“Beyond Checklists: Why New Zealand’s $100M Maths Plan Misses the Mark”

A few days ago the Minister of Education announced a $100 million package to improve results in mathematics: 

“Next week’s Budget will allocate $100 million over four years for expert maths teachers and maths tests at primary and intermediate schools.

In a pre-Budget announcement this afternoon, Education Minister Erica Stanford said most of the money, $56m, would pay for the equivalent of 143 full-time maths intervention teachers to help primary school children who were struggling with the subject.

She said $40m would be spent on small group maths tutoring for up to 34,000 children in Year 7-8 each year.

Stanford said the government would spend $4m to develop and introduce a tests schools could use to check children’s maths ability.

“From next year, every child will have their maths ability checked in their first two years of schooling. The check will identify students who would benefit from additional support, early on in their schooling journey,” Stanford said.”

 Having been out of the education system for years, I’m hesitant to critique this plan, but my skepticism persists, shaped by the current government’s Atlas Network-influenced policies. Past National-led governments pushed technocratic education reforms, like the now-discredited National Standards under John Key, which prioritised “tick-the-box” outcomes over meaningful learning.

For a more qualified perspective, I turn to Dr. Sarah Aiono, an education expert known for her innovative, play-based, and holistic approaches. In her article, “The Problem with Copy-Paste Solutions in Education,” she critiques the $100 million package:

The Problem with Copy-Paste Solutions in Education

“No clear evidence has been provided to show that this structured intervention approach in maths will have the intended impact, especially when scaled up nationally. No details have been offered about how this model will cater to the diverse cultural, linguistic, neurodevelopmental, and socioeconomic contexts of New Zealand schools.

We’re not just trialling an idea. We’re bankrolling an unproven one.”

Dr. Aiono argues that focusing on students dragging down national averages misses the point:

“If our goal is to lift national achievement averages, the real question becomes: where are the students who are pulling those averages down?

We already know who they are. They are the tamariki who are navigating poverty, trauma, transience, neurodiversity, and under-resourcing. They are the students who don’t just need intervention in the curriculum—they need wraparound care. They need well-supported teachers. They need kai. They need secure attachment and safe classrooms before learning can even begin.

Children cannot accelerate to curriculum level in maths if they are three years behind developmentally, if they haven’t had stable access to school, or if they’re operating in a state of chronic stress. No amount of assessment or instructional “dose” will change that. And yet, we persist in pretending it might.

This isn’t a deficit view of children—it’s a realistic view of the systems they are in.”

Also:

“We Don’t Need Checklists—We Need Care

To be clear, this is not an attack on intervention. There are teachers across the country doing extraordinary work to support learners in small groups, to re-engage disengaged students, and to rebuild mathematical confidence. But those teachers are also crying out for time, space, and support to do that work well. Many of them are teaching without specialist backup, without trained assistants, and with inadequate PLD.

If we truly want to see progress in maths achievement, then we need to begin with wellbeing. With readiness to learn. With responsive pedagogies, not reactive policy.

What we’re being offered in this budget line is a checklist approach—screen, identify, intervene. But learning doesn’t happen on a checklist. It happens in relationship.”

I could go on pasting quotes from the article, however it would be far better for you to read it yourself. 

The Problem with Copy-Paste Solutions in Education

Perhaps one day, we’ll have a Minister of Education who consults experts like Dr. Sarah Aiono, instead of relying on an academic affiliated to the Atlas Network. Then, and only then, New Zealand’s education policies might start to make sense again.