Hundreds of children missing out on education support

2 May 2013

Immediate Release

Hundreds of children missing out on education support

School principals say hundreds of children around the country needing specialised learning support are missing out because of changes to the way special needs funding is being delivered.

NZEI Te Riu Roa Principals’ Council Chair, Charles Oliver says this has become a major issue that principals and teachers all over the country are grappling with.

He says funding has become a lot harder to access and many children are simply not getting the timely learning support they deserve.

“The Government talks about wanting all students to achieve, but at the same time has overseen a restructuring that has made it more difficult for schools to access support for many struggling students.”

Mr Oliver says many students with very high needs are missing out on adequate level of support while access to support for those students categorised with moderate needs has become slow and difficult.

He says the restructuring has resulted in a massive bureaucracy and this has created major obstacles for school principals trying to access the funding.

“The end result, sadly, is that many children are missing out.”

ENDS

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