Principals nationwide are sounding the alarm on insufficient student support despite schools investing over 100,000 dollars annually in teacher aides. They argue that prioritising teaching assistants, potentially assigning one per primary school class, could significantly enhance student learning compared to enforcing daily sessions of core subjects.
Principal of Tāhunanui School Barbara Bowen, highlights the need for a ‘wholesale change’ to support the growing spectrum of student needs. Recent government funding cuts forced the school to reduce teacher aide hours, affecting support for students facing intellectual, social, and behavioural challenges, including those related to poverty and anxiety.
“If the research is right, it’s at least one in five [students affected], and yet the funding would be more like one in 50.
“We’ve always had to fund extra [for learning support], but it’s getting to the point where we can’t keep doing that,” Bowen tells Stuff.co.nz.
Data from 2022 reveals that less than 2 percent of New Zealand’s schooling population receives Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) funding. Bowen underscores the discrepancy, stating that while research indicates one in five students is affected, funding is more in line with one in 50.
Despite some contestable funding availability, schools like Tāhunanui are already dedicating about an hour daily to literacy and numeracy. Bowen insists on the crucial need for additional support, particularly within classrooms, emphasising that expert support and smaller class sizes are essential to optimise teaching time effectively.
Nayland College in Stoke illustrates the challenges, utilising over 100,000 dollars from its operations budget to provide 16 learning assistants. Even with 14 ORS-funded students, those with diverse learning difficulties receive no support funding, impacting their overall school experience. Acting principal of Nayland College Hannah Banks says,
“We could easily double our spending on learning assistants and still find that we would use more.
“There are challenging students in mainstream classes who take up teachers’ time and expertise, and some other students end up having a different experience at school because of that.”
Acknowledging the need for a better resourcing model, the Ministry of Education aims to strengthen student outcomes and reduce administrative burdens for schools. Flexibility in aligning support with specific needs is emphasised, granting schools autonomy in deciding how to allocate funding. Sustained investment in support staff is essential to address the increasing range of needs in classrooms, a sentiment echoed by advocates like Barbara Bowen.
The information in this blog was sourced from an article that was posted on Stuff.co.nz
