`More teachers needed' to prevent shunting of pupils

Northland schools need more teachers to help unsettled and struggling children who are shuffled from one school to the next.
Principal Murray Neighbour, of Whangarei's Raurimu Avenue School, has investigated the problem of transient children nationally and internationally, and he says his findings need to be addressed now.
The Ministry of Education says it is addressing problems associated with transient children by running a "one school is cool" programme in South Auckland.
Last week, the Advocate reported Northland children were changing schools so often - in one case, 13 times in four years - that they often had behavioural problems, poor literacy and numeracy, high truancy rates and weak social skills.
Principals said students were being shunted from family member to family member and some were leaving without notifying schools where they were going.
Mr Neighbour, who spent three months investigating transient children in New Zealand, England and the US for a ASB/Auckland Primary Principals' Association fellowship in 2000, said "stable" students were suffering because their transient classmates took up a lot of the teacher's attention.
"We need more support, more resources and the best resources are staff. We need someone to help them get settled in and find out where they're at academically."
Mr Neighbour said not all transient pupils were low achievers, but more often than not they were.
"There has to be some way of getting through to parents that every time they change schools they're doing some form of damage to their children," he said.
A 10-year-old boy at Mr Neighbour's school had been to more than 18 schools. In a class of 10- and 11-year-olds, only four of the 26 students had been to one school.
Opononi Area School principal Martin Blackburn agreed more teachers were needed to help transient children because otherwise schools would shy away from taking them on.
Resource teachers of learning behaviour often helped transient children but because the Government plans to cut the number of these specialist teachers, Mr Blackburn feared transient children's problems would increase.
The Ministry of Education's Henry Dowler, an education management policy manager, said the ministry understood there was a problem with transient children nationwide and was addressing it by creating a national register of students and a programme to encourage children to attend only one school if possible.
Mr Dowler said the national register, expected to be in all intermediate and secondary schools by around July next year, would allow schools to find out quickly where students had moved to, as well as other information such as health needs, without having to wait for past schools to forward details.
"Clearly if people can be provided with a stable home and school environment, that's a positive thing," Mr Dowler said.
Around 7000 students are reported to education officials as having not enrolled each year, out of a total of 750,000 students.
Mr Dowler said research had found transient children did not always have low academic achievement and that it was the social issues the students faced that created problems for them.
* Kuia's love keeps four grounded
Every school day, Whangarei kuia Margaret Walters makes lunch for her four mokopuna and waits patiently for them to arrive home from school.
For the past nine years, Mrs Walters has been caregiver to siblings Samone, 13, Phoebe, 10, and Wati Walters, 8, and for the past year, to their 12-year-old cousin Ihapera Larkin.
"Whatever happens, blood is thicker than water," she said.
That love has seen the widowed woman wave goodbye to the children several times - due to relationship breakups or their parents wanting to pursue tertiary education - and then welcome them back with open arms.
Samone has been to six schools in eight years, her brother and sister have attended three schools each and Ihapera has attended five in six years. Ihapera has been to schools from as far a field as Wellington and Kaitaia. The four currently attend Raurimu Avenue School in Onerahi.
But despite statistics that say a high number of transient children do poorly at school, Mrs Walters proudly says her mokopuna have achieved academically, particularly Samone and Ihapera.
Raurimu Ave principal Murray Neighbour also commended the children's achievements and praised the love of their grandma.
Ihapera recently was awarded the highest-achieving student for year seven and eight children while Samone received a certificate for working hard.
Mrs Walters believed God and lots of love had helped the children to settle and do well.
"Whangae (adoption) was part of our childhood. Whatever happens, if you see your whanau in need, always lend a helping hand," she said.
The whangae system worked well generally but in some cases it didn't due to families' upbringings, Mrs Walters said.
"They're just burnt out. A lot of our Maori people can take advantage of one another too."