Whanganui specialist teacher Hollie Laird (left) and learning support assistant Susan Kauika say there is not enough support for teacher aides across the country. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown
A growing number of children with additional learning needs is putting pressure on classrooms.
Fin Ocheduszko-Brown meets those on the front line in Whanganui.
Hollie Laird hopes one day there will be a teacher aide in every classroom.
Laird is a specialist teacher who works at Arahunga School, the only specialist school in Whanganui that meets the unique learning needs of students aged 5–21.
She is also an across-sector lead at Takini Hauora which is responsible for ensuring professional development comes into schools and benefits students.
Laird has been a teacher for 16 years and has had experience in early childhood teaching.
“The issues I see have been seen for many years now which is the rise in learning needs within our classrooms,” Laird said.
“We are now seeing a rise in learning needs across our mainstream classes as well, and within early childhood.
“If the students’ learning needs are not met in the way of support with adequate staff, it starts to impact their peers as well.”
The effect on other students was putting pressure on teachers, who were already having to deal with large classroom sizes and students with diverse and traumatic backgrounds, Laird said.
Ministry of Education education workforce leader Anna Welanyk acknowledged there was a growing number of children with additional learning needs and increasing pressure on teachers.
Laird said the goal for the NZEI Te Riu Roa union was to have a teacher aide in every class across New Zealand.
“It is very difficult to meet the needs of your class when there is not enough people power in the room.”
The issue should be addressed at an earlier stage of learning to give students with unique needs a chance at a smooth educational pathway, she said.
Specialist educator Nathan Mikaere-Wallis’ research stressed the importance of the first 1000 days of learning and how important preschool was for setting up students for further learning, Laird said.
“We can’t afford to be the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff; we need to address the needs that are coming through in the early years as well.”
Welanyk said the ministry valued the work of learning support staff and teacher aides.
As part of Budget 2025, the ministry is expanding the Early Intervention Service by adding 560 new specialists over the next five years and hiring 650 fulltime equivalent new learning support co-ordinators.
“This investment is designed to make sure every child has the opportunity to thrive in the classroom, while giving teachers the time and resources to focus on teaching,” she said.
The Government was working to address the shortage by adding two million additional teacher aide hours a year by 2028, she said.
“Their work – supporting individual learners, assisting small groups, and helping students with complex needs – is essential to inclusive education.”
Whanganui High School learning assistant Susan Kauika has been in her role for nearly four years after returning home from Gisborne.
Kauika is one of 14 learning assistants at the 1600-student school - the equivalent of one teacher aide per 115 students.
She said there was not enough help in the education system to accommodate the growing needs of students.
“It’s crazy, there is only 14 of us as learning support, roughly with 95 classes going on every hour. We have to try and stretch ourselves between those classes,” Kauika said.
“Even extension classes need us. These poor kids are not getting the help they need to get them through the curriculum.”
Kauika said there needed to be more teacher aides to ease the stress on teachers who were having to learn the new changes to the curriculum.
“We’re not just learning support, we help in science lab experiments, we’re librarians and office workers ... without us, the schools would collapse.”
Kauika said job security was also an issue for learning support staff, with varied contracts ranging from annual to a term-by-term basis.
She said there needed to be backing from the ministry to pay for teacher aides so schools could focus on budgeting for other resources.
“It’s ridiculous, it is not common sense, if you want a teacher aide and somebody to help in schools, you need to have money coming from the government to pay for you,” she said.
On May 16, the ministry presented a revised pay offer to NZEI Te Riu Roa for about 37,000 school support staff, including teacher aides.
The offer included flat rate increases of 60c an hour in year 1, 15c an hour in year 2 and 25c an hour in year 3.
This was rejected by the union in June.
Kauika said teacher aides felt undervalued because of the lack of financial support.
“We get paid a pitiful amount of money; they need to raise the wages for us,” she said.
“It sucks to be us, but we do it for the love of the kids. We want to see these kids move on and have a bright future.”
Kauika said the issues were making it difficult to attract potential learning support staff, creating a flow-on effect.
“Something’s got to give, either the teacher is going to walk out or the teacher aides and teaching support staff are going to walk out.
“I want parents to know that we are doing the best we can with what we have got, but we need more support.”
Welanyk said where teacher aides were not available, the ministry provided a range of supports, such as learning support co-ordinators in schools to assist with identifying and responding to student needs.
“Growing the availability and capacity of learning support staff for schools remains a priority.”
Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.