Hon Hekia Parata Minister of Education
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Briefing to: Hon Hekia Parata Minister of Education 3 November 2014 1 Contents Recommendations ............................................................................................ 2 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 3 About us ............................................................................................................ 4 Better together - inclusive education ................................................................ 5 Pluralism, choice and inclusive education ..................................................... 6 Inclusive education - Beyond principles and good intent .............................. 6 The time is right for change ........................................................................... 7 Data ............................................................................................................... 8 OSCAR Funding ........................................................................................... 9 Early childhood education ............................................................................... 10 Discrimination and barriers ......................................................................... 10 ECE Taskforce ............................................................................................ 10 Referral times for the early intervention service .......................................... 11 Support worker funding ............................................................................... 11 Data and National Student Numbers .......................................................... 12 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 12 Bibliography .................................................................................................... 13 2 Recommendations CCS Disability Action recommends for primary and secondary education that: • The Ministry of Education runs a pilot programme where schools work together to form an inclusive community. • The Ministry of Education works with the Education Review Office to publish data on disabled students. • The Ministry of Education works with the Ministry of Social Development to develop realistic funding levels for disabled children accessing after school care. CCS Disability Action recommends for early childhood education that: • The Ministry of Education implements the special education recommendations of the ECE Taskforce. • The Ministry of Education works to lower referral times for the early intervention service. • The Ministry of Education increases support worker hours to give children the best possible start in life and to enable parents to work. • The Ministry of Education uses National Student Numbers to monitor the experiences of disabled children in early childhood education. 3 Introduction CCS Disability Action congratulates you on being re-appointed as Minister of Education. This briefing provides you with Our vision independent advice on education to complement the Disabled people are included in advice you receive from the Ministry of Education. the life of their community and family. Firstly, we acknowledge the progress that has been made since our briefing in 2012. The government is carrying out work to address several of the points we raised in 2012. Key facts about disabled The government’s work has included the Inclusive children and education Education Capability Building tools, the Intensive The 2013 Disability Survey Behavioural Wraparound Service and a review of red estimates that there are 95,000 tape in special education. The Ministry of Education disabled children aged under 15 has been working with principals and boards to build (11 per cent of all children aged their understanding of inclusive education (Ministry of under 15). Education , 2013, pp. 35-36). In 2012/13, the Ministry of Your party has also announced an expansion of Education provided specialist 800,000 teacher aide hours for non On-going support to approximately 35,000 Resourcing Scheme students. children and young people with special education needs. While there has been progress with inclusive education, challenges remain. This briefing will Approximately 96% of children discuss some of those challenges. and young people with special education needs attend regular schools, although some will be in special classes. 34 per cent of disabled children live in families that earn under $50,000 a year, compared to only 24 per cent of non-disabled children. 4 About us We work with over 5,000 people with disabilities and their families. Our services support disabled people to be included in the life of their family and community. We receive a mixture of government funding and private donations. We provide services and advocacy from 16 local branches and 25 offices throughout the country. We provide early intervention services in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. We also help children and their families’ access good quality education at their local school. Our governance has strong disabled leadership and many of our staff members identify as disabled. Our advocacy is evidence-informed, honest and responsible. What unites and drives our organisation is a common philosophy. We believe that the community should value and include disabled people. 5 Better together - inclusive education Inclusive education is where all students learn together in the same classroom. With the right attitudes and support, disabled children can grow and thrive in regular classrooms. Inclusive education is about providing support to students in regular classes – not special units or schools. Evidence, passion and values There is firm evidence for the benefits of inclusive education for disabled students, other students and for teachers (MacArthur, 2009) (Bentley, 2010) (Peters, Inclusive education: an EFA strategy for all children, 2004) (Visser, Cole, & Daniels, 2010). The case for inclusive education is not solely based on evidence alone, however. Inclusive education is as much about values and passion. The debate is about who we are as a society and who we want to be. Evidence: Strong evidence supports inclusive education as providing better outcomes Inclusive Education Passion: We do Values: Everyone not leave students should have the behind, no matter right to learn the challenges. alongside their peers. 6 Pluralism, choice and inclusive education As a modern democratic society, people in New Zealand often hold different views. We do not always agree with each other. Some families believe a special school or unit is the best choice for their child. We respect and understand that choice. For choice to be real, however, there have to be viable alternatives and equity of funding. If families are choosing special education because their regular school was unwelcoming, this is not a real choice. If resources are locked up unfairly in special schools and units and not transferable to regular schools then this is also not a real choice. Unfortunately, research we carried out in 2011 on families with children who received the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme found that families often did not have a real choice. Nearly half of the 217 respondents felt they had not always had a real choice between schools . Almost a quarter of those who had not been able to enrol their children in the school of their choice reported an unwelcoming atmosphere, lack of special services and poor equipment and physical access (MacDonald & Gray, 2011). All students should be welcome in all schools and every classroom in the country. Once this is achieved, then real choice can occur. Inclusive education - Beyond principles and good intent The Education Act, the Human Rights Act, the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities all guarantee disabled children’s right to attend their local, regular school. Despite this, the experience of individual disabled students still varies wildly and more often than not depends on the individual school. Vulnerable students, such as disabled children, often lack representation on school boards. The self-managing nature of our schools and society’s attitudes toward disability means that discrimination is a reality for some disabled students and their families. Disabled students are still not welcome at some schools, especially if they do not come with extra resources (Wills & Rosenbaum, 2013, p. 35). 7 In our 2011 research 40% of disabled students attended a school they were not zoned for (MacDonald & Gray, 2011). This has negative effects on families and schools. Schools that welcome disabled students tend to attract more disabled students, becoming magnet schools. This puts pressure on their resourcing. By comparison, schools that are not welcoming to disabled students have less funding pressure and do not have to adapt their teaching methods to the same extent. Currently, schools are being, effectively, rewarded for discouraging disabled students from enrolling. The time is right for change All schools should be achieving across the board and be welcoming to all students, including disabled students We think the time is right to make changes to bring schools together to address the issues in inclusive education. We note that the Government is already planning to promote collaboration between schools through the Investing in Education Success initiative. We also note that resource teachers now work across schools in clusters. The