Education Minister Fails To Deliver Secondary English And Maths Resources For Start Of School Year

The Education Minister’s failure to deliver promised resources for new Years 9 & 10 English and Maths to be taught at secondary schools is causing an extremely frustrating and stressful start to the school year, says Chris Abercrombie, president of PPTA Te Wehengarua.

“Great resources that are well developed and implemented smoothly are so crucial, especially with the amount of new content the Minister has introduced.”

Teachers were promised that resources for the new English and Maths curricula, being implemented this year, would be available by mid-January at the latest. However, for Maths the only resource is an online tool, Education Perfect, a programme which many teachers have strong reservations about.

“Education Perfect programmes are entirely online – where students are presented with explanations and examples of concepts via slides . Students spending more time sitting in front of screens is not necessarily going to be helpful for them in the long run. We are hearing that teachers – let alone all their students - haven’t even been given log-in details yet. Given that this is the only resource being provided, its rollout – or non-rollout – is totally unacceptable.”

“Also, teachers have seen advertisements from Education Perfect seeking staff to adapt and develop the programme, so they are clearly still in the process of staffing it – which doesn’t inspire confidence.”

Chris Abercrombie said resources for the new English curriculum seemed to be repeats of online professional development sessions for literacy, which is only one part of the wide-ranging curriculum.

Teachers were promised rubrics – tools which help teachers to monitor students’ progress in particular subjects – for the new English curriculum, but these have not been delivered.

“Rather than being able to hit the ground running, teachers are being forced to scramble resources together. Of course they will do their best to make it work for students. But it seems like the whole process has been rushed and poorly thought through. The failure to deliver what was promised is totally unacceptable.

“Ākonga (students) deserve much better, especially Year 9 students who will potentially be facing a brand new qualification system in two years’ time. Failing to resource the new English and Maths curricula does not create the firm foundation they need. We urge the Government to do better.”

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