Government Delivers Another Gut Punch To Māori With Proposal To De-fund Expert Teachers

The Government has today delivered another gut punch to Māori by proposing the de-funding of expert teachers who support literacy and te reo Māori, NZEI Te Riu Roa says.

The Ministry of Education today launched a consultation document asking schools whether Resource Teachers of Literacy and Resource Teachers of Māori should be de-funded in favour of spending elsewhere.

NZEI Te Riu Roa president Ripeka Lessels says the proposal is another blow to Māori after Education Minister Erica Stanford recently cut Te Ahu o te Reo, a highly effective te reo learning programme.

“The evidence shows tamariki Māori succeed best in Kaupapa Māori kura where te reo me ngā tikanga is supported. Resource teachers of Māori play a key role in supporting teachers and children in these schools.”

“The Minister of Education has also been positive about tamariki succeeding in Māori immersion learning, but now the very people who support this to happen effectively are in the firing line.”

Resource teachers of literacy offer expert support for children struggling with reading and writing.

“It doesn’t make sense that teachers who are experts in literacy are being targeted when the Minister of Education has been emphasising literacy,” Mrs Lessels says.

“This looks to be from the school lunches playbook. If the Coalition Government is trying to save money at the cost of our most vulnerable children they will simply end up creating bigger, costlier problems. We need more investment in education overall, not cuts to expert teachers and cut-price kai. Kids that aren’t fed can’t learn and can’t go on to contribute well to society. Kids that can’t read or write can’t go on to contribute well to society.”

There are 121 resource teachers of literacy positions, with 110 of those roles currently filled. There are 53 positions for resource teachers of Māori, with 48 filled.

NZEI Te Riu Roa will explore all feasible legal avenues to stop the 174 frontline roles being defunded and disestablished.

The Ministry’s consultation document will go to all schools today asking them whether the resource teacher funding should be kept or used in some other way. NZEI Te Riu Roa believes this is unfair and inappropriate, as resource teachers of Māori are focused on supporting level one and two immersion and bilingual units in kura and mainstream schools, and not all schools are eligible for resource teachers of literacy.

“To ask schools who are not the ones who utilise these roles to say if they value them is really unfair on these highly-skilled teachers,” Mrs Lessels says.

The Ministry says if the roles are defunded, schools could pay for the roles from their own funds if they want to. This is disingenuous – schools do not have spare funds to pick up this cost. What we need is a strengthening of our resource teacher networks and more staffing to meet children’s learning needs, not this approach.”

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