Key Findings

This paper draws primarily on national sources to provide information about students’ achievement and progress in mathematics, from an Aotearoa New Zealand context. References are at the end of this paper. These sources included:

• Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) study at age 4.5
• National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA), conducted with Year 4 and Year 8 students, their teachers, and their schools
• The electronic assessment tool for teaching and learning (e-asTTle), developed primarily for learners in Years 5 to 10, and
• Data from the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) for secondary students.

We’ve also included international sources to give us a view on the characteristics and performance of our system against the systems of other countries. These international sources were:

• Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), conducted with Year 5 and Year 9 students, their teachers, and their schools
• Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted with 15-year-old students.

In general, many of our learners perform well against national and international benchmarks of mathematics achievement.

Many are making good progress at an expected pace throughout year levels. However, the range of achievement in maths at each year level is wide and many students are achieving lower than either expected or desired. There is also a significant variation in the amount of measured progress students make over a school year. Evidence about mathematics lessons suggests that many children and young people are not getting an opportunity to learn all the material that would help them succeed.

The wide variation in achievement was also found within the ethnic groupings and socio-economic categories as well as special education needs learners, with advanced achievers and very low achievers in all groupings. The analysis shows there is further work to be done to close the gaps.

Positive attitudes towards learning maths are commonly associated with higher achievement. Data indicates that many students, particularly those in primary schools, enjoyed learning maths and secondary students valued learning maths. Many of them also felt confident in their mathematical abilities. However, on a global scale, there were more New Zealand students who were negative about maths than their international counterparts.

Teachers’ confidence and preparation, along with their teaching methods, have an impact on students’ opportunity to learn and academic outcomes in mathematics. Most primary teachers enjoyed teaching maths, but many lacked the mathematical ability to teach Year 7 and 8 students and expressed negative views towards doing mathematics, though this didn’t necessarily negatively impact their attitude to teaching maths.

Many New Zealand students reported teachers were clear and easy to understand in mathematics lessons. However, the methods and strategies used by teachers in lessons varied greatly across New Zealand classrooms.