An expert in teaching maths to Māori and Pasifika students says the Government is exaggerating a crisis to justify fast tracking a new maths curriculum.
The structured mathematics curriculum will be in all year 0 to 8 classrooms from next year, rather than being gradually rolled out from 2026.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says quick action is needed because just 22 percent of year 8 students are reaching the expected level.
But Massey University professor Bobby Hunter, who has developed the Bobby Maths system of using culturally relevant examples to explain maths concepts, says the needs of Maori and Pasifika students are ignored.
She says it’s like stepping 50 years into the past, and it relies on overseas models rather than the voluminous research done on conditions in Aotearoa.
“We have significant data to prove you can accelerate learning when you give the right maths instruction or learning and teaching for children when it is structured and it is planned. Because we’ve had this hyperbole that ‘we’ve got to have this structured learning.’ All teachers structure learning for children. They do that already,” Professor Hunter says.
She says the Government is making out it is acting quickly, but the fact it has been in confidential talks with a publisher about producing textbooks and resources show work on the policy has been going on for a long time.
