Children under 5 often struggle to express empathy because they experience emotions one at a time. Photo / 123rf
Children under 5 often struggle to express empathy because they experience emotions one at a time. Photo / 123rf
The New Zealand Principals’ Federation is urging more investment in learning support for children with behavioural and communication issues.
President Leanne Otene highlighted the increasing problem, linking it to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Canterbury University’s Sarah Whitcombe-Dobbs emphasised early intervention and the negative impact of increased screen time on language development.
School principals say they are grappling with growing numbers of new entrants with behaviour and oral communication issues - and believe the Covid-19 pandemic is to blame.
They are calling for more investment in learning support to help address the problem.
An Education Review Office report released last year found teachers are seeing more children with poor language skills.
“This has been steadily increasing since the end of Covid, when we had a huge number of children coming into school that had not had early childhood because of the lockdowns.
“That was overwhelming then, and it continues to be overwhelming.”
New Zealand Principals' Federation president Leanne Otene. Photo / Michael Cunningham
She said there’s been an increase in dysregulated behaviour and undiagnosed needs.
“It’s more prevalent in those children who have not had early childhood education, they’ve had no transition at all.
“Our 5-year-olds are coming to school with oral language so low, we can’t communicate with them.”
“These children are swamping classrooms, and they are overwhelming teachers who quite frankly, are already burdened with a great deal of change at pace by this current Government.”
The Ministry of Education said it’s aware of the impacts of Covid-19 on learning and progress.
Operations and integration leader Sean Teddy said there are a range of services available for children experiencing behavioural and communication challenges.
“This includes our Ministry-delivered behaviour and communication service and support provided through the Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour service,” he said.
Teddy added additional guidance on social and emotional learning for teachers is online.
Otene said this isn’t enough.
“This Government and previous Governments have not yet nailed how to support and resource schools adequately for learning support,” she said.
“It starts when those children are at early childhood, it does not start when they’re at primary school.
A report from education union, NZEI, recommends the Government to invest $2.5 billion in learning support services by 2030 to stop children in need sitting on waiting lists.
Otene said schools across New Zealand are grappling with the diverse needs of children without these services.
“This is an embarrassment for our country, the fact that we’re not looking after our most vulnerable children, resourcing their needs.”
She said there’s simply not enough specialists, psychologists and people to help.
“Learning support is the most important and critical issue that principals are dealing with right now. And we are really hoping that this budget, that we see an investment in learning support.”
Canterbury University child and family psychology lecturer Sarah Whitcombe-Dobbs said children born during Covid-19 haven’t had the same development opportunities as others.
“It hugely depends on that immediate microsystem environment,” she said.
“So it depends on the parents or caregivers or grandparents or other whanau that children are living with, and the quality of that environment.”
She said there’s clear evidence that increased time on screens is associated with poor oral language development, which is a big predictor of long-term education outcomes.
“During Covid there were a lot more parents needing to use screens more to entertain their children, but for children whose language is just emerging right from birth, there’s no developmental benefit to being on a screen," she said.
“We know that there can be some harm because they’re not getting that exposure to reciprocal conversation.”
Whitcombe-Dobbs said early intervention would help kids struggling from these experiences - but support services are lacking.
“If the Government chose to invest more into the supports for early childhood, particularly in specialist services, then we would see improvements.”
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.
