Source: Radio New Zealand
The Education Minister is announcing new maths, English and science resources that were due to be in schools at the start of this year will now be rolled out.
The resources include a new teacher-facilitated writing tool for Year 6 to 10 students a year or more behind and maths resources for Year 9 and 10 students.
Earlier this month, the Post Primary Teachers’ Association criticised the Minister for not delivering the resources on time and causing an extremely frustrating and stressful start to the school year.
PPTA president Chris Abercrombie said at the time well developed resources and implemented smoothly are “so crucial”, especially with the amount of new content the Minister had introduced.
Education Minister Erica Stanford made the announcement alongside the Prime Minister in Auckland on Tuesday. There will also be new science kits for primary school classrooms, an investment made in Budget 2025.
The writing tool, called Scribo, is a teacher-facilitated 12-week tutoring programme providing targeted support for each student’s learning needs, she explained.
She said it will “help close literacy gaps” and strengthen students’ writing, spelling, and grammar. It was also curriculum aligned and designed to reflect New Zealand context and culture, she said. The programme was now being extended to students in Year 10.
The curriculum-aligned digital maths resources for Years 9 and 10 would include digital textbooks and workbooks guidance for teachers.
“Over the next three years, the resources are expected to benefit around 140,000 students each year, supporting 6000 teachers,” Stanford said.
Teachers can choose the extent to which they use the resources, and there will be professional learning development provided.
She said the science kits were delivering on Budget 2025 investments to strengthen science in primary and intermediate schools.
“These will be hands-on and curriculum-aligned, supporting teachers with bringing science to life in classrooms,” Stanford said.
“Science is such a fun and interesting part of school for so many young people, full of discovery and experimentation.”
She said $40 million was allocated in Budget 2025, and the provision of those kits throughout the country will be achieved by early 2027.
Part of the initiative has an entirely new suite of science kits in development for Māori medium education.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
