• POLICIES FOR PROGRESS
• GIVE OUR KIDS THE WORLD
• EDUCATION GAPS BACKGROUND

The Government has therefore adopted this goal: "By 2005, every child turning nine will be able to read, write and do maths for success"

Literacy and numeracy skills are essential for success in education and beyond. Most young New Zealanders are doing well, but there are still too many who are not.

If we can overcome the current disparity in children’s literacy and numeracy standards we are investing in New Zealand’s future.

International studies show that in New Zealand, at age nine:

Reading

• there is a wide gap between the highest and lowest levels of reading achievement

• there is a significant difference between the average performance of Maori and Pacific Island students and others

• girls outperform boys

• children whose home language is not the language of instruction have markedly lower literacy levels than other children of the same age. Out of 32 systems of education, New Zealand had the largest gap in reading achievement between children who were learning in their home language and those who were not (only children being taught in English were included in the New Zealand sample).

Mathematics

• our nine year olds (Years four and five) performed on average well below the international average for mathematics achievement, although the performance of our 13 year olds relative to their international counterparts was markedly better than that of the nine year olds

• Maori and Pacific Islands students at both ages achieved, on average, well below students from European/Pakeha and Asian groupings.

Mathematics

WHAT IS BEING DONE

We want the curriculum and teachers to be in the best possible position to be able to focus on reading, writing and maths in the early years of schooling. The focusing of the curriculum will be backed by other initiatives funded by new money, including a total of $19.5 million over 1998/99 and the next two financial years, then nearly $8 million a year on-going. This money will help fund the Reading and Maths Proposal Pool.

	1998/1999	1999/2000	2000/2001	2001/2002
Total (GST incl)	$3.397 million	$7.505 million	$8.652 million	$7.931 million

School Curriculum

The primary school curriculum will be focused to give priority to children being able to read, write and do maths. The Education Review Office will be asked to ensure that the focus of its Accountability Reviews is consistent with this priority.

New Literacy Taskforce

A Literacy Taskforce of experts and practitioners will be set up to advise on ways and means to address reading literacy and written language standards.

The Taskforce members will be announced shortly.

It will match the actions of the Maths and Science Taskforce. It will draw on a wide range of expertise and experience and recommend ways of meeting the goal.

Both Taskforce groups will also provide advice on how the goal that ‘by 2005 all children turning nine will be able to read, write and do maths for success’ should be defined.

They will also recommend programmes to include in the Reading and Mathematics Proposal Pool.

New fund for reading and maths programmes in schools (Reading and Maths Proposals Pool)

The Reading and Mathematics Proposals Pool is a results-focused plan to help schools hook into programmes with a proven history of helping students learn to read and understand mathematics.

The pool will be allocated $10.3 million over three years starting from this financial year, with $5 million a year after that

	1998/1999	1999/2000	2000/2001	2001/2002
Pool Allocation (GST incl)	$1.44 million	$3.87 million	$5.085 million	$5.085 million

The Government also wants to encourage businesses to get in behind programmes in schools in low socio economic areas. The Government will set a sum aside to match every dollar that businesses contribute to effective reading and maths programmes in decile one and two primary schools.

Communications

A three year communications programme will be put in place from early next year to inform the public, parents, whanau, iwi, communities and the corporate sector about how they can help encourage children’s reading and maths development. It will also build broad national support and local community action.

A range of media and actions will be used to publicise that:

• parents, whanau, and communities are very influential and can make an important contribution to achieving the goal

• you don’t need to be an expert or a teacher to help ‘make a difference’

• the strategy will include action at government, school, early childhood and community levels

• new partnerships between schools, communities, and the business sector to foster the development of reading and maths skills will be encouraged

• early childhood services/experience also contribute to the goal through children participating in relevant literacy and maths activities at a young age.

Existing Programmes to be Funded on an Ongoing Basis