Inclusive education
Education is a human right.
Tens of thousands of children in New Zealand need specialist support to learn. But centres and schools are struggling without the resources to provide it. We hear about:
- children missing out on activities or excursions, or even being sent home partway through the school day, because there isn't enough teacher aide time available
- schools having to raise money to pay for teacher aides
- whānau having to pay for teacher aides and additional learning support
- not enough inclusive education material in teacher training
- no professional development or recognition for support staff and teachers working with disabled children
We say that no child should miss out on an education.
We campaign for equitable access to education on a number of different fronts.
Inclusive Communities through Education Summit: May 2017
How can we make sure resources are there for every child and young person in every educational setting?
In May 2017 we hosted the Inclusive Communities through Education summit for members, disabled people, families and others to come together and talk about how we can make education inclusive.
Education for All, 2016
We work collaboratively with disabled people, parents and whānau, and advocacy groups through the Education for All network to promote inclusive education.
In September 2016, educators, advocates, disabled people and their families came together to ask the Government to make a serious commitment to inclusive education.
SENCO survey: 2015
Securing the infrastructure in schools and ECE to promote inclusion is a top priority for us. A crucial step is to formalise, recognise, and resource a SENCO (Special Education Needs Co-ordinator) role in every school. A lot of great work is being done by people in these types of roles, but it has no dedicated government funding, so often that work does not have the time or other supports required.
We released our first national survey of SENCOs in early 2016, and will be re-doing this survey in early 2018, to help support a claim in primary school bargaining for resources for this essential role.