Research Recommended Before Changes to Special Education

Relevant research recommended before changes made to special education services

Salisbury School Board of Trustees is recommending that the Government defers its proposed plan for special education in favour of relevant research to ensure its vulnerable students are not used as ‘test cases’.

The Ministry is currently reviewing the provision of special education in New Zealand, and could close one or four of New Zealand’s residential special schools, including Salisbury, in favour of a proposed ‘wrap-around’ approach. Submissions on this proposal closed today.

On behalf of the Salisbury School Board of Trustees, Salisbury Principal Brenda Ellis has today hand-delivered the School Board’s submission to stay open, along with a petition of 2800 signatures and the personal stories of past and current students, to the Ministry of Education.

Brenda Ellis, who flew from Nelson to Wellington this morning to deliver the submission in person to the Ministry, said the school has been overwhelmed with the support it has received during the Ministry’s consultation on a proposed closure.

“We wanted to deliver the full submission by hand, to acknowledge all the support we have received from current and past parents and students, whose voices are a big part of our submission,” she says.

Meanwhile, Board of Trustees Chairperson Helen McDonnell agrees that support for the school has been significant and widespread.

“Girls come from all over New Zealand to Salisbury, as we’re the only residential special school in New Zealand that provides 24 hour / 7 day education, along with an outreach service in the community, for girls with intellectual disabilities,” McDonnell says. “This means that over the years the school has touched many many people from around the country.

“The submission that was delivered today included a petition of 2800 supporters, and a community submission, which 240 supporters put their names to, including Nelson Mayor Aldo Miccio, Tasman Mayor Richard Kempthorne, Dame Alison Roxburgh, and a number of school teachers and principals of New Zealand schools, and professionals from the social services and health sectors,” she says.

“In essence, in the Board’s submission we have asked the Minister to: defer implementation of the proposed ‘intensive wrap around’ service for post primary girls with complex learning impairments until January 2018; enable Salisbury to undertake an action research project which will inform a future model of excellence in special education provision from 2018; and immediately, establish a stakeholder-wide working group that would consult, advise and contribute to the development of this future model.

“The Ministry’s proposed wrap-around system is worryingly based on research that does not provide any evidence that it works for secondary-aged girls with intellectual disabilities – which is Salisbury’s student base,” she says. “We are deeply concerned that they are using these vulnerable young women as a test case, without any proper evidence that a new model could match the success Salisbury’s students currently achieve.

“We invite the Ministry to review what we do at Salisbury in our residential and outreach programmes and enable us to undertake a five year research programme that will then provide evidence to support a future model of excellence in special education provision,” she says. “There is no research at all about intermediate and secondary aged girls with complex intellectual needs, so we encourage the Government to not rush into major change that could negatively affect some of New Zealand’s most vulnerable girls.

“As the proposed ‘wrap around’ service would impact on all New Zealand schools, including ours, we also recommend the Minister establishes a working group of sector representatives, to ensure we get this right,” she says. “In the meantime the Board invites the Minister Hekia Parata to visit our school, to ensure she fully understands the services we provide and the outcomes we achieve.

“It is well recognised that one in five young people are failing in mainstream education, and Salisbury has the quantitative and qualitative evidence that demonstrates that for post primary girls with complex intellectual needs we are addressing the three ministry priority areas:

1. The long tail of underachievement in the New Zealand Education System

2. Maori having the opportunity to experience success as Maori

3. Meeting the needs of special education students throughout New Zealand

“Salisbury has the low student/teacher ratios and quality teaching processes that the Minister craves to meet her objective that five out of five New Zealander’s receive the education they deserve,” she says. “We support this vision and wish to work with the Government so that this can be fully achieved.”

Excerpts from Salisbury School’s Submission

“Neither David Mitchell’s research nor the Ministry’s proposal present any specific research based on meeting the complex educational needs of teenage girls with intellectual impairment. We can only conclude from this that any decision to close Salisbury in the next five years would be a step into the unknown where the outcomes for Salisbury’s current and future students is riddled with the potential for poor learning and life outcomes and higher down-stream costs to the state through more costly interventions needed throughout the lives of these young women.”

“This submission sets out the strengths of Salisbury and demonstrates that it meets the needs of a vulnerable group of learners — intellectually impaired girls with complex intellectual, emotional and social needs whose needs are not met in other schools. It responds to the Ministry’s proposal for the development of a new intensive wrap-around special education service and David Mitchell’s 2012 literature review, Joined-up. Our analysis concludes that there is no evidential basis provided for the development of a new service for the girls currently having their needs met by Salisbury. Nor indeed is there any evidence provided about residential services and the alternatives. “

“The Board also puts forward a number of proposals for addressing the gaps in skills and knowledge for meeting the needs of girls with complex intellectual, emotional and social needs such as those currently successfully met by Salisbury’s services. We also set out a vision for how highly effective provision for girls with intellectual impairment might continue to develop, while growing our New Zealand expertise and knowledge base for meeting the needs of these students at the same time. It is critical that this group of students does not miss out on the opportunity to achieve successful outcomes through the introduction of a poorly researched transition to an unclear and untested model.”

About Salisbury School

http://www.salisbury.school.nz/

Salisbury School is the only residential special school in New Zealand successfully providing for post primary aged girls with complex learning difficulties caused by intellectual impairment.

The award-winning school has two support streams - an outreach service to support students within their own school and community, and a residential, or boarding, facility for those students who attend school on site. The boarding facility based in Nelson is a 24 hour, 7 day a week facility.

As part of its enrolment criteria, students and families must prove that they have tried all other options for support in the mainstream with no success.

In February 2012, Minister of Disability Issues Tariana Turia said “I can see the value of having a school like this...It’s great to see lots of happy faces [at Salisbury School]...the important thing is to try and ensure that what we’re doing in Government doesn’t cut across and take away from that.”

ENDS

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