11 October
Immediate Release

How many more ambulances can fit at the bottom of the cliff?

(Reissued Press Release with corrections)

The government has yet again missed a golden opportunity to tackle child poverty.

“Instead of looking at the real issue – poverty – the Government has virtually ignored the many excellent submissions it received on the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children and yet again gone down the road of punishment and monitoring. A road that leads to another ambulance at the bottom of the cliff,” says NZEI Te Riu Roa past president Frances Nelson.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett today released the White Paper for Vulnerable Children which made various recommendations, including a new database identifying at-risk children which would be accessible to a number of agencies and professionals, including schools.

In its submission on the Green Paper, NZEI supported multi-agency information sharing for at-risk children but says the Government has not gone far enough to protect children from poverty – the main reason for student underachievement in our schools.

"We know that poverty is one of the leading causes of student underachievement. If the Government is serious about lifting student achievement it would do something about child poverty."
At least 270,000 Kiwi children are living in poverty and there has been a rise in the number of emergency food grants being accessed – up from 285,460 in the year to June 2008 to 553,854 at June 2011.

“Poor health, hungry children, low wages, lack of jobs and damp housing affect kids wellbeing and their ability to learn. There is still a lack of pathways out of poverty and opportunities, such as this, are constantly missed. Just recently, for example, the government refused to extend the fruit in schools programme.

“We must give credit to our teachers and public education system in that vulnerable children do as well as they do at school and in early childhood education,” says Frances Nelson.

The White Paper says teachers, other professionals and frontline staff will need “training, tools and times” to “support good decision-making” in the new information sharing environment.

“We hope that the Ministry will engage meaningfully with the education sector in order to discuss and implement this.’’

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