He has been a pupil under both Chris Hipkins and Erica Stanford.
Under Hipkins, I became so concerned about his maths that I bought an online programme and taught him myself.
Today he is doing much more maths at school.
He is now doing maths a year ahead of his age.
I have been able to retire as his maths coach. He is having guitar lessons instead.
I was shocked to hear Hipkins say in the leaders’ debate that Labour will abandon the compulsory daily hour of maths and leave the decision to teachers.
I have seen what can happen.
One of my daughters at intermediate school level had a teacher who did not like maths. So she did not teach it.
When my daughter reached secondary school, we discovered she was two years behind.
I paid for coaching. She caught up.
Her classmates did not.
One teacher’s decision not to teach maths damaged the future of many pupils.
Under Hipkins, New Zealand recorded a big fall in maths achievement in the 2022 PISA results.
I know what happens when children are not guaranteed time to learn maths.
I have seen it twice in my own family.
The Honourable Richard Prebble CBE is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the Labour Party, he joined the newly formed ACT New Zealand party under Roger Douglas in 1996, becoming its leader from 1996 to 2004. This article was sourced HERE
He is now doing maths a year ahead of his age.
I have been able to retire as his maths coach. He is having guitar lessons instead.
I was shocked to hear Hipkins say in the leaders’ debate that Labour will abandon the compulsory daily hour of maths and leave the decision to teachers.
I have seen what can happen.
One of my daughters at intermediate school level had a teacher who did not like maths. So she did not teach it.
When my daughter reached secondary school, we discovered she was two years behind.
I paid for coaching. She caught up.
Her classmates did not.
One teacher’s decision not to teach maths damaged the future of many pupils.
Under Hipkins, New Zealand recorded a big fall in maths achievement in the 2022 PISA results.
I know what happens when children are not guaranteed time to learn maths.
I have seen it twice in my own family.
The Honourable Richard Prebble CBE is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the Labour Party, he joined the newly formed ACT New Zealand party under Roger Douglas in 1996, becoming its leader from 1996 to 2004. This article was sourced HERE
9 comments:
NZ saw the failure to understand maths for two terms of Labour .
Is Hipkins of the view that since he cannot count or reason numerically why should NZ's kids?
My child is currently struggling with fractions and despite near perfect attendance at school is convinced shes just been left to figure out the maths side of things since her very woke teacher took over the class in the middle of the year.
I'm angry. I had to have an in person and email war with the teacher and principal over her being subjected to endless karakia in the classroom, while she simultaneously isn't being taught basic maths.
Thank goodness she is off to a private school next year - but I feel very sorry for this country that the kids going through the public system are more indoctrinated than educated.
This crap needs to end if this country is to have any future.
Reading Anon 9.33AM makes me want to weep for her child, that is appalling! Erica has done a great job thus far but Luxon has done us no favours whatsoever by sidestepping the BIG issue and as said "ending the crap". I suspect that he has placed his woke tendencies and his desire to please the Iwi Chairs over and above the wishes of what I hope is a majority. Key/Luxon have proved to be our Turnbull/Morrison equivalents. I guess we shall get the government we deserve!
May "I" make a suggestion?
To all parents, how about -
- rather than delivering & collecting said child and/or children to/from their respective schools -
- you go the "head shed" and ask that a teachers vs Parents for respective age groups be held in the school Auditorium whereby you get to ask "questions" (pre set by you on the basis of what you are detecting from said child/children in their daily education) -
- and "if" such meetings occur make it plain 'you ask the questions', they had better supply and answer - NOT a socialist rant on how parents should stay at the School gates.
I place this before you as I am sure there are many New Zealand Parents that - "leave the education of their child/children up to the Teachers", whilst they then progress to other daily activities (which includes me time on the cell phone) only considering education when "something goes wrong".
Happy days.
Teachers are employed to teach the curriculum. Any discussion about standards needs to start with the curriculum and then move onto the preparation of teachers to deliver that curriculum. How many primary school teachers can do the kinds of fractions problems that I was doing in Std 4 in 1965? I'd put money on it that many would be stumped by the harder ones.
A good curriculum is highly prescriptive - it outlines exactly what teachers need to be covering. Whenever there are changes to the curriculum, teachers should be given in-service training to be able to competently translate those curricular changes into classroom practice.
Pie in the sky? Nope. This is how they do it in Japan, where there is a very effective quality control mechanism operated by Universities of Education, Demonstration Schools associated with those, and the Ministry and Inspectorate, in consultation with the teacher professional associations.
Maths and English are apprently colonial impositions and kids should be learning love and diversity and painting and carving and chants and singalongs to improve their wellbeing while parents plant organic kumara and live off seafood....there is something about the ''Maori'' throwback to an imaginary golden age when everything was pure and no treatment or chemicals and luv ruled the world...a fantasy like the European Greens and their like who yearn for 300 years ago when we all drank unpasteurised milk, ate whatever we could and danced around maypoles on village greens (ignoring life expectancy of 20s or 30s). We see this yearning for imaginary golden ages in countries around the world...for empire days when everything was ''stable;; (ignoring mass poverty for the lower echelons). Or for the 1950s USA NZ UK or the USSR or for whatever.
In NZ, to some of our ideologically driven teachers being able to write and read English is unimportant. So is maths. It is feelings, identity and diversity...with white bad.
Must be the age of aquarius.....
Anon @ 12.14pm - By your excessive (and incorrect) use of quotation marks, you are giving away that you are, in fact, Kerry Butler.
I have been a maths tutor at all levels of school for 40 plus years and I saw in the raw the appalling ignorance of primary teachers in maths .( arithmetic).
At the worst they just didn't teach it at all . I mean one teacher, taught no arithmetic at all ever. I had students from her class that were of course more than three years behind
In the high decile area , I live in, no year 9 , students were being taught the syllabus , mostly because the teachers at that level couldn't teach it . For ,Year 9 , I taught my son fractions at home and he went to school and taught the class at the teachers request , because she said she couldn't
I heard many students tell me the teacher had said maths was of little value The teacher declared he hadn't needed it . .
A survey of primary teacher trainees, revealed shocking ignorance. Many couldn't measure the length of a line with a ruler let alone do fractions , percentages , decimals or metrics. The system is to blame for this not the teachers . There was no requirement for trainees to have passed NCEA maths.
My suggestions for parents is workbooks like the Australian EXCEL books with revision and answers. The Khan Academy has free on line material . Also Singapore Maths has free on line material and exercises.
Start by teaching preschoolers how to count and write numbers to 10 , then 20 . Play board games like snakes and ladders . Monoploy for more counting with money. Chinese children at age 5 can all count to 100 , in ones , twos and fives and do simple adding sums.
Agitate for the Government to have cheap homework workbooks with answers as they used to in the 1980s. Singapore is tops in maths because teachers direct parents to buy a particular well constructed workbook for their child who is failing, to work on at home or with a tutor.
With a change in government goodness knows what will happen . Getting all children established in the basics should be controlled by parents. . We can see the disaster when elitist academia and the ministry control schools curriculum - disastrous standards. Gaynor
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