1. MOANA MACKEY (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
What is the Government doing to lift numeracy standards?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Education) Link to this
Last week I announced the results of the numeracy professional development project. The project showed major improvements in maths results across the 400 schools involved last year, the highest improvement being amongst students who were previously the lowest achievers. There was also a lift in achievement across, particularly, Māori and Pasifika students. This project has been strongly endorsed across the education sector, including the more than 1,600 schools that have now been involved since the year 2000, and shows that we can now expect steady improvement in the achievement of students in the area of numeracy.
What else is the Government doing to ensure it meets its goal of ensuring that all students are able to achieve high standards in numeracy?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
A great deal. We ensure that every teacher has the tools to diagnose the learning needs of students, through assessment tools such asTTle. We invest $20 million a year in professional development projects that give teachers the skills they need to lift the numeracy standards of young people. Through the new curriculum, we have set out the numeracy achievements we expect schools to deliver for students at each level. For the first time, we have numeracy standards under National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 1 and university entrance. Our investment in numeracy goes alongside our investment in literacy, to create a strong foundation for all New Zealanders to succeed in the school system.
Hon Brian Donnelly Link to this
Can the Minister confirm that numeracy covers only two of the five strands of the mathematics curriculum requirements; and how does the laudable emphasis on numeracy gel with the possibly contradictory expectation that schools deliver a balanced curriculum?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
Yes, I can confirm the first part of the member’s question. But I draw his attention to the fact that with the way the curriculum is now structured, we are expecting students to be able to do a range of knowledge-area skills and competencies within the classroom by, for example, doing inquiry forms of learning, which might combine science with maths and English, and would bring them up to the appropriate standard across those subject areas.