School literacy service axed in Budget 2025, leaving 109 specialists jobless

• The Resource Teachers of Literacy (RT Lit) service will be disestablished, releasing $39.2 million over four years.
• The Ministry of Education plans to reinvest the funds to develop in-school expertise and frontline services.
• Educators describe the decision as “unjustifiable,” fearing negative impacts on students with complex literacy challenges.

Students with dyslexia and learning difficulties that affect reading and writing are set to lose personalised support in classrooms.

In the Budget, the Government decided to cut 109 Resource Teachers of Literacy (RT Lit).

The Ministry of Education says the move will release $39.2 million in funding over four years – about $9.8m a year – that will be “reinvested to develop in-school expertise and scale frontline services across the system”.

But the literacy specialists who will lose their jobs say the decision is “unjustifiable”.

In Hawke’s Bay, five specialist teachers support more than 200 students and dozens of teachers across schools in Hastings, Napier and Central Hawke’s Bay (CHB).

The announcement has left them “shocked and frustrated”.

“It was so disappointing to find out we were losing our jobs via the media,” CHB RT Lit Hayley Henderson said.

Described by local educators as a “low-cost, high-impact” programme, RT Lit are highly trained specialists, with postgraduate qualifications in literacy.

Henderson says they work directly with students experiencing complex literacy challenges, such as dyslexia or other learning disabilities, or children with traumas, as well as supporting classroom teachers through coaching and professional development.

She fears for the future of the children they support, especially those who aren’t learning in the classroom.

“I imagine those children will look at private tutoring if their families are in a position to do that, but the ones who aren’t, I don’t know,” Henderson says.

“So far, we haven’t seen any that are comparable to what we do.”

Central Hawke’s Bay RTLit Hayley Henderson fears for the future of children in need without the RTLit support. Photo / Rafaella Melo

Hastings RT Lit teacher Jane Hill says while teachers had a broad knowledge of how to teach reading and writing instruction, the RT Lit was not a one-size-fits-all intervention.

“We’ve got in-depth specialist knowledge, so we do diagnostic assessments, and we really pinpoint where the gaps are and what we need to address, and we support the teacher to deliver that on a regular basis.”

Hill was a classroom teacher for many years before securing her “dream job” as an RT Lit five years ago.

“Last year I finished my post-grad study ... it took me two and a half years to get that.

“Now, it just seems like a bit of a waste,” she said.

Hastings-based literacy specialist Jane Hill in her office, with her postgraduate qualification in literacy education on the wall. Photo / Rafaella Melo

Napier RT Lit Kate Elworthy said it’s hard to see how the Government decision would benefit students.

“They are replacing our roles with lower-skilled people.”

For her, a good outcome would be to redeploy them under the same conditions in a smaller number of schools and then make up the balance.

“Don’t lose us and our expertise. If you want us closer to the front line, put us in one school ... but we can handle more than one, we’ve certainly done that before,” Elworthy said.

“We’ve been promised that there’s lots of opportunities for us, but we haven’t been told anything yet.”

Pauline Cleaver, the acting hautū (leader) of the Ministry of Education’s curriculum centre, said school boards, as the employers of RT Lit, would need to manage the transition.

“We know that resource teachers literacy are highly capable and experienced literacy teachers and we expect many will find new opportunities back in schools,” Cleaver said.

“Options for RT Lit could include applying for new roles created through Budget 2025, redeployment to another role within their current school or another school for a fixed period, retraining to enhance the teacher’s current qualifications for a fixed period or long service or severance payments.”

By 2028, more than 1600 new fulltime equivalent positions will be created, including 673 learning support specialists, 649 learning support co-ordinators, 143 maths/pāngarau teachers for Years 0 to 6, 10 additional intern psychologists, 19 curriculum advisers, and 78 additional structured literacy intervention teachers, bringing the total to 349 in that category.

The RT Lit network would be completely disbanded.

“Evaluations undertaken over time have highlighted the RT Lit service is inequitably distributed, the level of support, practices and processes vary between schools, there are inconsistent approaches, and staff are covering multiple schools across large clusters and geographical areas,” Cleaver explained.

“We want to ensure expertise is close to the children who need it most, with timely and equitable access to targeted supports.”

Literacy specialists Jane Hill and Hayley Henderson are among more than 100 Resource Teachers of Literacy across Aotearoa losing their jobs under Budget 2025. Photo / Rafaella Melo

Even before the Budget 2025 announcement, more than 6000 people had signed a petition urging the Government to retain the RT Lit service.

Hastings Central School principal Peter Ahern said the cuts would disadvantage children and schools across the region.

“The service in Hawke’s Bay is very well used,” he said.

“For our children with severe difficulties in reading or writing ... There’s nothing to replace them.

“The RT Lit are the only people within our education service who are educated enough to actually deliver that service to schools.”