Source: Radio New Zealand
The government will spend $131 million on improving students’ reading, writing and maths in this year’s budget, the Education Minister Erica Stanford says.
Stanford made the pre-Budget announcement alongside Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at Boulcott School in Lower Hutt on Monday.
Another 12 initiatives as part of primary and intermediate school education reforms would boost achievement and close the equity gap, Stanford said.
“[Children] will see more resources in their hands, more tutoring catch ups, more time with intervention teachers, and more help with a teacher at the front of the class who knows how to teach maths, reading and writing best practice.”
The new maths initiatives included:
- Maths hubs to improve teacher confidence and capability
- Hands-on maths resources and games for all Year 0-8 classrooms
- 36 additional Maths intervention teachers
- A new times table and division check at Year 5
The new literacy initiatives included:
- New writing workbooks for Year 4 and 5
- A digital writing tool for all Year 6-8 students
- New “decodable” books for older learners in Year 3-10
- A 12-week structured literacy programme for those who are struggling
- A new Year 2 Literacy Check, covering reading, comprehension, writing, spelling and basic punctuation (joining the existing Year 2 Maths Check)
- Guidance for teachers to improve the teaching of literacy, with supporting videos and resources.
There would also be a new reading action plan called Read to Succeed – joining the Make it Count maths plan and Write it Right writing plan.
Asked whether teachers would be overloaded with so many extra workbooks, Stanford said she had been asking schools what would make the biggest difference.
“This is coming directly from the sector themselves, and we are delivering it,” she said.
“Nothing is compulsory, but at least we’re making it free of charge.”
The initiatives would contribute to the government’s target of seeing 80 percent of Year 8 students achieving the expected curriculum level for their age in reading, writing and maths by December 2030, Stanford said.
“Parents will have more information at each step of their child’s journey about how they are doing at school and students will be better set up for success when they enter high school.”
Very early signs reforms are working – minister
Stanford said fresh data released on Monday showed “very early signs” of success with last year’s maths and literacy curriculum changes.
“No one is claiming mission accomplished just yet,” she said.
“But these early results give us optimism and confidence that our reforms are moving in the right direction.”
Stanford said the investments would “level the playing field, reducing costs for schools and backing evidence-led reforms”.
There were early signs the government’s education reforms were already working, she said.
The latest Curriculum Insights and Progress Study looked at student achievement in late 2025 – three terms into previous reforms – and the results “surpassed expectations”, she said.
“A statistically significant improvement of 5 percent in writing and 6 percent in mathematics for Year 6 students between 2024 and 2025 interrupts New Zealand’s long-term decline in achievement between Year 4 and Year 8 and will better set these students up for success at high school.”
The minister credited teachers for that improvement.
Achievement in other areas and year groups was flat, which is what the government expected as the new curriculum was bedded in, Stanford said.
She expected to see “accelerated progress” over time.
The package would be funded from a mixture of new and reprioritised money, but Stanford would not reveal further details before the Budget.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/18/watch-erica-stanford-announces-131m-budget-spend-on-reading-writing-and-maths-initiatives/