National promises to expand maths acceleration programme

National says it would expand a maths acceleration programme, so 40,000 more students in years 7 to 10 can take part, over three years.

The party has announced its Plan for Kiwi Kids.

It brings together existing policies like the $1500 KiwiSaver BabyBoost kick-start, getting screens out of ECE and limiting use in years 1 to 3, keeping the phone ban, replacing NCEA, and keeping students in school until the end of year 11.

The sole new policy in the document is the expansion of the Maths Acceleration Programme, which was trialled last year.

It was then rolled out to 12,300 students in years 7 and 8 this year, and extended to 75,900 students in years 7 to 10 for 2027-29.

The programme involves students taking part in four 30-minute sessions a week. National leader Christopher Luxon says participants in the programme made close to two years' progress in 12 weeks.

"Maths is an important life skill which opens doors to jobs, qualifications and a more prosperous future so we want every child to gain those skills," he said.

Speaking to media in Pongakawa about the maths policy, education spokesperson Erica Stanford said it was targeted at students who would not experience the "full benefit" of education reforms from year 1, and so they were behind where they needed to be.

"These are the children we think need to be covered, 128,000 up until 2029, so I'm pretty confident that we'll be reaching the students that we need to get to."

Students needed to be a year or more behind the curriculum in order to qualify.

Luxon said he and Stanford had both sat in sessions during the trial, to observe the participants.

"It's really quite exciting to see kids get rediscovered in learning. I think for a lot of New Zealand kids, they've felt overwhelmed by mathematics, I think New Zealanders in general in some ways. So actually building confidence back is so important."