Curriculum concern boils as Government pushes forward

Tuesday, 17 September 2024

Education Minister Erica Stanford acknowledged there was “a lot of uncertainty” about the year 0 to 8 curriculum changes and further details would be released.

Three quarters of principals and teachers believe the curriculum for children aged 5 to 13 is moving too quickly, with two 100-page Government documents still sitting in draft as a deadline looms.

From term one 2025, schools must teach a new English curriculum for primary pupils and a new maths curriculum for intermediate pupils as part of a national refresh.

The 90-page maths curriculum draft will be finalised in October - leaving schools three months to analyse and implement it. The 120-page English document is still in consultation, to be finalised some time “in term four”.

Lemonwood Grove principal Blair Dravitski says the teaching workforce is “stretched” amid curriculum changes and a relief teacher shortage.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said the refresh was a “multi-year journey” and acknowledged there was “a lot of uncertainty in the sector without a clear plan”, in an email to principals on Friday.

The Ministry of Education would release an “implementation plan” this week with a timeline, resources and other guidance, she said.

On Monday, Aotearoa’s largest education union, NZEI, released a survey of about 750 principals and 4800 teachers regarding the curriculum, conducted earlier in September.

Some 77.5% of principals and 73.7% of teachers said it was changing “too fast to be effective”. Nearly 65% said the changes would not meet pupils’ needs.

Schools reported a median 30% of pupils had extra learning needs. Three quarters of principals said there was partial but “inadequate” support for these pupils.

Many respondents reported working well over 40 hours a week, with one in five principals working between 61 and 70 hours.

Lemonwood Grove School principal Blair Dravitski said he was not opposed to the changes, but doing them together was “a significant amount of work” with “next to no notice”.

The maths curriculum was originally scheduled for 2026, but Stanford announced In August it would be bought forward a year in the face of “unacceptable” maths results.

Dravitski said the workforce was “stretched” and, although his school might cope, those with fewer staff would struggle.

“Next year is going to be really challenging.”

Stanford told The Press the ministry had had a process to refresh the curriculum under way for many years, and “now is the time to get started”.

“Forty-five per cent of our students are at the NCEA co-requisite standard for maths; 60,000 kids start school next year and they will be on a similar trajectory if nothing is done. I’ve heard from principals and teachers across the country who have been calling for this.”

It would take several years and perfection was not expected on day one, she said. The curriculum was laid out in explicit detail and the number of curriculum advisers had been doubled, while 8000 teachers would be trained in structured literacy this year.

Can you answer these Year 8 maths questions?

“We will continue to walk alongside schools throughout this process so teachers can have confidence in the classroom.”

Alongside curriculum changes, schools faced a national reliever shortage after relievers were snapped up to cover teachers given time to upskill away from the classroom.

Principals previously told The Press of “scrambling” for non existent relievers and having to merge classes.

Stanford has moved to allow unregistered teachers with prior experience to teach classes to plug a relief teacher shortage, but this too has sparked criticism from some educators.

In her email, Stanford said she was aware principals were struggling to find relief teachers at short notice.

To combat this, experts who weren’t qualified teachers and previously registered teachers would be able to go into classrooms as relievers with a limited authority to teach (LAT), she said.

Te Kōmanawa Rowley School principal Graeme Norman fears fast-paced curriculum changes will push teachers out of the profession.

The process would be “kick-started” with 200 LATs and 150 teaching certificates for free.

Long term, a practising certificate purely for relievers would be considered, alongside rules about qualified teachers working before needing a new certificate.

Recruitment of 1500 new teachers would be supported by expanding on-site training and incentivising overseas teachers to relocate.

Dravitski was concerned the loosened LAT eligibility would mean fewer quality teachers, but acknowledged a “positive intent” was there.

Post Primary Teachers’ Association president Chris Abercrombie says the Government is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into charter schools while severely underfunding the public sector.

“There might be these teachers plugging holes, but the holes are getting bigger as the speed of change keeps happening.”

Te Kōmanawa Rowley principal Graeme Norman, who had to merge classes over winter, welcomed the LAT changes but said the underlying teacher shortage was not being addressed.

“We’ve got to make it attractive - and that’s the remuneration conditions and recognising teachers as professionals.”

Many pupils at Rowley experienced anxiety, worsened by having “different people coming in and out”, and fast-paced curriculum changes were pushing teachers out of the profession, he said.

Post Primary Teachers’ Association president Chris Abercrombie said the Government needed to create a workforce strategy urgently.

“The cold, hard fact of the matter is that there are thousands of highly skilled and experienced former teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand today who would come back to school next week if the salary and conditions were attractive.”

Ministry of Education curriculum centre lead Ellen MacGregor-Reid said details on the years 0 to 8 curriculum would be in next week’s curriculum newsletter.