The prime minister has described the "shocking" state of maths achievement after "years of drift and decay" and says a new primary school maths curriculum modelled on that of Singapore and Australia will be introduced in Term 1 next year.
The government would roll out new workbooks, teacher guides and other resources aligned to the new curriculum for "every school, every teacher and every child, in every classroom in New Zealand".
He also promised $20 million of professional development on structured maths for primary and intermediate teachers, so they can teach the new programme.
Going forward, any candidates for teacher training programmes would need to pass NCEA Level 2 maths.
Luxon said from next year, students will be assessed two times a year on the new maths curriculum.
The PM was making his keynote speech to National delegates at the party's annual conference in Auckland.
Photo: Tim Collins
At Year 8, he said, only 22 percent of students were at the expected standard for maths - a figure he called "deeply concerning" and a result of "total system failure".
Until now, he said, students had been assessed in broad, multi-year bands where a child could be "years behind where they should be", yet still judged to be at an appropriate level of the curriculum.
"This is the first time we have assessed our kids showing where they are at compared to the year they are actually in. Essentially, that means many parents were being told that their children are doing just fine when the reality is they could be years behind."
The failure to use assessment properly was "abhorrent", he said, and meant the necessary interventions had not occurred.
Luxon said the new data around student achievement showed:
- 8 percent of Year 8 pupils in low decile schools at curriculum for maths
- 76 percent of Year 8 pupils are more than a year behind in maths
- Only 12 percent of Māori pupils at curriculum at Year 8.
The failure was not due to parents or teachers, he said.
"This issue is bigger than politics."
The poor achievement in maths was a threat to New Zealand's economy and development, he said.
"Let's be realistic. We won't be the world leader in agriscience, or advanced aviation, or artificial intelligence, if our kids can't do maths. And designing new expressways in Northland or wind farms in Taranaki will be pretty tough if our kids leave school without mastering the basics."
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the current maths curriculum has left students leaving primary with chronic underachievement.
"What we've had for a really long time is a vague, waffly, high-level curriculum that doesn't actually state at every year level what must be taught. So our teachers have been leaving concepts later and later."
She said the new curriculum will set clear expectations about what is taught and when.
She admitted this will be a big shift, but said the government are throwing everything at getting schools and teachers in shape to teach the new maths curriculum from term 1.
"The resources that we are putting in to support our teachers to teach the new maths curriculum next year is significant. We're also providing interventions for those kids who are falling really far behind. We're going to work with the sector next week to see what else can we do."
She said the $20m for teacher training in maths will help teachers gain the confidence to teach maths, and give parents confidence in teachers.
In a statement, Labour leader Chris Hipkins accused the government of playing catch up.
"Those year 8 students who aren't getting results now, started school with national standards under the previous National government. That was a failure and we are still playing catch up.
"I'm pleased to see Christopher Luxon has committed to bringing forward Labour's curriculum changes and is paying for teacher training and development. He should take the handbrake off school property builds and get rid of his government's terrible charter schools bill too."
First major gathering since election
The gathering was the party's first big conference since they formed a government with ACT and New Zealand First after last year's election.
Since then, the coalition has progressed a suite of policies in health, housing, education and law and order.
It has scrapped a lot of work the former Labour government started, and tax cuts - the centrepiece of National's election campaign - kicked in this week.
Photo: Tim Collins
The most recent 1News Verian poll, out in late June, had National as the highest polling party at 38 percent of the general vote. Its coalition partners ACT and New Zealand First came in on 7 and 6 percent respectively, numbers that would see the coalition re-elected.
On Saturday, Luxon thanked the party faithful for helping to deliver victory in last year's election. National was getting the country, economy and law and order back on track, he said.
Meanwhile, National's Finance Minister Nicola Willis talked about the government's tax cuts that kicked in this week and told the crowd spending cuts were not just a Budget exercise.
"On our watch, there may be fewer people wearing lanyards on Lambton Quay, but there are gonna be a lot more people wearing high vis and hard hats - and I say bring that on."
The conference comes as the government faces a string of stories over the state of New Zealand's health system, with doctors raising the alarm about staff shortages and burnout, and patients sharing stories of long wait times and delayed diagnoses.