A refreshed Mathematics and Statistics curriculum for years zero to eight is set to be implemented in schools across New Zealand starting in Term One this year. Schools are also required to provide five hours of weekly math instruction in the hopes of improving student achievement in the said subject.
The 2022 National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA), which was released this week, revealed that only a minority of students achieved the expected academic standard at Year Eight.
Based on testing against the new standards, only 20% of students in their final year of primary education would meet expectations.
Meanwhile, educators expressed concerns that the new, more challenging curriculum could lead to discouragement among both students and teachers.
“We do like the fact that the goal posts are very clear for us in terms of teaching. But for example, understanding of equivalent fractions at a Year 2 to 3 level, I think kids at that age are still really trying to get to grips with what a concept of a fraction is at that age,” Plateau School principal Nigel Frater said.
“There’s a bit of concern that those kids could get behind quite quickly,” Frater added.
While the workbooks and resources were presented as helpful tools to improve math instruction, Frater said he wanted to avoid staff becoming overly dependent on them.
“I’d be really concerned if schools started to lose sight of the curriculum and replaced it with the resource, and the resource became the curriculum, as it were.”
“I know it’s aligned with the curriculum, but I think pedagogy is really important here, and teachers need to teach the curriculum and not just use the [resources] to teach the curriculum.”
Whangārei Intermediate School’s principal, Hayley Read, stated that while the school did receive books and resources to bolster the curriculum, these materials were geared toward the expected knowledge and abilities of Year 7-8 students but didn’t account for students performing below the expected standard.
“The students that can’t access the curriculum because they’re six or seven years behind their chronological age in learning are expected to have the same book as a child who’s at that level, and so we don’t have those books and those resources to support those learners,” Read said.
Read suggested that a unified approach to mathematics across all schools could help alleviate some of the systemic inequalities that linger in the education system. She also posited that it might be beneficial to implement specialist math teachers in primary and intermediate schools.
General manager of New Zealand Curriculum and Te Whāriki, Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education, Julia Novak, said that the new Maths and Statistics curriculum now features “structured maths,” a clear teaching sequence.
“The teaching sequence aims to build upon prior knowledge, introduce concepts at appropriate times, and reinforce learning as students revisit and practice concepts and procedures. This change means that schools will not have to create teaching sequences themselves. It will support teachers’ planning and ensure a coherent progression of skills and concepts that students develop across their schooling pathway.”
According to Novak, educators can also seek guidance on math teaching on the curriculum website. The site delivers local and international reports on the best teaching strategies to boost student prowess in maths and statistics. Teachers are also advised to customise the curriculum content to meet their students’ individual learning needs.