Schools to expect earlier intervention when students aren’t achieving

Monday, 5 August 2024

The Ministry of Education will intervene earlier with schools where achievement is at risk while the ERO has been refocussed on student learning.

The Ministry of Education will intervene earlier at schools where students aren’t achieving, while the Education Review Office has been refocussed on student learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford has announced as part of the Government’s drive to lift education standards.

Stanford, off the back of weekend announcements at the National party conference launching the new maths curriculum, has today said the Ministry of Education will intervene earlier and more often with schools where student achievement is at risk, while the Education Review Office’s (ERO) reporting will also be “overhauled” to focus on student achievement, progress and assessment.

“There will also be clearer reporting to parents on what schools are getting right and what they aren’t,” Stanford said.

“Achievement is not where it should be. Further data released today shows just 45% of students achieved the NCEA co-requisite standard for numeracy this year - a 10-percentage-point decline from the same time last year. Achievement in maths in Māori medium and kaupapa Māori settings is even more alarming, at only 25%.

The Government’s announcement comes off its new maths curriculum, announced at National’s national party conference at the weekend.

“These results confirm the need for urgent action to tackle New Zealand’s maths achievement problem.”

Stanford said the Teaching Council had agreed to strengthen the maths component in initial teacher education so that next year trainee teachers will be better prepared.

The Make It Count action plan announced at the weekend will see the new maths curriculum delivered from term one next year, and will see twice yearly assessments in primary schools and small group interventions for students who’ve fallen behind.

A total of $20m will be allocated for professional development for training teachers “structured maths”. The Teaching Council will lift maths entry requirements for teachers.

At the weekend Prime Minister Christopher Luxon cited statistics he said showed just 22% of students were at the expected standard for maths at year eight, meaning four in five were behind.

“Translated into a raw number, that means that last year around 50,000 children getting ready for high school were not at the curriculum benchmark for their age.”

Today Stanford expanded on that figure, saying a never-before-held study, conducted at the end of last year, specifically analysing year eight achievement in maths, had revealed the scale of the underachievement.

“This result isn’t any worse, it’s just been hidden,” Stanford said, “This has always been there, we just never knew it because we never looked.”

Luxon said Stanford had learned of the study’s results on July 17 and asked the Ministry of Education for a “please explain” the next day.

Today, ahead of Stanford’s ERO announcement, the New Zealand Principals Federation warned the Government to slow down with its maths changes, with its president, Leanne Otene, saying “to see our mathematics results as a crisis requiring an immediate blanket solution, will not produce sensible long-term improvements”.

But Otene welcomed the funding boost for professional development, saying professional learning was a weakness in the system. Opposition spokesperson Jan Tinetti thought it would cost more than $20m to get every teacher up to standard.