Schools need help: principals
WELLINGTON: Primary and intermediate school principals have accused the Ministry of Education of a lack of leadership in tackling New Zealand children’s declining performance.
The New Zealand Principals’ Federation said yesterday achievement in maths and science, in particular, should be a warning, and schools needed more direction on what they should be teaching and the best ways to teach it.
In a letter to education secretary Iona Holsted, federation president Perry Rush said New Zealand’s falling scores had not provoked an urgent response and the lack of ‘‘thought leadership’’ was a serious weakness.
Ms Holsted responded with a letter that said the Ministry of Education was already working on the problems the federation raised and schools already had the ability, and the funding for teacher training, to change how they taught.
However, the balance of power between schools and central agencies such as the ministry was up for debate, Ms Holsted said.
The federation’s letter followed a string of poor results in a variety of tests.
Last year, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study reported falling scores for New Zealand 9 and 13yearolds, h the older children’s results being their worst recorded.
In 2019, New Zealand recorded its lowest scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment tests of reading, maths and science among 15yearolds.
Mr Rush said his letter was prompted by those results and by New Zealand’s own National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement which showed most children were achieving at the curriculum level expected of them in year 4, but by year 8 many were not, especially in science and maths.
‘‘We’re seeing declining rates of achievement,’’ Mr Rush said.
‘‘The national monitoring of student achievement shows a very low level of achievement for our year 8 students.
‘‘We have 45% of year 8 students in mathematics achieving at or above expectations in curriculum and only 20% in science.
‘‘Now, those statistics should ring alarm bells.’’
The school curriculum was deliberately generic with the intention that schools could adapt it to reflect the interests and needs of their local community, Mr Rush said.
‘‘There is a question about whether we have gone too far, whether localisation is damaging the ability of that curriculum to be nationally coherent.’’
The ministry should make clearer what was expected at each level of the curriculum
❛ We have 45% of year 8 students
in mathematics achieving at or above expectations in curriculum
and only 20% in science
New Zealand Principals’ Federation president
Perry Rush
and it should also review the requirements of level four of the curriculum, he said.
‘‘We need more clarity when it comes to the knowledge that teachers and principals use when they’re engaged in teaching and learning, so that’s about what is in the curriculum.’’
Mr Rush’s letter said many principals missed the former system of centrally funded advisory services that provided courses for teachers.
That had been replaced by a free market in which schools decided for themselves what training to buy for their teachers and which organisations would provide that training.
He also said principals had noticed new teachers were avoiding taking older agegroups in primary schools because they were worried they could not teach the required maths.
Ms Holsted said a maths strategic plan was a priority for the ministry this year and it was also working on a plan for literacy.
‘‘The persistent inequities characteristic of our education system are concerning, as is the pattern of decline becoming evident in international studies.
‘‘I am pleased that this is now high on the agenda for the New Zealand’s Principals Federation,’’ she wrote.
The federation’s concern about the extent of localised decisionmaking was echoed in ministry advice to Education Minister Chris Hipkins last year.
Ms Holsted said the ministry expected schools would use the money they received each year for professional development on training that was aligned with the curriculum, and in the past four years $40 million had been given to schools where maths training was a priority.
The levels of achievement expected of year 8 pupils were already under review and the ministry had commissioned the Royal Society to report on what children should be expected to know in maths at different stages of their schooling, she said.
Ministry associate deputy secretary for early learning and student achievement Pauline Cleaver said yesterday teachers were coming into the system with the fundamentals of teaching maths, but needed support as they learnt on the job.
The national curriculum could be ‘‘much clearer’’ concerning expectations, she said. — RNZ