Michael Johnston: NZ Initiative Researcher on the Government's action regarding low intermediate maths results

An education expert says we should be worried about low maths results. 

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon revealed data which he says shows that four out of five Year 8 students aren't at the expected level.  

He's bringing forward a new math curriculum to Term 1 next year, assessing twice yearly, and a $20 million boost for teachers' professional development.  

New Zealand Initiative researcher Michael Johnston told Ryan Bridge it's likely things have been like this for some time. 

He says the Government's action is necessary, but time will tell whether it's enough. 

 LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Track cycling Gold Medal race coming your way very shortly.
Right now, Let's call it what it is. It's an
education crisis. Just twenty two percent of year eight students
are at the expected standard for mass. That means roughly
eighty percent are not, and the government wants to flip
that eighty twenty so that eighty percent they are actually achieving.
They've got new workbooks coming next year, they've got teacher upskilling.

(00:24):
The ero is being overhauled to focus on outcomes and achievement.
The Ministry of Education will intervene earlier and more often.
Is it get to work? Doctor Michael Johnston is with
the New Zealand Initiative. He's a senior fellow there and
has worked in education most of his life. Michael, good morning,
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
How are you doing very well?

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Thank you? Are they on the right track with what
they're doing.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well? They definitely need to do something like this, as
you said, or you could describe it as a crisis,
but actually there's no indication from these data that things
have got worse. It's probably just revealed what's been there
for quite some time. The way in which they've tested
maths and other curriculum areas has changed, and what we're

(01:10):
catching now kids who are behind the year level that
they're at, Whereas in the past we measured how far
whether they were at the right phase, which bands of years.
So we've got finer grained data here, and so it's
likely that things haven't actually got worse, that they've been
mis bad for a while.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
How long are we talking decades?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
We don't know exactly, Quite likely a decade or more.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
So if that's the case, should we should be that worried?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Oh? I think we should be worried when only just
a bit more than a fifth of year eight students
are meeting the standard according to the curriculum. So yeah,
I think the action that the Minister for Education and
the Minister I've announced is absolutely necessary. Will it be enough, well,

(02:06):
time will tell, But I think that it's encouraging that
they're introducing these workbooks and teacher guides. Just to be clear,
my understanding is that those books will be aligned with
the new curriculum that's coming next year, so the publishing
companies will do some work on them to reconfigure them

(02:30):
to match the curriculum.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
I spoke to a principle yesterday and he didn't have
high hopes for this, first of all, that they would
even get the booklets. But second of all, he said,
will they cater to my ever increasingly diverse range of students,
including neuro diverse students in different English second language all
these other things? Is will they do that? And is

(02:52):
that a big problem for the education system?

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Well, first of all, let me say that I think
it is a big problem for the education system, and
I would acknowledge the huge challenges that teachers are facing
at the moment with behavior in our classrooms. There was
a report, I think it was from the OECD that
said that the disorder in our classrooms is amongst the
worst and the worst in the world. Neurodiversity seems to

(03:19):
be on the increase for reasons that are not fully understood.
I certainly acknowledge the challenges that teachers face, and I
think more will be required to meet that target of
eighty percent at curriculum by the end of year eight
in twenty thirty.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, we've still got a long way to go. Doctor
Michael Johnson, thank you very much for your time. He's
a senior fellow at the New Zealand Initiative. Talking about
the government's crackdown on education seven.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
For more from News talk edb listen live on air
or online, and

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Keep our shows with you wherever you go with our
podcasts on IR Radio