Ko Tainui te waka Ko Ngāti Raukawa ki Wharepūhunga te iwi Whetu Cormick
National President, New Zealand Principals’ Federation
In July, a damning research report was released showing Wrap Around Service and this service is capped at 335 so very that an unacceptable percentage of teachers and principals are few new students can be considered each year. Secondly, it is well threatened with violence and assaulted in their schools every known that the previous administration did not see a place for year. We have all heard the stories and have no trouble believing Residential Schools and had already moved to close Salisbury these findings represent every-day reality at many schools. Residential School, which in the end was saved. Assaults on teachers are partly The potential for these Residential the result of what we have called a The potential for these Schools to not only increase their broken learning support system. enrolments but also act as training There has been no lack of dialogue Residential Schools to not facilities cannot be ruled out. I believe and consensus building with only increase their enrolments teachers wanting to specialise could Associate Minister Tracey Martin, use the residential facilities to train, who needs no convincing that her but also act as training on-site supported and mentored by special education responsibilities are some of the best expert specialist urgent. She has listened attentively facilities cannot be ruled out. teachers in the country. and both she and Minister Hipkins agree that special education A comprehensive plan including appropriate funding, does not need another review. It needs a plan and it needs action. specialist teacher training, continuous professional learning Since the new Government took office ten months ago, some excellent ideas have been raised about how to improve special education services, but it feels as if the system is in paralysis. One of the reasons is that the ideas need funding and that means waiting for the next Government appropriation process. There BLUE CREAM are some funds available but nowhere near enough to meet the Pantone (PMS) : 566 Pantone (PM CMYK : 24/2/15/0 CMYK : 7/4 demands of current inclusion policies. RGB : 193/223/217 RGB : 233/2 HEX : #c1dfd9 HEX : #e9ec By implementing inclusion, the special education system took on a lot more than it was ready for. The lack of trained specialist teachers, psychologists, speech and language specialists and AN ALL YEAR ROUND experts in behaviour education were thin on the ground and FUNDRAISING SOLUTION with the surge in the number of young people suffering trauma, anxiety, depression, autism, ADHD, Fetal Methamphetamine Give Socially is an online gift Brannboll store Fet Exposure and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, it wasn’t long where 15 – 20% of every purchase Avenir Next (Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, De made by your parents, families and before the signs of strain were showing. Many schools now report Heavy, Heavy Italic) school community is donated directly they have reached crisis point. They simply can’t cope with the back to your school. daily disruptions, threats and chaos creeping into their schools. Although it is a last resort some principals are now taking the decision to exclude students whose safety they cannot guarantee CMYK (Print) or who are threatening the safety of teachers and other students. There is not a strong appetite to alter inclusion policy which some would argue is a human right. The problem is, teachers are not trained to be social workers, health experts, psychologists OVER 900 or therapists and until these experts are available to schools to POPULAR GIFTS support teachers with these challenged young people, we will TOYS & PUZZLES HOMEWARES continue to have schools under stress. SCHOOL GEAR This year I have taken time to visit our three Special Residential Get your school involved CHILDREN’S BOOKS givesocially.co.nz WOMEN’S GIFTS Schools, Salisbury in Nelson, Halswell in Christchurch and COOKBOOKS Westbridge in Auckland. These schools do have expert teachers MEN’S GIFTS PHONE 0508 30 60 90 on their staff and reduced enrolment numbers. This is partly because all students enrolling must first qualify for the Intensive
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and development and on-going research into alternative ways to support the learning of our most challenged young people will be the minimum required if inclusion policy is to avoid being placed under threat itself. Special Education tops the priority list for most schools but is not alone as an area of urgent need. We have been facing a teacher shortage for some time now. We can only speculate on the reasons for fewer recruits and our inability to retain teachers, but possibilities include low morale after a decade of feeling powerless and politically controlled, low salary levels, high work-loads, low levels of support, insufficient funding and an increase in children presenting with highly challenging behaviours. Mixing all of these possible causes together adds up to a lack of value for the teaching profession. When a profession feels undervalued, inevitably a culture of distrust emerges. That has become more evident over the past few years. Our issues are complex and are made even more complex by a new Government calling for comprehensive consultation and review of almost every facet of the system. From Tomorrow’s Schools to NCEA to workforce planning and curriculum assessment and achievement, there are few aspects that have not been collapsed into a Task Force to be unknitted and reknitted. As Pasi Sahlberg has said, the eyes of the world are right now on New Zealand as we forge a new educational path to the future. He warns us not to rush. His advice would not be wrong, but we do need a valued and sustainable workforce of teachers who feel safe in their schools right now, or all the work we are putting into the rebuild of the system will count for nothing.
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Smartphones and device use, in combination with student mobility, presents a major challenge for schools. Students can easily bypass school network filtering by downloading a VPN app, or by arriving at school with their own data plan.
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