WAG - LEARNING SUPPORT
Executive Summary/Key findings;
- Funding Is Inadequate
Auckland Principals were asked to identify how much their Boards were paying per annum from their Ops Grant or locally raised funds, to bridge the gap between Govt funding and what is required to meet the needs of learners. - 195 Principals responded to our survey
- $28.7 million dollars is being spent by those 197 schools, meaning an average of
- $145, 888 per school
- Equity of access to all schools
- Access to funding and resourcing is challenging, and lacks equity across the sector,
- Wait times for funding and resourcing are too long
- Not all schools have been allocated an LSC, further reinforcing the lack of equity
- ICS funding has not kept pace with roll growth in Auckland
- Access to Early Intervention is very difficult, yet we know this is a very effective strategy
- Access To Specialist Schools
- Currently demand far exceeds supply. More than 80% (460) of students on the ‘Expressions of Interest’ List (waitlist) for the 10 Auckland-based Specialist Schools, being denied access to enrolment in 2025 due to closed rolls or schools at capacity.
- Challenging Behaviours
- All schools are dealing with challenging student behaviour
- Behaviours are more extreme, particularly with our younger students
- Many staff at our Specialist Schools come each day knowing they are going to be hurt
- Staffing our Special Schools is becoming more difficult, with Board’s having to incentivise staff
- There needs to be better interagency collaboration
- Support for Learning Assistants
- Many of our LAs are being asked to do the work of carers, and are at times refusing to do this work due. This often puts additional pressure on the workforce.
- There needs to be better support and training for our LAs
- The current termly funding model creates uncertainty for LAs and makes recruitment challenging for schools
- RTLB Clusters
- Despite an increase in referrals, many RTLB clusters are being forced to reduce their staffing, some by as much as 2 FTE.
- How can the RTLB service continue to meet the needs of learners and support schools, with fewer staff?
- Privacy
- Transition from Early Learning to Primary is often more challenging than it should be when parents don’t allow transparent flow of information between the Early Learning provider and the school.
- Schools are often at odds with families awaiting visa or residency outcomes, when the parents deny consent to access funding/resourcing.
Key Advocacy Points
- To reallocate existing funds to meet the needs of our neurodivergent learners better
- To evaluate the cost-benefit of the following programmes;
- Kāhui Ako
- RTLit
- RTLB
- Existing LSC roll out
- To remove all funding links to EQI. Learning Support is not ring fenced by EQI.
- Move ORS funding from an hourly distribution to schools, to an FTE allocation to schools.
- Provide an LSC to every school, FTE prorated based on roll size.