You may have noticed in the media a new announcement about change in education, this time in Maths. The announcement last week from the Prime Minister referred to the decline of Year 8 maths achievement recently. The announcement stated that 22% of Year 8 students were achieving at or above the curriculum expectation. This was followed up by discussion in the media about the way this figure was put together and the data used. Accuracy is important in maths after all! It must be acknowledged that this data was formed on a very small sample size in (42 schools and 833 children nationwide) based on assessments against the newly refreshed curriculum which is still in draft form and has different benchmarks. The students hadn’t been taught from this curriculum. There was other data that the PM could have used which would have been a better representation of current Year 8 maths achievement.

The most accurate tool for countrywide assessment is NMMSA which assesses a bigger sample size from a mix of schools. This was last done for Maths in 2022. The NMMSA report showed there was little to no decline in Year 8 maths achievement from 2013 to 2022. PISA is often held up as a measure of achievement analysis as it ranks our students against their peers across the OECD nations. In Maths, New Zealand ranks in the top quarter of these countries. 

Of course we would all love all children to be achieving at the appropriate level, or higher. Like all curriculum areas, some tamariki find maths easier to grasp than others. What we do know is that the “one size fits all” teaching approach does not work with children, as they each have different prior knowledge, learning styles, strengths and needs. I can assure you that at Reporoa School, we do everything in our power to help those that need extra help and support in Maths, and across the curriculum. We currently have 3 ALiM (Accelerated Learning in Maths) groups running across the school and our staff are attending regular professional learning through TLF (The Learner First). They are using this new learning to improve their capability in the teaching of maths to our tamariki. 

Our end of year Reporoa School student achievement data from 2023 showed 75% of our students were working at or above the expected curriculum level in Maths. There is always room for improvement and we are always open to new research, professional guidance and so on, but our own school picture is markedly different from the one being reported in the media recently.

Our teaching staff will be unpacking the new draft Maths curriculum over the coming terms, all 91 pages of it. At first glance, there appears to be aspects of it which are an improvement on the previous curriculum, but there are equally as many aspects to it that are concerning and will require deeper analysis. As with all changes in education that successive governments have initiated, we as teaching professionals, will unpack them and  evaluate them, as to their benefit to our students, who are, after all, what we are here for.

While it may feel like we are unsure of what change is coming next, and we are certainly getting tired of the constant changes thrown at us, our focus we have at our school is our vision and our mission. We continue to provide an education that is learner focussed, inclusive, and supported by productive partnerships so our tamariki are confident, connected and actively involved lifelong learners.

Nga mihi nui

Richelle