A teachers’ union is calling for a $2.5 billion increase in funding to support children with disabilities, with a focus on placing a teacher aide in every classroom. The proposal includes $1 billion dedicated to hiring additional teacher aides and other key support staff to ensure a more inclusive education system.
The Educational Institute, NZEI Te Riu Roa, outlined its plan in a report released Tuesday. The five-year funding boost aims to transform the school and early learning systems to better serve children who need additional help.
According to the union, by 2029, the plan would add $788 million to the country’s annual education budget. Key components of the proposal include full government funding for teacher aides, the hiring of 11,111 new aides, and the recruitment of 1,100 additional learning support coordinators.
In addition, the report calls for a significant increase in the number of early intervention teachers, educational support workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, speech language therapists, and special education advisers, all of which would be doubled by 2029.
The NZEI’s recommendations are partially based on a government review of high-needs support from 2021-2023, which found that while seven students received support, three more still had unmet needs. The report stresses the importance of early intervention and continuous support for children as they transition from early childhood education to school.
Conor Fraser, a speech-language therapist and member of the NZEI’s governing council, spoke to RNZ about the critical need for increased learning support. Fraser highlighted that support for children with disabilities is the number one issue for educators across the country, spanning early childhood through to secondary schools.
“Demand for learning support has increased dramatically in recent years, and accessing services for children is harder than ever,” Fraser said. She pointed out that children who received specialist support five years ago are no longer receiving it due to rising demand.
Fraser also mentioned long waiting times for services, citing one example where a family had been waiting over a year to hear from a speech therapist.
“The problem has been acknowledged in numerous reviews, and it’s now time to act on those findings,” Fraser said. “We know the issues, and we’ve been patching the system for too long. It’s time to address the shortage of specialist staff.”
The union’s proposal places significant emphasis on increasing the number of teacher aides, who Fraser described as essential to supporting students with special needs. She noted that many teacher aides are on short-term contracts, making it difficult for them to provide consistent support.
“Teacher aides are the backbone of our schools, but their funding is unpredictable. Over half of our teacher aides work on insecure contracts,” Fraser said. “Having a dedicated teacher aide in every classroom would provide the stability children need.”
The government has indicated that changes to the learning support system are expected later this year.
