Education: Northland students with high learning needs missing out on vital support

Children in Northland are missing out on vital aid due to a deficient funding model. Photo / 123rf

Advocates are calling for an overhaul of the In Class Support (ICS) model that is supposed to help neurodiverse learners and those needing extra learning aid.

Currently, hundreds of Whangārei students are missing out on vital support, an issue mirrored across the country. School leaders in Te Tai Tokerau are no longer taking applications for ICS, a sign they have no faith in the current system.

ICS funding makes a contribution toward providing a teacher aide for students from Years 1-13 with continued high learning needs, such as neurodiverse students.

The latest data for ICS in the Whangārei area found despite 242 students out of 268 meeting the criteria for ICS funding, just 11 vacancies were available.

Te Tai Tōkerau Principals’ Association president Pat Newman called the situation “negligent” and said children are being failed by the system - and teachers are under too much pressure.

IHC director of advocacy Trish Grant has said the current model is simply not meeting the demand and the issue highlights a system that needs “major work”.

Children who require ICS may be neurodiverse or need extra support in the classroom. They may require one-on-one learning, sensory breaks or extra support breaking down tasks so they may learn successfully, she said.

Those missing out on ICS are disproportionately Māori, Pasifika, experiencing disabilities and/or neurodiverse.

“We need a quality and inclusive public education system that delivers great outcomes for all learners,” Grant said.

IHC director of advocacy Trish Grant.

The concerns come as Specialist Learning Support staff voted for a ban on new applications in July. New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI) members voted for a ban on any new applications from July 24 to August 25.

The NZEI is calling on the Government to increase dedicated teacher aide funding, provide greater professional development of learning support, and fund a dedicated learning support co-ordinator in every school.

Te Tai Tokerau Principals’ Association, Te Mānihi Tumuaki (Northland Secondary Schools Principals’ Association), Aka Tokerau and the Whangārei Principals’ Association also penned a letter to Minister of Education Jan Tinetti about their concerns.

“We are very concerned that ICS, in its current format in Te Tai Tokerau, has passed the crisis point of meeting the identified needs of many of our most vulnerable learners,” the letter read.

The letter also placed an issue with the timeframe for students to access the vital aid, calling it “counterintuitive”.

School leaders across Whangārei are calling for changes to the In Class Support initiative.

“By this time, struggle, failure and disengagement is well-practised. The logic of allowing students in desperate need of support to wait until late in the year before being considered for support is borderline criminal and negligent.”

It was estimated a more realistic number of spaces to meet the need for In Class Support would be upwards of 400.

Grant also has a lack of faith in the current system, describing it as outdated and “flawed”.

She said a wait for support is problematic for many tamariki, particularly those with communication disabilities.

“They might start using strategies that may not work for them or their learning environments.”

Grant said often it is the disabled or neurodiverse students who are wrongly seen as the problem for schools.

“The problem is how schools are resourced and supported to respond to every child, an individual child that requires something different. We need to have a really strong child-centred approach that supports the wonderful professionals in schools to do their best.”

She said having a public education system that works for everyone benefits everyone.

“It benefits economically when people leave schools with the skills to be contributing citizens, but it also benefits us as a society around social cohesion,” she said.

Brodie Stone is the education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie recently graduated from Massey University and has a special interest in the environment and investigative reporting.