Special Needs Students not getting Support Hours they need 5 June 2010

Independent research commissioned by the Special Needs Action Group and the New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF), has found that schools are dipping into their own funds,  and staff and parents are volunteering their time to cover the learning and socialisation of special needs children.

NZPF executive member Paul Drummond said, “The allocation of teacher aide hours when students are verified as eligible for Ministry fundingis far less than what they actually need and this is especially noticeable for high needs children”.

The report demonstrated that when basic health, safety physical and toileting needs were not met through teacher aide support, the child could not attend school safely. Children with such high needs required full time teacher aide support and the maximum allocation allowed did not reach that level.

“This means that especially for high needs children there is a gap that needs to be funded and isn’t being funded”, said Mr Drummond. “Schools are using money allocated for different purposes to subsidise the shortfall in Ministry funding for special needs children. In many cases schools are also depending on the good will of parents and volunteers to assist these children just so that they can attend school full time, which is their right”, he said.

The study interviewed school representatives responsible for special needs children who reported that application forms to apply for funding for special needs children were unnecessarily complex and that the success of the application was entirely dependent on the quality of the application and the level of knowledge they had about the application process. Schools which had little or no experience in special education were likely to be disadvantaged. 

“The whole application process needs to be overhauled”, said Mr Drummond, “so that it focuses on the real needs of the child, not satisfying complex bureaucratic formulae”.

ENDS

Contact:

Paul Drummond

NZPF Executive Member

Ph: 021 0584824