The government has announced a "maths check" for children in their first two years of schooling Photo: 123RF
The government is "testing children to death" with the announcement of a new maths test for the youngest children, says the head of the Principals Federation.
Next week's Budget will include $4 million to develop and introduce a "maths check" for children in their first two years of schooling.
It also announced $56m over four years to employ the equivalent of 143 full-time maths intervention teachers to help primary school children who were struggling with the subject, and $40m over four years for small group maths tutoring for up to 34,000 children in Year 7-8 each year.
Principals Federation president Leane Otene told RNZ the maths test would be on top of a phonics check for young children that it had already introduced.
She said another test was not needed and she wanted to see evidence that the phonics test was making a difference.
"We're testing for testing's sake. We know where the needs are. We know what supports that we need," she said.
"Yes, it gives us information, but teachers will be able to tell you that they already know which children need that extra support. They don't need a test to tell them that so what is this test for, who is this test for, is what I will be asking. We've now got a phonics test for literacy in Year 1. We've now got a numeracy test in Year 2. We're testing our kids to death here."
University of Canterbury mathematics education senior lecturer David Pomeroy said it was positive the government wants to prioritise the learning of young children in mathematics, however, he agreed the "biggest red flag" was the additional maths test.
When government's have introduced compulsory testing in primary school, overseas statistics show there have been negative unintended consequences, Pomeroy told Morning Report.
"Where it can go wrong is when a test becomes a part of a child's identity. So, this policy identifies children who are falling behind, or who are seen as having a gap in their learning really early on in the schooling. Children can internalise that label and it then becomes a self fulfilling prophecy."
Education Minister Erica Stanford said on the new maths test would identify students who would benefit from additional support, early on in their schooling journey.
"We are flying completely blind. There is no nation-wide, consistent assessment," Stanford told Morning Report.
She said the skills test will be similar to the phonics test - which she said teachers are really enjoying.
"We're not going to put kids in rows and have timed tests and it be very high stakes," Stanford said.
"... More importantly, on a nation-wide level, it gives me a snapshot of 'woah we need more intervention teachers' or 'actually, since we've introduced structures maths, look at our results of our nation-wide consistent assessment at year two... every years its improving'."
Otene said principals would welcome the funding for expert teachers, provided they targeted the children who were furthest behind in maths - those classed as "tier three" meaning they needed support from externally-sourced specialists.
"We need that intervention support. But I'm really hoping that that's not just for tier two students... we need desperately learning support for those children who are 'well below'," she said.
Otene said the funding for tutoring at intermediate schools was premature because it extended a pilot scheme that had not yet been assessed.
"I'm a bit concerned that the minister does not have evidence to support the extending of that," she said.
"It's another two weeks before they do the assessment of their Year 7 and 8 pilot. So, I think this is the cart before the horse to be quite frank."
Otene said schools in the pilot could provide the tutoring themselves if they had an expert maths teacher, or they could use an online provider, or a hybrid model.
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