Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Kyle Brewerton: Auckland Primary Principals' Association President on the Government's new math tutoring trial

Transcript

Kyle Brewerton: Auckland Primary Principals' Association President on the Government's new math tutoring trial · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The government's playing catch up on student maths failures, trialing
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: a targeted math program to help intermediate students from term
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: one next year two thousand, year seven and eight students
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: will be part of an intensive program to get them
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: up to speed with the required curriculum level. The kids
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: will get thirty minutes extra online tuition for up to
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: four times a week. Kyle Brewerton is the Remuer intermediate
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: school principal. He's with us this morning, Kyl, Good morning,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Ryan, Thanks for being with me. Will this
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: make a difference.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Well, that's what we'll find out. That's while we're doing
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: the trial. The approach has some merit. Using those online tools,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: they're very efficient generally at finding out where potentially those
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: gaps are. But having the human element as well connected
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: with it, I think, you know, the combination of the
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: two should certainly go some ways to help those kids
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: who we've found to be lacking.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: How many of your kids are lacking?
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: They're not many. We're pretty pretty lucky where we are,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: but certainly nationally we know that there's a substantial number
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: of kids who definitely need some extra help at the moment.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Does what makes the difference for your kids? Is it
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the fact they're getting reinforced at home.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: There's a host of different factors. We certainly, I mean
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: in our own school, we know that the gains that
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: they make when they're with us are pretty spectacular. We
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: know we have some great programs, we have some great teachers.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: We also use some of those online tools. It's just
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: a combination of things.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Really, Is it a real teacher doing a lesson in
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: this half hour online or is it like a multi
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: choice with questions and stuff.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, again, it's a combination of the two. Really. So
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the software atself, as I said, is pretty good at
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: finding out where those gaps are and then giving some
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: sort of tuition, some guidance, some examples, but then having
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: also a teacher, or at least a trained teacher ade
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: alongside them, helping them to understand and that makes sense
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: of what it is that perhaps those gaps that they
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: might have to explain some of those concepts, because maths
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: can be a little bit ambiguous at times, a little
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: bit abstract. So the human element combined with those software,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: particularly the ones that do, as I say, find those gaps,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: it's a powerful combination.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: The testing that goes on, how often are you testing
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: at the moment your intermediate students for maths.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's two parts, and I mean we tend
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: to sort of focus on the assessment piece, but the
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: testing is used largely to look at those big trends.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: So we'll do that twice a year to see how
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: overall how our kids are tracking, how particular groups are
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: tracking over the two years with us. But then we
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: also as we move through the different parts of maths,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: we'll do some little assessments. We're also obviously watching and
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: sitting alongside them the whole time, just seeing who's understanding
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and who's not, and what sort of extra support might
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: be needed as we go.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Do you do that more than other schools because the
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: government from next year it'll be at least two assessments
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: per year for math. Are others not doing that?
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Well? That's what we've been told, but I certainly can't
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: speak for other schools. Certainly the schools around me and
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: people I talk to. It's a pretty standard approach because
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: you want to do it a couple of times a
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: year just to see as I see those trends that movement,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: that progress, and also make sure you're catching those ones
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: who aren't keeping up.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time, Kyle, great to have
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: you on the show. Carl Bruce and the Auckland Primary
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Sorry who is the Remuer intermediate school principal? For more
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News
• 3:44
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• 3:47
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