Yet another maths curriculum: but why?

The Government has just released yet another new curriculum for primary school – our third in three years. Little wonder that 650 principals from the NZEI union signed an open letter, which is also endorsed by the Principals’ Federation, that stated various curriculum changes – for example, maths and literacy – were “rushed” at an unmanageable pace.

Developing a curriculum is an expensive and professionally demanding undertaking. Many hours of expertise are poured into the creation of a curriculum document, and this comes at significant cost. To pay for three rounds of curriculum reform in just three years is a questionable expenditure in a ministerial portfolio that is severely underfunded. How can the minister justify such an expense?

It is true that we needed a new maths curriculum, and in 2023 we got one, long overdue (the last time we introduced a new curriculum was back in 2007). The 2023 curriculum contained a clear description of the learning that was required at every year level, providing teachers with greater clarity than they previously had. A curriculum on its own does not solve all educational problems, but the 2023 maths curriculum, designed by a diverse group of experts, was a strong move in the right direction.

But then we got a new Government and a new education minister who touted a crisis narrative about maths education in our country. The 2023 curriculum, not yet implemented in schools, was rewritten, gazetted in October 2024, and immediately mandated for schools to start using in 2025.

In the case of maths this was a whole year earlier than originally planned. This second curriculum in two years set the rapid pace of change that we have seen continued throughout since, heralding wave after wave of reform in the education sector. Teachers find themselves struggling to keep up, on a treadmill set too fast.

For primary teachers the pace of curriculum change is particularly hard hitting, as they must implement new curriculums in all subject areas, and, in the case of English and mathematics, without the typical lead-in time to digest the changes and come to grips with new textbooks or externally provided programmes of learning. Both teachers and students suffer with this fast-paced reform. Teachers burn out, and children receive teaching that is undercooked.

2025 has been a difficult year for the teaching and learning of mathematics. But teachers are professionals, and they have been working hard to incorporate the new content into their programmes, assisted by ministry funding of teacher-only days, and with paid providers to deliver professional development for the 2024 curriculum. But still they needed the time to consolidate this curriculum into their practice.

Imagine our surprise when yet another curriculum was released this week. Just one year after the 2024 curriculum was made official, and mandated for use in all Year 0-8 classrooms, suddenly we have yet another version of the curriculum landing at our feet, completely unexpected. Why?

Ironically, the 2023 curriculum was just what we needed. The 2024 version was almost as good. This 2025 curriculum seems to have been written by an offshore consultant who knows little about the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. And it shows.

The ‘new’, new curriculum has lost enormous chunks of the topic of statistics and probability – a topic that New Zealand is widely regarded as leading the world in. Gone completely is anything that speaks to our local context. This version does not reflect our bicultural nation in any way. Also absent are all the skills that a future-focused curriculum should have; skills such as problem solving, communicating, and critical thinking. This curriculum does not give our children what they need for future employment in these uncertain times.

How much did the minister pay for a curriculum that is so inferior to the version already mandated in our schools? How else might we have spent that money?

If we want to improve mathematics teaching and learning in our schools, what we really need is more professional development for teachers, and more teacher aides in the classroom supporting our children.

The minister is keeping under wraps just who she paid to write this latest version of our curriculum. We can only hope that private consultants based overseas, who have no real understanding of our country and culture, aren’t profiting from our limited educational funds.

The curriculum on its own cannot ‘fix’ problems of education in Aotearoa New Zealand. But when it is used as a political football, i.e. a vote-catching exercise, it can certainly create more problems. The sheer volume of change is too much to be sustainable. Give the teachers a break and let the children get on with the learning.