MOE message to teachers on new curriculum: ‘Make a start, it’s all we’re asking’

Thursday, 5 December 2024

Advice given to ministers on improving achievement included a good curriculum, quality teaching, quality leadership and an environment that recognised a child’s identity, language and culture.

As schools gear up to prepare for curriculum changes next year, the Ministry of Education has a message to teachers: “Make a start, it’s all we’re asking.”

Schools’ preparedness for the new curriculum starting in term one was one of many issues raised at the ministry’s scrutiny hearing on Wednesday.

Other issues included teacher shortages, attendance and achievement rates, teacher training and a sufficient focus on language, identity and culture among new changes.

Some issues were mirrored at the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) hearing later in the day.

Ellen MacGregor-Reid, acting secretary of education, said Aotearoa remained above the OECD average for maths achievement but it had been declining.

“I see it as a long running landslide that we need to address,” she said, hence the fast-track process to introduce new English and maths curriculum next year.

Labour’s education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said schools said they could not cope with the level of change.

Labour’s education spokesperson Jan Tinetti highlighted schools’ concerns they didn’t have enough time to prepare for curriculum changes next year at the Ministry of Education’s scrutiny hearing on Wednesday. (File photo)

However, MacGregor-Reid said the ministry’s message often got lost to “start the process … make a start, that’s all we’re asking”. It also had received feedback from teachers who welcomed the change with the additional resources being provided.

The Greens’ Lawrence Xu-Nan questioned whether the new maths resources would reflect Aotearoa’s cultural and geographical context given it was procured from overseas providers and something he valued when he saw his Asian heritage reflected in school material.

Pauline Cleaver, ministry curriculum centre deputy secretary (hautū), said they would be relevant to Aotearoa, though she did not know whether it would include any te reo.

The new curriculum roll-out was part of efforts to reach at least 80% student achievement rates which was a “hard target” but necessary to work towards, MacGregor-Reid said.

Advice given to ministers on improving achievement included a good curriculum, quality teaching, quality leadership and an environment that recognised a child’s identity, language and culture, she said.

The ministry was working on tackling other barriers to achievement and attendance including socio-economic factors, bullying and a lack of a sense of belonging in school.

Overall, the ministry had reduced its full time equivalent (FTE) roles by 271.

“I think we’ve got a long way to go but we have steps in place to make that progress,” Sean Teddy, Te Pae Aronui deputy secretary (hautū) said.

Better data collection, including first ever daily attendance data, would assist with a more targeted response to understand underlying causes as well as looking at cross agency responses, he said.

Teacher workforce remained a significant issue, particularly with early education and te reo Māori teachers, given a 46% increase in students wanting to learn in Māori immersion settings compared to 5% of available teachers.

The ministry had a number of iwi-led programmes but it had been “a difficult job” to attract Māori and Pacific teachers, Anna Welanyk, education workforce deputy secretary (hautū) said.

MacGregor-Reid said the ministry was committed to savings of 11% this year and was tracking well.

Earlier this year the ministry was the organisation with the biggest restructure proposal ‒ 750 roles to go.

That then went down to 650, with about 340 of those vacant roles.

As of September, there were 136 redundancies to date. Overall, the ministry had reduced its full time equivalent (FTE) roles by 271.

Tertiary Education Commission

Student achievement and retention rates were also discussed during the TEC’s scrutiny hearing.

Chief executive Tim Fowler told the education select committee that course completion rates had seen small increases but Covid-19 had had a significant impact.

In particular, rates for Māori, Pacific and students with disabilities were low.

Tertiary Education Commission chief executive Tim Fowler says student retention and achievement in tertiary education is an ongoing issue and challenge. (File photo)

It recently introduced its Accelerating Learner Success Fund which aimed to either dial up or speed up areas that had proven to help with retention.

Meanwhile, its Inspiring the Future programme was specifically designed for primary and intermediate schools, bringing professional role models to inspire different career options.

“Getting people in the world of work in front of young people is the most powerful thing we can do,” Fowler said, encouraging politicians in the room to volunteer.

Last month, it recorded its biggest month on record with 26 events and 3300 students involved.

A new online career platform would also be introduced next year. Tahatū Career Navigator was currently being piloted by 62 schools.

The platform included an in-depth exposition of NCEA subjects, alongside all 4000 qualifications in the qualifications framework, plus 800 jobs, Fowler said.

Students could use the system to see what NCEA courses were needed for specific career options or to see what career options existed for the courses they enjoyed.

Te Pūkenga is being disestablished and not all institutions will be able to stand up on their own, Fowler says.

Meanwhile, Labour’s Deborah Russell asked for an update on universities’ financial risks.

Victoria University remained high risk though it had made “some pretty significant strides in the last 12 months”, Fowler said.

Lincoln University, University of Otago, University of Canterbury and University of Waikato were all considered medium risk but none had any immediate major issues.

Massey University was considered high risk with challenges in declining domestic student enrolment.

TEC took about 11% off its baseline to maintain financial sustainability and offset cost pressures over the coming four years, including office rent increases of 20%.

It was reaching capacity limits but was confident it could deliver on Government requirements, Fowler said.

In relation to the disestablishment of Te Pūkenga, Fowler said several institutions could stand up as individual entities but equally, a handful of others were going to “very much struggle” and had no pathway back to financial viability.

Issues were not confined to outer regions.

“Anything in the North Island below Taupō, has issues of being able to provide quality Polytech education at scale,” Dr Alastair McCormick, commissioner on the Tertiary Education Commission board, said.

Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds had finished consultation with the sector and would be seeking cabinet support in due course, Fowler said.

Simmonds, Education Minister Erica Stanford and Associate Education Minister David Seymour also appeared before the select committee on Wednesday evening.