6. Question No. 6—EducationSAM UFFINDELL (National—Tauranga) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 6—Education6. SAM UFFINDELL (National—Tauranga) to the Minister of Education: What recent reports by the OECD and the Education Review Office has she seen on the New Zealand education sector? Hon ERICA STANFORD (Minister of Education): I recently received the OECD Economic Survey of New Zealand 2024 which confirmed student achievement is declining equity is not improving and outcomes are too variable. The need for change to education in New Zealand is clear. Many of the support elements that should strengthen the delivery of this essential public service are lacking. For example the OECD notes that New Zealand must focus on introducing a sufficiently detailed curriculum efficient assessment tools specialist subject teaching practice and curriculum implementation advice and initial teacher education tailored to the unique demands the system imposes. I am pleased to report that last week I announced six priorities that directly address these challenges on top of implementing our two policies in our first 100 days that the Education Review Office (ERO) have recently reported on. Sam Uffindell: What recent reports has she seen on the implementation of the one hour a day of reading writing and maths policy? Hon ERICA STANFORD: The latest update I have received from the Education Review Office states that before the Government introduced this policy one in five schools were not teaching an hour a day of reading writing and maths. By April this year nearly 99 percent of schools that are required to teach an hour a day have now introduced a policy to do so. Additionally ERO found that 92 percent of schools meet the requirement of the away all day cellphone policy. The recent OECD report also found that the quality of the hour a day policy will be improved with the ban on cellphone usage in class time. The support for these two policies has been overwhelming. Sam Uffindell: What findings did the OECD report on the Government's plans for education? Hon ERICA STANFORD: I'm proud to say the report found—and I quote—A welcome step in improving the curriculum is the Minister of Education's appointment of a ministerial advisory group to provide advice to the Minister on the English maths and statistics learning areas for year 0 to 10". I further quote: "Under the Government's Teaching the Basics Brilliantly policy the Government is further reinforcing curriculum reforms to improve outcomes in literacy and mathematics by introducing the requirement for schools to teach year 0 to 8 children an average of an hour a day each of reading writing and maths." I couldn't have written it better myself and what more could I want to confirm that this Government is on the right track?Sam Uffindell: What did the OECD report state on curriculum? Hon ERICA STANFORD: The OECD report stated that improving the curriculum and its implementation are crucial to lifting achievement. The report highlighted the need for a clear specification of knowledge skills and values in our curriculum. I have been clear that a shift to a knowledge-rich year-by-year curriculum that clearly states what our kids need to know in order to build mastery of the core skills of reading writing and maths is a foundational piece of work being delivered by this Government. I demonstrated our commitment to supporting quality implementation with a commitment of $67 million from Budget 2024 for professional development and resources for teachers to ensure that every child learns to read using structured literacy approaches."