Hon Erica Stanford
Minister of Education

101,000 Year 1-8 students and their teachers will benefit from the skills and support of a Learning Support Coordinator (LSC) working in their school next year.

From Term 1,461 schools will have access to a new LSC staffing entitlement through the Government’s $192 million Budget 2025 investment to ensure all primary and intermediate schools have access to a LSC over the next three years.

Learning Support Coordinators support both staff and students, providing direct support in schools, working with neurodiverse students and those with additional learning needs and helping schools and families to navigate additional specialist support where required.

“We want every child to reach their full potential, and this transformational investment will help that. It will allow schools to identify and respond to student needs sooner by bringing dedicated learning support into schools earlier and closer to those who need it most,” Education Minister Erica Stanford says.

“Parents, teachers and principals have been crying out for this support. Parents can be confident we are putting their child’s needs at the centre of the education system. A dedicated staff member who can screen for common neurodiverse needs like dyslexia and put strategies in place will give teachers more time to focus on what they do next, quality teaching in the classroom.”

The Government will be providing funded training and induction for new LSCs in literacy and numeracy, and the use of screening tools.

“The previous Government introduced LSC roles but only delivered one tranche of funding. This resulted in significant inequities, in some regions only 18 per cent of students have had access to an LSC while others have had up to 57 per cent. This investment will address the equity gap of LSC’s across the country.”

The rollout will take three years. From 2026, every region will have 60 percent access, which will increase to 80 per cent in 2027, and 100 per cent by 2028. In total this will benefit close to 300,000 students across 1131 schools. The implementation is phased to impact the greatest number of students as quickly as possible.

“We’re removing inequity, inconsistency and we’re being flexible for our rural and smaller schools who struggle to fully staff their classrooms. Schools will be able to choose to combine their part-time staffing entitlements across intervention and LSC roles - making it easier to recruit and manage resources across their communities.

“We are making the single largest investment in learning support in a generation — a transformational, system-wide reform that delivers a coherent, multi-tiered, evidence-informed approach to meeting the needs of our students.

“We are bringing learning support closer to young people who need it most, ensuring support is available, accessible, and effective,” Ms Stanford says.

Notes: Schools can check their staffing entitlements for 2026, 2027 and 2028 on Education.govt.nz

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