MORE TEACHERS TO HELP SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS

The Government today announced plans to put almost 600 new special education teaching positions in schools throughout the country.

"The 590 new teaching positions are a new part of the Government's Special Education 2000 policy. They will see students with special education needs getting even more support and assistance," Education Minister Wyatt Creech said.

"The total package will not only provide more support for individual children with very high and high needs, but will provide additional teachers for schools with children with moderate special education needs such as learning and behaviour difficulties.

Cabinet has approved the expenditure of over $70 million extra during the next three years to cover the cost of the extra staff.

"The Coalition Government has an absolute commitment to making sure that children with special education needs, their schools and families have access to the resources they need."

Mr Creech told the New Zealand Principals' Federation Annual Conference in Palmerston North today that there were three key components to the announcement.

380 full-time teacher equivalent positions for students in the Ongoing Resourcing scheme.

Students who are part of the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme will receive another 0.1 full time teacher equivalent for those with high ongoing special needs and 0.2 full time teacher equivalent for those with very high needs.

In addition students with special education needs will be included under the standard Ministerial Reference Group staffing ratios.

210 teachers under the new designation: Resource Teachers; Learning and Behaviour to provide greater support for students with behaviour and learning difficulties.

The teachers will be added to the current pool of Guidance and Learning teachers, Resource Teachers: Special Needs and Experience Unit teachers. They will also work across a cluster of schools with students and teachers of students with moderate learning and behaviour difficulties.

These teachers will receive university training over two years after they have taken up their appointments.

"Currently, many schools do not have access to this kind of support. This is particularly the case in respect of many rural schools.

"Today's announcement means every school in New Zealand should be able to share in this resource. The teachers will be managed by clusters of schools working together to meet local needs," Mr Creech said.

Extra funding and re-organisation of therapy and specialist support to make it more responsive to student needs. Therapy and support positions will no longer be based on a fixed entitlement regardless of the number of students. Funding will be delivered based on student numbers and used to pay for the right level of therapy and specialist support.

"Students will have access to more teaching time, therapy and specialist support. In this way, we will be giving those children a greater opportunity to work towards achieving their individual potential."

Mr Creech told the Conference that the reform was needed because the current distribution of teaching positions for students with special education needs was the result of historical placements of special education teachers.

"Demographic trends over the last 20 years towards the northern and urban parts of New Zealand, especially the Waikato, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, have resulted in inequitable access for schools and students to the resources provided by special education teachers. To be fair to these students we needed to make these improvements.

"Every child with a special education need has a right to be given the best support we can provide," Mr Creech said.