Principal Matters: special education in crisis

Kaupapa a ngā Tumuaki
Issue 9
30 March 2017

President's Message:

Tēnā koe
Niwha - Grit
Ka mahi te tawa, uho ki te riri
Well done, those of you whose courage is like the heart of the Tawa tree

E te whānau, ngā tumuaki o Aotearoa, tēnā koutou katoa

Feasgar math! Greetings to you all from Scotland! As I mentioned in my last newsletter I am in Edinburgh this week attending the International Summit on Education with the Minister of Education and three other sector representatives. I shall report further on the Summit in next week's Principal Matters.

You will have noticed that it is my intention this year to introduce you to a new whakatauki or proverb in each issue of Principal Matters. I have decided to repeat last week's proverb today because it fits the subject matter of this week's newsletter so perfectly.

This week, much work has been done at national office to sift through all the feedback from our Moot. This work is not yet completed but there is one theme coming through very strongly. That is that special education is approaching crisis point right across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Our regional presidents attending Moot have reported that resourcing is inadequate and access to specialist services, including diagnostic assessments, psychologists, speech therapists, RTLB, SENCOs, Teacher Aides and especially support for very high learning and behavioural needs students is woeful. Many principals are telling us that they are constantly on the brink of breaching their school's health and safety policies and cannot guarantee the safety and well being of their special needs students, regular students or teachers every day. As the incidence of severe autism, ADHD, fetal alcohol syndrome, 'P' babies, poverty and trauma accelerates, schools are left to flounder. In some cases principals have waited up to twelve months for a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) diagnosis to be conducted which means no funding for the student for all that time.

NZPF conducted a survey late last year and found that 90+% of all schools were using operations grant money to support children with high level behavioural and learning needs. They also reported that accessing qualified experts and support was hugely challenging. Feedback from the Moot this year is telling us the situation is now worse.

Some principals attending Moot made the comment that it is not about the Government not having funds, it's about priorities. With special education in such disarray many principals feel that the $329 million set aside for future Communities of Learning, might be better spent on supporting special education now.

To all of you who courageously face these huge challenges every day, like the Tawa tree, stay strong in the knowledge that you are not alone. As your professional body, NZPF is advocating for changes at the Ministry level. Together we will make progress!

Fare ye weel

Ngā manaakitanga

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