New Zealand brings back column addition to the early primary maths curriculum!

Today, I am incredibly proud to celebrate the release of the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum for Mathematics and Statistics, Years 0-8.  Having had the privilege to contribute to this project at such a formative level, I want to share a bit about the journey so far, and what this release means for our education system.

Together with a remarkable team of dedicated colleagues, we undertook the task of reviewing and strengthening the curriculum.  The Minister of Education’s brief specified that the curriculum should be:

• underpinned by the science of learning;
• inclusive of evidence-informed teaching practices;
• knowledge-rich, providing greater clarity about the critical content that students need to learn, and when; and
• internationally comparable.

As a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group, I was acutely aware of the impact our advice would have, and felt a deep sense of responsibility which was intensified by the public scrutiny created by media coverage that misrepresented aspects of our report.  Later, working with the Ministry’s curriculum writers, we navigated tight deadlines to produce high-quality documents, achievable only through mutual respect, collaboration, and cooperation.

For me, this project is a significant professional achievement, spanning more than a decade of advocating for meaningful change in the way our students are taught maths.  I feel immense relief that we finally have the means to reverse two decades of declining achievement and growing inequity in our education system.  While I am delighted that students will be introduced to column addition in Year 3, I am more excited about how we’ve embedded a much stronger vision of learning into this curriculum, along with the intentional teaching practices that will make it happen.

Somewhat unexpectedly, seeing this work through to publication has also become deeply personal to me, as it is now inextricably tied to the passing of my father, Choon Tan, last month.  My dad truly believed that every child could learn maths, and he did a pretty good job at proving it too.  His infectious enthusiasm for teaching and learning helped countless students who struggled with maths to find their confidence and realise they were more than capable.  Schools across the country started to take notice, and his expertise was sought after to support students in the classroom and help teachers to refine their own practices.  Intuitively, my dad knew how to reach students and get them to enjoy and succeed with their learning.  I am proud that, some forty years later, the effectiveness of his teaching methods can now be understood through the science of learning, and that his passion for teaching and learning lives on through my work, now reaching teachers and students at a national level.

While this curriculum represents a great milestone, the journey is by no means complete.  Successful implementation will be crucial, and the next task is to support teachers in bringing this curriculum to life.  We want teachers to feel confident and empowered to deliver positive outcomes for their students.  Helping them to find their footing with this curriculum content will be key to achieving real, lasting improvement.  I also look forward to supporting the Ministry as they continue to work on the curriculum content for Years 9-13, ensuring a much clearer learning pathway towards the NCEA Numeracy co-requisite and beyond.

Here’s to a brighter future for New Zealand’s most precious resource, our children.

Dr Audrey Tan
31 October 2024