“The Government giving students a heavy helping of ideology with their maths lessons is a good example of why New Zealand is falling behind. We have a Government that indulges in ideological experiments while failing the basics”, says ACT’s Education spokesperson and former teacher Chris Baillie.

“The Ministry of Education’s new plan for teaching maths is completely nuts and it shows just how education bureaucrats, and the Education Minister, see the world:

‘A critical maths pedagogical approach uses maths to develop critical awareness about wider social, environmental, political, ideological, and economic issues. Critical maths recognises the importance of understanding, interpreting, and addressing issues of power, social justice and equity in the community and the wider world. Ākonga are encouraged to interrogate dominant discourses and assumptions, including that maths is benign, neutral, and culture-free.’

“Education Minister Jan Tinetti has called the plan ‘essential’, but today in Parliament she was backpedalling furiously saying it was only a draft out for consultation. The word 'draft' appears nowhere in the document.

“Parents will be confused when they hear that teaching maths isn’t about helping kids solve basic problems as they navigate the world, but instead about addressing ‘social justice and equity’.

“Asked what ‘teaching maths for social justice’ was and how many parents had asked for it, unsurprisingly, Tinetti was unable to say.

“Schools should be focused on teaching the basics so kids can eventually balance their household budgets. Most students aren’t going to grow up to be left-wing activists.

“Maths is about teaching kids to add and subtract, not ‘addressing issues of power and social justice’.

“At a time when 100,000 students aren’t showing up to school regularly, let alone achieving in maths, why is the Ministry of Education trying to smuggle left-wing nonsense into schools and trying to politicise the curriculum?

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