7. Question No. 7—EducationCATHERINE WEDD (National—Tukituki) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 7—Education7. CATHERINE WEDD (National—Tukituki) to the Minister of Education: What recent announcements has she made about transforming maths education?Hon ERICA STANFORD (Minister of Education): This Government has announced four immediate interventions as part of our Make It Count maths action plan to turn around our poor results. We're accelerating the shift to a new maths curriculum next year. To support teachers we are delivering targeted professional development focused on structured maths for primary and intermediate teachers alongside providing quality resources aligned to the curriculum. Thirdly there will be twice-yearly assessments for maths in primary school for years 3 to 8 starting from next year so that we can provide the support where needed. In line with this we are going to provide targeted support in small groups using structured maths to give our kids who need extra help the best chance to succeed. Yesterday I announced faster and overhauled Education Review Office reporting in numeracy and literacy assessment and the Ministry of Education are going to intervening earlier and more often to provide support to schools who need to raise achievement because if we're going to close the equity gap and raise achievement we need to have a knowledge-rich curriculum year by year that's explicitly taught and consistently measured against.Catherine Wedd: What evidence has she seen to support these announcements?Hon ERICA STANFORD: Data from the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study show that just 22 percent of year 8 students in New Zealand are at the expected curriculum benchmark in year 8 for mathematics and it showed that just 12 percent of Māori students were where they should be and that 63 percent of the overall year 8 cohort are more than a year behind. It's the first time we've seen results like this. These results while shocking are not any worse than before. Previous assessments just neglected to ask the right questions. This is the first time that we have assessed our kids in comparison to the curriculum benchmark for their year. Until now New Zealand has assessed students in broad multi-year bands where a child could be years behind where they should be but they're still considered to be at curriculum. Essentially this means many parents were being told that their children were at curriculum or doing just fine when the reality is that they could have been years behind. Parents deserve to know exactly where their kids are at what they will be learning and what we can do to help them—and from next year they will.Catherine Wedd: What will her recent announcements mean for teachers?Hon ERICA STANFORD: As part of this announcement $20 million is being made available within the professional learning and development budget to build confidence and capability in our teaching workforce. We know from a range of studies that too many teachers don't feel they have the confidence to teach math to young people. Teachers deserve our support and we are going to deliver. As part of this announcement we will be rolling out student workbooks detailed teacher guides and other top-quality resources aligned to the new curriculum to support every teacher and child in every classroom in New Zealand. As Minister it's my responsibility to ensure the system is working for our teachers to improve these results as quickly as we can and we'll continue to work with the sector to make sure that we are achieving what we need to be.Catherine Wedd: What feedback has she heard from school principals since the announcement?Hon ERICA STANFORD: One school Gore Main School who have embedded structured literacy with outstanding results say This year we started a structured maths approach and we are seeing similar results. Already we are seeing improvements within our student achievement. We are happy to hear that structured maths is going to be brought into schools and we know it is long overdue." Also I heard from Dr Sarah Brown from Kerikeri Primary School who has brought in structured maths with teacher guides and student workbooks. She has closed the equity gap. Her Māori students are now achieving at the same rate and in some cases above the average students in her school for the first time. This announcement is just one step towards closing the equity gap across New Zealand giving our children every opportunity to succeed and setting New Zealand up for future prosperity.Hon Jan Tinetti: Kia orana Mr Speaker. Does she agree with the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study from Otago University and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NCER) which says trend data from the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) indicates that at year 8 there has been no statistically significant change in mathematics achievement scores since at least 2013; and if so why is her data so different when the NMSSA also measured in a single year—not as she said earlier in a multi-year band?Hon ERICA STANFORD: If the member had listened to any of the answers that I gave before she will have understood. This is the very first time that we have measured our children against a curriculum benchmark at their year level The old results were based on multi-year bands—Hon Jan Tinetti: That is not right that is not correct.Hon ERICA STANFORD:—and I spoke to Charles Darr who was with the NCER who basically said to me that is exactly how we've been measuring. But can I just say if the member can't understand the gravity of 22 percent she received when she was the Minister 42 percent and what happened under her watch? Absolutely nothing. Under this Government we brought in a new curriculum new resources and professional learning and development—SPEAKER: That's enough. Thank you.Tākuta Ferris: To the Minister of Education: given that the Waitangi Tribunal's report Kei Ahotea Te Aho Matua described kura kaupapa Māori as a proven model where success had been achieved what actions will she take to expedite the development and expansion of kura kaupapa Māori education as a means of closing the Māori educational achievement gap?Hon ERICA STANFORD: It's an excellent question and for the first time what we are seeing is a Government who have an excellent relationship with kura kaupapa who have set aside multiple tens of millions—in fact $100 million; a $100 million—to make sure that we are building more classrooms and redeveloping more kura kaupapa schools. And for the first time in all of our policies we're making sure that the resources available to kura kaupapa are available in te reo Māori. Under this Government for the first time not only in structured literacy but also in structured mathematics all of the resources and all of the professional development will be available in te reo Māori. And you can't say that for the last lot.SPEAKER: The House is going to be a little quieter before we call your question and the House will also bear in mind the comments I made earlier about interjections."