Union concerned narrow and fast-tracked curriculum change won’t deliver results

NZEI Te Riu Roa is concerned that the rapid pace of change to the primary curriculum in maths and literacy, and the incredibly short timeframe to train teachers and implement these proposed changes, will further strain its workforce without delivering the results the Government is promising.

The union says there is no silver bullet for teaching, and the Government’s latest fast-tracked maths action plan is not in line with expert recommendations.

In 2021, the Ministry of Education convened an expert panel on Pāngarau Mathematics and Tauanga Statistics in Aotearoa New Zealand that provided 14 recommendations – a narrow approach with structured mathematics was not one of them.

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Principal Martyn Weatherill says that a narrow curriculum prescribed by policy makes teaching harder, not easier for schools and kura as it doesn’t take into account the diverse needs of the learners.

“We’ve had two rapid and major changes to curriculum, both being fast-tracked for 2025. We’re very concerned that $20 million to fund the proposed maths changes isn’t enough when you take into account the student resources and teacher training it will need to cover. Funding a couple of days of teacher training in one curriculum area is not going to cure thirty years of systemic and chronic underfunding of schools.”

There is no one way that ākonga learn, and there is no one way to teach – teachers use their training and experience to select the right approach for the student in front of them, he says.

“We do need to address student achievement, but we also know that the diversity of ākonga requires more diversity of approaches, not less. We have existing programmes that do this, and we should be expanding those.”

Mr Weatherill says the popular and well-established Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities (DMIC) programme addresses equity and achievement issues through diverse grouping, and that a Ministry of Education report shows ākonga can make several years of accelerated mathematics learning through the DMIC programme.

Mr Weatherill says he worries about the health, safety and wellbeing of principals and teachers.

“We are being tasked with ensuring the programme is ready to start in just five months’ time while continuing to meet all the other government expectations and requirements. To be clear, nothing has been removed from the workload — these proposals all add to it.”