Speaker 1: Kyoda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
Speaker 1: a daily podcast presented by The New Zealand Herald. Students
Speaker 1: across the country are starting to head back to school
Speaker 1: and there are some big changes on the way for
Speaker 1: our youngest pupils. As well as twenty twenty five marking
Speaker 1: the return of charter schools. Primary school students will start
Speaker 1: to be taught structured literacy and mass this year as
Speaker 1: part of a curriculum refresh brought in by Education Minister
Speaker 1: Erica Stanford. It comes as test results continue to show
Speaker 1: declines and achievement across all age groups. But are these
Speaker 1: changes enough to reverse falling standards and are our teachers
Speaker 1: on board with them? Today on the Front Page News,
Speaker 1: talg ZB education reporter Shannon Johnstone is with us to
Speaker 1: discuss what parents need to know about this year's changes. Shannon,
Speaker 1: what are the main education changes being introduced this term
Speaker 1: for primary school students?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So this term primary schools are going to be
Speaker 2: required to implement structured approaches to reading and writing that
Speaker 2: also encourage to do twenty and forty week phonic checks
Speaker 2: for year one students and they'll also be required to
Speaker 2: use updated English curriculum for years zero to sixes and
Speaker 2: their updated maths curriculum for years zero to eight, and
Speaker 2: all schools have to use revised attendance codes and report
Speaker 2: daily attendance data.
Speaker 1: This term, what do we mean by structured reading and math?
Speaker 1: What actually is that? Because I haven't been to primary
Speaker 1: school for a long time and I don't know me
Speaker 1: too many children.
Speaker 2: Neither do I Chelsea. So structured literacy this is kind
Speaker 2: of based on a science of learning approach they call it.
Speaker 2: It's a systemic way of teaching kids to read. It
Speaker 2: includes things like I talked about before, those phonics checks
Speaker 2: in YE one and sort of teaching how sounds and
Speaker 2: letters match. When it comes to structure maths, there's a
Speaker 2: little bit of confusion, I guess you could say around that.
Speaker 2: So there was a newsroom article last year that talked
Speaker 2: about this and they said some researchers have said there's
Speaker 2: a lack of research into the structured maths approach. Some
Speaker 2: have said it doesn't actually exist. The Education Minister Erica Stanford,
Speaker 2: she said it's explicit teaching in a structured manner.
Speaker 1: A lot of these changes are coming amidst consistent data
Speaker 1: showing that our kids and teens aren't actually achieving at
Speaker 1: the same rates as they used to do. What are
Speaker 1: some of the recent stats you've seen showing how widespread
Speaker 1: this problem actually is.
Speaker 2: So when the government announced the structured literacy changes, Education
Speaker 2: Minister Erica Stanford, she pointed to data that showed fifty
Speaker 2: six percent of year eight students were at the expected
Speaker 2: level for reading and only thirty five percent were at
Speaker 2: the expected level for writing. Twenty twenty two PISA results
Speaker 2: found twenty one percent of fifteen year olds we're at
Speaker 2: the lowest reading level and at the same time we've
Speaker 2: also seen sort of falling rates of NCAA achievement.
Speaker 1: I understand that some controversy though over the statistics the
Speaker 1: government used to move forwards its maths changes. For example, Hey.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so last year the Prime Minister described a total
Speaker 2: system failure in teaching maths. He said that based on
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three results of the Curriculum Insights and Progress
Speaker 2: Study that showed only twenty two percent of students are
Speaker 2: working at or above the expected level in year eight,
Speaker 2: And like you said, there was a bit of controversy
Speaker 2: around those statistics. So the art or educators collective they
Speaker 2: criticized the government. They said those results were questionable and
Speaker 2: contradict previous national and international studies. They say it wasn't
Speaker 2: reflective of a drastic drop and achievement, but instead of
Speaker 2: a change in the benchmarking that was being used.
Speaker 3: Our education system in New Zealand is changing and we
Speaker 3: should talk about it. The last few years, our education
Speaker 3: system has been somewhat the shambles. Listen to these stats
Speaker 3: from the twenty twenty three CEA provisional achievement rates. Sixty
Speaker 3: percent of year eleven students achieving Level one, down from
Speaker 3: sixty four point nine percent in twenty twenty two, seventy
Speaker 3: two point two percent of year twelve students achieving Level
Speaker 3: two down from seventy four point nine and twenty twenty
Speaker 3: two sixty two point two of year thirteen students achieving
Speaker 3: Level three down from sixty eight point two percent in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two. If we don't have major change, our
Speaker 3: future generations will not just suffer from a lack of education,
Speaker 3: but our economy will. I because I believe one of
Speaker 3: our best future economic indicators is how many kids are
Speaker 3: in school and achieving today. So this is what we're
Speaker 3: doing to change course and get our education system back
Speaker 3: on track.
Speaker 1: How have teachers and educators responded to these changes? Knowing
Speaker 1: how burden teachers are, I imagine they haven't really responded
Speaker 1: that well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I spoke to NZDI President Repeckerless Sales just
Speaker 2: last week and she told me the changes are basically
Speaker 2: too much, happening too quickly. She says. There's also been
Speaker 2: some issues with getting the new resources for the new curriculum.
Speaker 2: She says it hasn't happened as fast as they would
Speaker 2: have liked, and apparently some schools still haven't got them.
Speaker 2: And an NCDI serve a last year found more than
Speaker 2: seventy percent of principles and teachers say the two curricular
Speaker 2: changes as requiring too much too fast for it to
Speaker 2: actually be effective. They did want the government to either
Speaker 2: delay the maths curriculum until next year twenty twenty six,
Speaker 2: or leave it to school leaders to decide which of
Speaker 2: the two they implement this year.
Speaker 1: Right, and when we're talking about resources as well, we're
Speaker 1: talking about you know, booklets and programs in curriculum and
Speaker 1: that kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Hey, yeah, the teaching resources needed for implementing these changes.
Speaker 1: Right, could there be an option that only one goes
Speaker 1: forward this year and the other the next door is
Speaker 1: the government pretty hell banned on doing both at the
Speaker 1: same time.
Speaker 2: So I looked at the Ministry of Education website today
Speaker 2: and they said that schools are required to implement both
Speaker 2: from turn one, and I believe some schools are already
Speaker 2: starting term one this week, if not this week next week,
Speaker 2: so it does sound to me like that's happening.
Speaker 1: The other big change coming this year is the return
Speaker 1: of charter schools. How many schools are opening up this
Speaker 1: year and where are they popping up?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is obviously quite a big change to education.
Speaker 2: We've got seven opening this term. Two of those are
Speaker 2: in christ Church, four are in Auckland and one is
Speaker 2: in the Far North. There's quite a range of schools
Speaker 2: that are opening so Tippany. That is the old Saint
Speaker 2: Stephens Malti Boarding School. They are targeting mainly Maldi and
Speaker 2: Pacific boys. There's also a Malori immersion school opening. There's
Speaker 2: two Australian owned schools that already have successful campuses over
Speaker 2: in OZ that are now coming over here. There's a
Speaker 2: Creative Arts college, a French school and also some schools
Speaker 2: targeting disengaged Youth and Associate Education Minister David Seymour tells
Speaker 2: me they're going to continue assessing the seventy eight applications
Speaker 2: that they received throughout this year. He reckons we could
Speaker 2: see more charter schools opening midyear. And when it comes
Speaker 2: to state school conversions, so these are state schools converting
Speaker 2: into charter schools. Budget twenty twenty four allowed for thirty
Speaker 2: five state school conversions this year and next year, and
Speaker 2: David Seymour told me there is interest from state schools.
Speaker 2: Last week when I spoke to him, he told me
Speaker 2: that they had had two conversations with state schools just
Speaker 2: that week, and he reckons that we could see some
Speaker 2: open next year.
Speaker 1: I've read one report on how some of these schools
Speaker 1: were already turning students away before their doors have even opened.
Speaker 1: Is that popularity surprising given the controversy that always surrounds
Speaker 1: these charter schools. I guess yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's surprising. And we have seen
Speaker 2: charter schools before, and I think people do like them
Speaker 2: because they offer a kind of a different approach. So
Speaker 2: if you had, like a disengaged child, maybe you'd look
Speaker 2: at it. If you did really want that Mlori immersion environment.
Speaker 2: Maybe you'd be looking at that school in the Far North.
Speaker 1: We're also seeing new school lunches this year as well,
Speaker 1: aren't we. What are the big changes there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we've got a new model this year. The
Speaker 2: government set objectives which were to provide nutritious lunches at
Speaker 2: a cost of three dollars per student per lunch. The
Speaker 2: external contract has been awarded to a group called the
Speaker 2: School at Lunch Collective and for schools that have been
Speaker 2: using an internal and ewe hupu model, they'll have funding
Speaker 2: of four dollars per student per meal and access to
Speaker 2: government negotiated wholesale ingredients. And every school that was in
Speaker 2: that school lunch program last year, I understand, is still
Speaker 2: getting a school lunch. It's just a bit of a
Speaker 2: different model.
Speaker 1: The Act Party has sent out a sweet about school lunches.
Speaker 1: Can you explain how sushi is woke?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: Look, if you don't get that sushi's woke, I don't
Speaker 4: know how to wake you up. But the key message
Speaker 4: here is that we are introducing the kinds of foods
Speaker 4: that are put in the lunch boxes and the children.
Speaker 4: The other seventy five centsive kids who rely on their
Speaker 4: parents to send their Dutch.
Speaker 1: New Zealand has a diverse culture, and so why not
Speaker 1: one one type of food and promote another one.
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, any students of Japanese heritage may
Speaker 4: find that it's quite possible for a school to order
Speaker 4: the supplies required to make sushi under this model if
Speaker 4: they'd like to. So we are not trying to marginalize
Speaker 4: students of Japanese heritage or those who would prefer or quinoa.
Speaker 3: Are dealing with them all. Why not sushi?
Speaker 4: Someone talks to me this morning. I asked them what
Speaker 4: hummus was. They said that, you know, wasn't rice, rice
Speaker 4: and quinoa.
Speaker 1: I had a baby and it wasn't good, right, And
Speaker 1: any idea in what the kids will be eating obviously
Speaker 1: not sushi or anything work like that.
Speaker 2: I think when I saw the announcement, butter chicken was there.
Speaker 2: That's not which would be nice. That's a bit woe.
Speaker 1: Curriculum, charter schools, lunches, these are all the things that
Speaker 1: seem to change with every government. Hay, does this sector
Speaker 1: need more long term planning and bipartisan agreement on that
Speaker 1: rather than shaking things up every few years. I guess
Speaker 1: the constant changes probably aren't helping those pass rates.
Speaker 2: I definitely say so. I mean every election we hear
Speaker 2: sort of the education unions, the sector group leaders talk
Speaker 2: about how education seems to become a bit of a
Speaker 2: political football every election, and I think that they're quite
Speaker 2: sick of that, and they often also call for a
Speaker 2: more bipartisan approach.
Speaker 1: And in terms of these charter schools journ and there's
Speaker 1: a wide variety there. Hey, have we heard from any
Speaker 1: of them?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've spoken to a couple of principles that are
Speaker 2: opening up their schools this term. So Busy School principal
Speaker 2: Muana i Lower their school is opening FIB seven. She
Speaker 2: tells me that they've been having a lot of families
Speaker 2: come through last week. They're doing a lot of interviews
Speaker 2: this week and starting with around fifteen to thirty students. Tippany,
Speaker 2: which is opening south of Auckland. I've also spoken to
Speaker 2: one of their leaders, Nathan Jury. He said they've seen
Speaker 2: strong demand from locals in Auckland, around New Zealand, Australia
Speaker 2: and the Pacific and they're opening with around forty students.
Speaker 2: And Mastery School Principal Rose mcinary told News Talks a
Speaker 2: b this week that they have sixty primary age children
Speaker 2: enrolled and more than forty are waitlisted.
Speaker 1: It's kind of good. I mean, I know that there's
Speaker 1: been some controversy around bringing chatter schools back, but especially
Speaker 1: if you've got a kid that's so disengaged and doesn't
Speaker 1: want to be there and just doesn't some kids just
Speaker 1: don't operate within that usual traditional model. Hey, what are
Speaker 1: some of the kind of things that these schools do differently.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So busy school the one I just mentioned that
Speaker 2: in Auckland, and they're going to offer a dual approach
Speaker 2: of half the week students will be looking at NCA
Speaker 2: usual curriculum. Half the week they're going to be doing
Speaker 2: work experience more like vocational kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And so this busy school that they say their goal
Speaker 1: is to help students build skills that lead them to
Speaker 1: meaningful careers. So that's all a part of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, So having that duel approach of you do
Speaker 2: your NCAA curriculum that you need, and at the same
Speaker 2: time you're working towards finding a kind of job or career,
Speaker 2: getting that experience, getting that skills and.
Speaker 1: Just finally Shannon. The cell phone ban, I'm probably I'm
Speaker 1: sure you're sick of hearing about this. Any feedback you've
Speaker 1: heard about if that's been actually a success or not.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think every school has had different experiences. A
Speaker 2: lot of schools already had their own kind of cell
Speaker 2: phone bands operating. I did talk to Mount Albert Grammar
Speaker 2: School principal Patrick Drum. They had brought in a band
Speaker 2: before the government enacted ban, and he tells me that
Speaker 2: it caused a real kind of culture shift at their school.
Speaker 2: He said that they went from students sitting around at
Speaker 2: lunchtime just staring at their phones, and now there's rugby
Speaker 2: bulls being thrown through windows, which he actually said was
Speaker 2: a bit of a positive change, and it was really
Speaker 2: nice to see kids out and about again, well kids
Speaker 2: being kids.
Speaker 1: Hey, I mean cell phones. Even if you go out
Speaker 1: with your friend group as an adult and everyone's on
Speaker 1: their cell phones, it's disenchanting. So I can't imagine actually
Speaker 1: having to learn something with that distraction on your hands. Hey, exactly.
Speaker 2: And I think even at lunchtime, you know, ked socializing more,
Speaker 2: not just looking at your phones. How can that be
Speaker 2: a negative thing?
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us Shannon.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Chelsea.
Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
Speaker 1: can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
Speaker 1: at enzedherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
Speaker 1: produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
Speaker 1: a sound engineer. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to The Front
Speaker 1: Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and
Speaker 1: tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.