Half of NZ schools failing special education students

Half of all New Zealand schools fail to promote achievement for special education students

IHC New Zealand has welcomed the Education Review Office’s report Inclusive practices for students with special needs in schools that clearly shows the system is failing many disabled children.

The Education Review Office report identifies that the number of schools evaluated as mostly inclusive has risen, but IHC knows those numbers don’t tell the full story.

IHC has a case before the Human Rights Review Tribunal about the failure of government to ensure inclusive education for all children in New Zealand. In preparing for this action, IHC has surveyed a large number of families, teachers and other education workers.

“The numbers in the ERO report tell as much about failing children as achieving for them,” says IHC Director of Advocacy Trish Grant. “50 per cent of schools do not promote or monitor achievement for children with disabilities.”

“The report found 78 per cent of schools were mostly inclusive, but we have to remember that inclusive education for disabled children is about more than just getting in the door of a school and being able to interact with other children,” she says. “It’s about being seen as a valued learner, making progress and achieving.”

IHC’s own data confirms the difficulty families and even well-intentioned schools have in accessing the support disabled children need from specialists and the Ministry of Education.

“We know that many disabled children just aren’t welcome at their local school,” says Trish Grant. “Where children are accepted on the roll, many are being sent home for part of the day because a teacher’s aide is unavailable. The children also often miss out on activities like swimming, sport, camp, after school programmes or even just project work within the class.”

IHC believes that as with previous ERO reports on inclusion, there are methodological problems with the survey and that the report makes claims that go beyond the data that it relies upon.

ERO has broadened the focus of the 2014 evaluation to cover all students with special education needs, rather than just students with high needs. The sample size is also more than 30 per cent smaller than the 2010 evaluation, drawing information from just 152 schools out of a total of more than 2500.

“Education Minister Hekia Parata has herself promoted the idea of a national hui to discuss ways of giving disabled children a fair go at school,” says Trish Grant. “It’s time to stop crowing about this mixed report, see it as just one piece of the information puzzle and send out the invitations.”

You can read more about IHC’s Education Complaint Needs click here

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