NZ To Tap World Leaders In Science And Math Education

Education and Acting Science Minister Nick Smith today announced an initiative to evaluate science and mathematics education in world leading countries to see what New Zealand can learn from their programmes. Singapore and Korea have both been approached to participate in the evaluation.

"New Zealand is a world leader in many subjects, but most recent studies show we need to improve levels of achievement in maths and science. These subjects are just so important for our country's future that we need to investigate how we can do better. This should include being prepared to adopt ideas from those countries that are leading the world."

The results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 1997 showed New Zealand's ranking for nine year olds in science as 16th out of 25 countries, and in maths as 19th out of 25 countries. The same survey showed Singapore with the highest score in maths and Korea with the highest score in science. The results also showed that by school leaving age, New Zealand improved its ranking to 6th out of 21 in science and 9th out of 21 in maths.

"New Zealand has an excellent public education system, but we cannot rest on our laurels. We need to be honest about those areas where we are not doing as well as we ought to, and be open minded about how we address them. We should not be afraid to learn from the experience of other countries."

The Research, jointly funded by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology and the Education Review Office, involves an in-depth evaluation by the Education Review Office of the comprehensive capability of New Zealand, and the world leaders in science and mathematics. The study will look at teaching methods, overall education strategies and how we can improve the quality of mathematics and science teaching in New Zealand schools. The contract will be concluded by June 2000.

"There is a misplaced perception that Asian teaching methods lack innovation, depend on rote learning and that they offer little to New Zealand. Preliminary enquiries indicate that in the maths and science areas these countries are highly innovative. It is at least worth the investment of having a careful analysis of what these countries are doing to help in identifying strategies that will enable us to improve."