Kerre Woodham: Education shouldn't be left up to chance

Now we've known for some time that New Zealand's once world class education system is no longer – that it is failing. And I really, really feel for the teachers. Education has been hijacked by ideologues who want children to share their world view and care little for the fact that our kids have no idea how to spell world or view. Our literacy is bad, our numeracy is even worse.  

According to international studies, we are now one of the least numerate countries in the developed world. In the 2019 Trends and International Maths and Science study, New Zealand's 9-year-olds, the Year 5s, ranked 40th out of 64 countries. Year 9s were even worse - their scores fell by the largest margin since the study began in 1994. Māori and Pasifika students ranked lowest of all.  

In 2021, a report published in New Zealand by the Royal Society of Mathematics Advisory Panel, which advised the Education Ministry, noted that 1/4 of preschoolers cannot count from 1-10. That's not on the ideological educators at the ministry, that's not on teachers, that is on parents. By Year 9, fewer than one tenth of students are working at their age-appropriate level. Massey University Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Gaven Martin described maths education in this country as a “goddamn mess”.  

Families with money or access to money or the desperation to find money from somewhere, anywhere, have been sending their kids to after school tutoring. The NumberWorks’nWords franchises and the Kip McGraths that you'll see around the country. One parent in a New Zealand Herald story from 2021 said if you have the money, the kids go to Kumon, which is a another one of those franchises, or NumberWorks, two to three times a week. It's like a form of wealth separation, he said, as only the wealthier families can afford it. And at around about $700 a term, they’re right. The wealthy families will do it, but they seldom talk about it. The other kids just languish in the school system and remain at the bottom of the class. And so the gap between the haves and the have-nots gets wider and wider and wider.  

Now the Government has announced a form of after school maths tuition, but actually in school, and free. They're starting with intermediate students in terms 1 and 2 next year – around 2000 Year 7 and 8 students who are behind in their learning will take part in an intensive support program to bring them up to the required curriculum level in maths. The trial will use small group tutoring and supervised online tuition for 30 minutes, up to four times a week for each child. Basically, your Kip McGraths, Your NumberWorks, and what have you. There will be $30 million for high quality curriculum aligned workbooks, teacher guidance and lesson plans to be provided into every primary and intermediate School, $20 million for professional development and structured maths for teachers as well as (hip hip hooray) getting the Teaching Council to agree to lift maths entry requirements for new teachers.  

Education Minister Erica Stanford spoke to Heather du Plessis-Allan last night, saying intensive tutoring is one of the best things you can do if you're behind in maths.  

“We know that all of the international evidence tells us that if you are really far behind, especially in mathematics, one of the best interventions you can do is intensive tutoring in small groups to get up to where you need to be. Because a lot of our students have missed big chunks of their learning and mathematics, and we are particularly targeting those in Year 7 and 8 who are not going to see all of the benefits of our amazing new curriculum and all of our new materials and they're going to go off into high school and, you know, not be where they need to be. So we've had reading interventions in the past, we've never had one for maths, and my intention is that we put this trial up, see what it does and

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood of Mornings podcast from News
Talk SEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Now we've known for some time that New Zealand's once
world class education system is no longer, that it is failing,
and I really really feel for the teachers. Education has
been hijacked by ideologues who want children to share their
worldview and care little for the fact that our kids

(00:33):
have no idea how to spell world or view. Our
literacy is bad, our numeracy is even worse. According to
international studies, we are now one of the least numeruate
countries in the developed world. In the twenty nineteen Trends
in International Maths and Science study, New Zealand's nine year

(00:56):
olds the year fives ranked fortieth out of sixty four countries.
Year ninees were even worse. Their scores fell by the
largest margins since the study began in nineteen ninety four.
Mari and Pacific Are students ranked lowest of all. In

(01:17):
twenty twenty one, a report published in New Zealand by
the Royal Society of Mathematics Advisory Panel, which advised the
Education Ministry, noted that a quarter of preschoolers cannot count
from one to ten. A quarter of preschoolers. So that's
not on the ideological educators at the ministry, that's not

(01:41):
on teachers, that is on parents. By year nine, fewer
than one tenth of students are working at their age
appropriate level. Massi University Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Gavin Martin
described maths education in this country as a goddamn mess.
Families with money, or access to money, or the desperation

(02:04):
to find money from somewhere anywhere have been sending their
kids to after school tutoring the number works and words
franchises and the kmograths that you'll see around the country.
One parent in a New Zealand Herald story from twenty
twenty one said, if you have the money, the kids
go to Coumon, which is a another one of those

(02:25):
franchises or number works two to three times a week.
It's like a form of wealth separation, he said, as
only the wealthier families can afford it, and at around
about seven hundred dollars a term, They're right, the wealthy
families will do it, but they seldom talk about it.
The other kids just languish in the school system and

(02:45):
remain at the bottom of the class and so the
gap between the haves and the have nots gets wider
and wider and wider. Now, the government has announced a
form of after school maths tuition, but actually in school
and free. They're starting with intermediate students and terms one
and who next year are around two thousand, Year seven

(03:08):
and eight students who are behind in their learning should
be the vast majority will take part in an intensive
support program to bring them up to the required curriculum
level in maths. The trial will use small group tutoring
and supervised online tuition for thirty minutes up to four
times a week for each child. Basically, you keep grout

(03:29):
your number works here what have you. There'll be thirty
million dollars for high quality curriculum aligned workbooks, teacher guidance
and lesson plans to be provided into every primary and
intermediate school, twenty million dollars for professional development and structured
maths for teachers, as well as hip parade getting the
Teaching Council to agree to lift Math Century requirements for

(03:53):
new teachers. Education Minister Erica Stanford spoke to Heather diplic
Ellen last night saying intensive tutoring is one of the
best things you can do if you're behind in maths.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
We know that all of the national evidence tells us
that if you are really far behind, especially in mathematics,
one of the best interventions you can do is intensive
tutoring in small groups to get up to where you
need to be. Because a lot of our students have
missed big chunks of their learning and mathematics, and we
are particularly targeting those in year seven and eight who
are not going to see all of the benefits of

(04:25):
our amazing new curriculum and all of our new materials,
and they're going to go off into high school and
you know, not be where they need to be. So
we've had reading interventions in the past, we've never had
one for maths. And my intention is that we put
this trial up, see what it does, and then roll
it out.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, and more. Yes. You know, we
know the tutoring works. Anyone who has sent their child
to one of the expensive but efficient after school tuition
programs knows that it works. You've got that one on
one and I'm quite sure that our teachers, if they

(05:04):
had one on one time sufficiently with kids who were
falling behind, would be able to raise them up as well,
but they simply do not have the time or the resources.
Now they will and instead of revamping the entire curriculum
I mean late to be fair to the previous administration,
they understood that education was failing our children. They were

(05:28):
not getting in the education they deserved. The gap between
the haves and the have nots, those who could and
those who couldn't, was getting wider and wider and wider.
In fact, I think we were at the top. We
managed to top one aspect of the trends in science
and maths by having the biggest gap between those who
were succeeding and those who were not. The vast majority

(05:54):
of parents cannot afford that kind of one on one tuition.
But we had labor sort of tinkering with the curriculum
and bringing into our Maori into maths and science, and
it was all very localized, and communities could kind of
pick and choose how they wanted to teach. With no

(06:15):
resources there like, teachers were left floundering as well. They
basically had to do the work of the many thousands
of bureaucrats in the Ministry of Education and come up
with a curriculum, and as Elizabeth Rata said Professor Elizabeth
Rata at Auckland University said that the draft of the
new curriculum as devised by Labor was a national disgrace.

(06:38):
It's a curriculum without content. It's an ideological manifesto. Children
in the far North should receive the same education as
children in the far South. It should not be left
to chance. And that's what happened. That's exactly what has
been happening. Now we've got an Education Minister who is

(06:58):
a passionate about giving our children what they deserve and
b has ideas about how to make it happen. You know,
it shouldn't be left to chance, as Professor Rutter says,
it shouldn't be left to teachers to come up with
some kind of vague curriculum which they have precious little

(07:19):
time to do. And it shouldn't be left to parents
to find seven hundred dollars a term to shore up
the gaps in our education system. It shouldn't be that
those who can and those who have are able to
circumvent our education system and be better and do better,

(07:42):
leaving the others languishing. That is not the way we
make a better New Zealand. That is not the way
we make a productive New Zealand. And that's not the
way we make a New Zealand that gives every child
the opportunity to fulfill their potential.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
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