Otumoetai Intermediate principal Henk Popping was elated with the announcement. Photo / File
Otumoetai Intermediate principal Henk Popping was elated with the announcement. Photo / File
The 623 new learning support co-ordinators starting in January will reshape the education sector in more ways than one.
"I believe this role will bring some teachers back," associate education minister Tracey Martin told the Bay of Plenty Times.
Martin announced at Otumoetai Intermediate School yesterdaythat the first tranche ofthe new education professionals who will help provide learning support to children in more than 1000 schools and kura have now been allocated.
Former Merivale School principal and Tauranga MP Jan Tinetti was "buzzing" after the announcement. Photo / File
She said around one in five children needed some kind of extra support for their learning including learners with moderate needs, such as those who are neurodiverse, gifted, or at risk of disengaging from education.
"This is much wider than those children with much higher, complex, physical needs."
Across the Bay of Plenty, 20 co-ordinators were being allocated to Rotorua and 12 to Tauranga.
In addition, there was a cluster of schools that was spread across multiple local authorities, including Tauranga and Rotorua, that would receive seven co-ordinators.
The co-ordinators would work alongside teachers, and with specialist providers and parents to ensure children and young people receive the support they need to learn.
They would be fulltime, qualified teachers and focus on identifying the learning support that students needed.
Ministry of Education staff would then be responsible for accessing the support and services that were required.
She said those applying for the roles need to be qualified teachers and have a current practising certificate, and they would be employed by the school's Board of Trustees.
"There will be some teachers that will come out of the classroom ... a more experienced teacher might go out but also new teachers need to go in [to the classroom]."
Otumoetai Intermediate principal Henk Popping was elated with the announcement. Photo / File
Otumoetai Intermediate principal Henk Popping was elated with the announcement after working tirelessly since 2015 when the Ōtūmoetai Kāhui Ako (learning cluster) was created.
"These 12 positions will enable us to really meet the needs of those students.
"The thing is most of our schools have employed a role like this but it has come out of the board's funds. Now what this means is we have 12 people who are totally dedicated to learning support needs that the boards don't have to fund."
Tauranga MP Jan Tinetti was in attendance and said was "buzzing" from the announcement.
"When I was a principal I had 75 per cent [of students] that were on my learning support roll.
"It means our children have an equal ability as any other child to succeed in life. Having it now funded means we could use that funding in another way which brings bigger benefits to the school."
Former Merivale School principal and Tauranga MP Jan Tinetti was "buzzing" after the announcement. Photo / File
Budget 2019 included an extra $217 million of operating funding over four years to cover the cost of the new positions.
There were about 300,000 students covered in this initial allocation and there would be about one learning support co-ordinator for every 500 students, though the allocation model recognises the different needs of various schools and regions including rural and urban dimensions.
To help schools ensure they have suitable working space for the co-ordinators, a new capital allocation of $95 million was also included in Budget 2019 to be spent once the placement of learning support co-ordinators has been determined by schools and clusters.
Learning support co-ordinators will: - Build the capability of kaiako and teachers - Identify and plan for the learning support needs of all children and young people in the school or kura, including those with moderate needs - Be available to support learners, and their parents and whanau. - The intention is that they will simplify the system, so it is easier for them to access services.
