Schools struggle to fill learning support roles as shortages deepen

Education Minister Erica Stanford said her Government has made the biggest investment to learning support in a generation. Photo / Alyse Wright

Hundreds of learning support roles remain vacant across New Zealand, raising questions about whether new government-funded positions will actually reach schools in need.

New data shows that more than 128 positions have gone unfilled each year since 2020, peaking at 284 nationwide in 2023.

This year there are 169 vacancies.

Psychologists and speech-language therapists are in highest demand, making up 40% of all openings over the past five years.

Auckland has the most gaps in 2025 (45), followed by Bay of Plenty (27) and Waikato (20).

The Government is attempting to tackle the shortage, allocating $747 million in this year’s Budget to boost learning support.

Education Minister Erica Stanford called it the largest investment “in a generation” and has since announced that 1451 schools will have access to a learning support co-ordinator from next year.

Stanford said the role will allow a dedicated staff member to screen for common neurodiverse needs like dyslexia and put strategies in place, giving teachers more time for quality classroom teaching.

NZEI delegate and speech-language therapist Conor Fraser said schools welcome the extra support but doubts the roles can be filled.

She said recruiting from the private sector would simply move skilled staff around, creating gaps elsewhere.

The Ministry of Education is publishing guidance this week to help schools hire, including suggested interview questions and skills matrices.

Learning support co-ordinators must be registered teachers with a practising certificate and relevant qualification.

The ministry said schools can pool resources to support multiple schools or hire part-time staff.

Fraser said these measures don’t address long-term workforce concerns.

“We need effective workforce planning and conditions that attract and retain specialist workers. Right now, it’s just stretching a thin workforce further, which I think is evident in the number of vacancies.”

She added that docking pay for specialists who stick to contracted hours only worsens retention issues.

Fraser said ministry learning support workers will join teachers and principals on strike on October 2 and warned that waiting lists will grow longer without a proper plan.

“When kids miss out on support and teachers are unsupported, behaviour, and patterns of communication are compounded,” she said.

“We might come in a year later and we’ve got a much bigger issue to try and work through with a whānau than we might have if we’d been able to provide an earlier intervention.”

She said the investment and learning support from the Government is progress but believes “there is a significant gap in what they have put forward in the Budget compared to what’s needed”.

“It needs a significant correction after years and years of underfunding across successive governments,” she said.

Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. She joined Newstalk ZB in 2023, after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.