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Greater educational needs for children with disabilities
Report highlights greater poverty and educational needs
for children with disabilities
NZEI Te Riu Roa backs the findings and recommendations of a new report that shows children with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty than other children.
The CPAG report, It shouldn’t be this hard: children, poverty and disability, found that 15% of children with disabilities live in households with incomes under $30,000, compared with 10% of all children.
NZEI President Louise Green said this finding lined up with what teachers saw at school, as the extra care these children required had a heavy impact on the number of hours parents could work.
“It is hard enough for children to overcome the disadvantages of poverty when they don’t have a disability. Dealing with both is a heavy burden for the children, their families and the schools that are trying to give every child a quality education,” she said.
The report makes a number of recommendations around schooling, which NZEI supports.
“We agree with the recommendation that government acknowledge the role of Special Education Needs Coordinators in schools and accordingly fund a staffing entitlement directly through school budgets.
“The funding and allocation of services for
disabled children also needs to be reviewed in partnership
with the disability sector to identify shortfalls and find
ways to improve service delivery in ways that are
child-focused. NZEI has long been calling for more
resources and support for children with special
education needs, including children with disabilities. Kids
are missing out on reaching their potential because the
money is simply not there to support their schooling.”
ends
NZEI Te Riu Roa
New Zealand Educational Institute
NZEI Te Riu Roa members work in every community in New Zealand, leading and advocating for quality public education.
We are the 50,000 principals, teachers and support staff who work in primary, area and secondary schools as well as early childhood centres, special education and school advisory services. We come together as NZEI Te Riu Roa - New Zealand's largest education union, a Treaty based organisation and a powerful advocate for quality public education.
We have the most important job in New Zealand - educating for the future.
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