Year 7 & 8 (Tau 7 & 8) in Mathematics (Hāpai Pāngarau) Accelerated Learning Improves Student (Ākonga) Outcomes

SYDNEY, May 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Matific and the Ministry of Education in New Zealand are working together to support pāngarau | maths learning through delivering a targeted Hāpai Pāngarau Programme over 12 weeks.

Improving pāngarau | maths outcomes remain a key priority across Aotearoa New Zealand, for all students including those learning in and through te reo Māori.

To achieve this key priority, the Hāpai Pāngarau Acceleration programme was designed to lift achievement and accelerate progress of Tau 7 & 8 | Year 7 & 8 students by delivering pāngarau | maths learning through te reo Māori, enabling students to learn pāngarau in a culturally meaningful way.

The programme is being delivered through a collaboration between the Ministry of Education, New Zealand and Matific, a global digital maths platform, combining curriculum-aligned content, adaptive technology, and a structured model designed for use in real classrooms.

How Matific supports accelerated learning in Pāngarau | Maths

The rollout delivers a fully immersive pāngarau (mathematics) experience in te reo Māori, aligned to the Hāpai Pāngarau framework and integrated into classroom teaching.

The 12-week acceleration programme leverages Matific's research-backed, game-based platform to personalise learning pathways and support students at their current level. It will run across three cohorts throughout the year, reaching multiple kura and schools and addresses foundational gaps in pāngarau understanding of number, operations, fractions, and decimals.

Scaling high-quality maths learning across languages and education systems

A te reo Māori pāngarau learning experience has been designed to meet curriculum requirements and work effectively at scale in real classrooms.

The Ministry of Education New Zealand has led curriculum alignment and programme design, while Matific provides the pedagogy-first platform and infrastructure required for national-scale implementation.

Rather than simple translation, the rollout includes:

• Fully interactive activities and instructional content
• Voice-enabled and language-supported learning experiences
• Adaptive pathways aligned with curriculum

The Hāpai Pāngarau programme offers a structured model to implement the Matific platform to support accelerated learning.

"We are incredibly proud to work with the Ministry of Education New Zealand on this initiative," said Allan Levenstein, Director of Global Partnerships at Matific. "Our work in te reo Māori reflects a broader commitment to ensuring students can access maths in the language they understand best. When learning is delivered in a familiar language, engagement improves, confidence increases, and outcomes follow."

Extending proven maths gains through scalable multilingual learning

Looking ahead, the programme represents a broader opportunity to embed language accessibility into digital learning systems at scale.

With education systems increasingly prioritising both foundational learning and cultural relevance, initiatives like this provide a practical, scalable model for how technology, pedagogy, and language can work together to support more inclusive and effective classrooms.

About Matific

Matific is a global digital maths (Now with Financial Literacy) platform for K-12, designed to strengthen foundational numeracy through engaging, curriculum-aligned learning experiences.

The platform is intentionally built to support teachers, combining structured lesson activities, real-time learner insights, embedded formative assessment, and AI differentiated practice tools that enable instruction to be adapted across diverse and multilingual classrooms.

By combining research-based pedagogy with scalable localisation infrastructure, Matific enables education systems to deliver high-quality maths learning in students' home languages—supporting both access and measurable outcomes.

Matific currently supports over 50 languages and is used in more than 70 countries worldwide, partnering with ministries of education, NGOs, and school networks to improve foundational learning at scale.

Matific's systemic approach combines:

• Pedagogy-first design (conceptual understanding, feedback, engagement)
• Localisation with cultural and linguistic accuracy
• AI Teacher enablement tools, including structured lesson alignment and real-time learner insights
• Scalability to support high-quality rollout across additional languages