Education Minister Erica Stanford announced an expansion of targeted interventions in classrooms across New Zealand to support children with reading and maths.
The Government is investing in more structured literacy teachers to benefit 970 schools, with a focus on identifying students who need early support. This follows the reprioritisation of $33 million from Reading Recovery and Early Literacy Support earlier this year. The expansion will see 200 additional schools receiving access to trained teachers for Years 0-2 students.
Additionally, the maths acceleration trial is being expanded to include 1000 more students in Year 7 and 8, bringing the total number of participants to 3000. This intensive 12-week programme aims to bring struggling students up to curriculum level in maths. The expansion will cost $3 million. The Government aims to equip schools with structured literacy and maths by 2025 and reach an 80% target for Year 8 students by 2030.