Nina Hood: Education Hub Founder on the Government's new targeted maths tutoring trial

An education expert says the Government's targeted maths trial will help catch a lot of the students currently slipping through the cracks. 

The Government's announced a trial programme to accelerate the skills of about 2000 Year 7 and 8 students who are behind in maths.  

It will run in the first two terms of next year, with small-group tutoring and supervised online tuition up to four times a week. 

Education Hub Founder Nina Hood told Mike Hosking everyone can get maths, it's just about being taught in a way that builds skills. 

She says when people don't get those basic skills, it prevents them from doing more advanced maths. 

Hood says the tutoring pairs well with the new incoming curriculum, and if it’s done right, there’ll need to be less intervention over time.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
More change coming to a maths class in a year.
It's a new tutoring program they're giving a world two
thousand intermediate students are going to take part in a
twelve week trial early next to year. Each student will
have access to four thirty minute sessions a week, so
it sounds fairly intensive. Founder of the Education Hub, doctor
Nina Hood, is back. Well, there's Nina Morning. Good money, mate,
Broadly you like it?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I do? I mean, I think we know that there
are a number of students across our primary schools that
are not where they need to be at math, and
we need to do something in order to get them
much speed and small group interventional one on one tutoring
is one of the most effective means we have to
do that.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
So if I get if I were given four thirty
minute sessions a week for twelve weeks, would I crack it?
In general?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
So I think you'd get along way there. You know,
each student's different in each student and to be at
a different stage, but you're definitely going to see progression.
As long as the tutoring interventions effective, you should see
quite a lot of progress.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Last time I had Erica on the program, Minister of
education and asked her about this. She's golden me. I
suggested that maths is a bit unique. Some of us
get it, some of us don't. She says that's not true.
Is she right?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
She's right. I think everyone can get maths. It's just
making sure that you're taught in the way that builds
up the knowledge sequentially. And what we know is that
a lot of children don't get those basic skills, which
then prevents them from going on and doing more advanced maths.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
What I like about Erica Stanford, forget the politics for
a moment, is she seems determined to get stuff rolling
and kids are being forced into doing this. You know,
there's a work book and there's this trial, et cetera.
Are we on the right track? Do you think?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
I think, broadly speaking, yes we are. I think the
Minister's identified a number of key challenges we have in
the system and is putting steps in place in order
to accress those.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
And the reason she said that intermedia is there the
last lot before they go to high school and they're
desperate to improve things. How broad, how wide? How big
does this whole thing need to be to get every everybody?
In other words, we fixed the system.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
I mean, ultimately we need to go the whole way
across the primary year. But I think what the Minister
is also suggesting is that if we get instruction right,
so through the curriculum, through better pedagogy being used in
our primary schools, we're going to see over time pewer
and pure intermediate students who are needing this type of intervention.
But at the moment we have quite a few who

(02:24):
are needing it, So this is a really great place
to focus at this point in time.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Well, it's good to have you on the program, Nina
doctor Ninahood, who's the Education Hub founder. For more from
the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd
be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.