Structural Causes

Fragmented Funding 

Schools are too reliant on contestable, one-off, or short-term funding to meet basic needs. Pilots that are not picked up permanently create gaps when they end and contribute to the change fatigue that our kaiako report.  

The end of Kāhui Ako will have a significant impact on some of the local initiatives that schools were invested in, and we are yet to see if and how schools might be able to continue any of these.  

Ultimately, the chronic underfunding of frontline education support staff and learning support services has ‘come home to roost’. It is not only the fault of this government, or the last political cycle. It is ongoing, and successive governments have failed to resolve this.  

We do have significant concern that the privatisation of the education system that this government seems desperate to embed will only make this worse. $153 million for charter schools, and indeed $10 million for 215 students as reported earlier this year, could have made significant impact in the public system.

Education, health, and social services often operate in silos, leaving schools to bridge gaps. We want to see a co-ordinated approach to supports. The current system is failing our young people, their whānau, and wider society. We need to see long-term, cross-sector investment and collaboration.