , percentages and metrics.
Don't put all the blame on parents since we have had decades of poor teaching of maths . The is the result of the numeracy project and progressive education which emphasized 'understanding' over knowledge like knowing tables and learning off one method of doing arithmetic manipulations instead of several methods along with many other destructive activities like group solving of a maths word problem to which there was no definite answer given. Gaynor
I didn't take Mathematics at school here in NZ until I was in Form 1. Before that, it was called Arithmetic (and some Geometry).
I remember my Standard 4 teacher in 1965 giving us a problem about a circular swimming pool of given wall and floor thickness, how many bags of cement were required per cubic foot of concrete, and the cost of cement; how much would it cost to build that swimming pool?
From memory it took me about 20 min to solve.
I won't waste mental energy wondering how many primary teachers fresh out of teacol would be able to solve that problem today.
‘Spect that came in handy with the last circular pool you built Barend.
Having to switch between units in the old Imperial system was great mental exercise - fine-tuned reasoning and manipulatory skills that certainly come in handy in adult life.
The value of teaching kids all sorts of things lies not so much in the content of what is taught but in the mental gymnastics involved. A versatile mind is a great asset in this world.
Agree with comments about poor teaching. Modern university based teacher training is useless compared with previous dedicated teacher training Colleges. Re lack of parenting. Today's news said that some children starting school had the language skills of two year olds. Seems parents of toddlers don't bother talking or reading to their children anymore. Probably too busy on their own devices. Now funding is being provided to childcare centres to help the children communicate by talking properly. What a sad indictment of parenting. Some parents should be had up for child neglect
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