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Kia ora e te whānau
I met with principals from Taranaki, Manawatu, Wellington and Nelson this week and was struck by the anguish and immediacy of their cry for help for students with high behaviour needs-those who are violent or experiencing crisis and dysfunction in their lives.
The cry of these principals is echoed up and down the country in every Association meeting on the NZPF road trip.
This is an issue that I have written about three times this year. It is also an issue that I raised earlier this year in meetings with Minister Hipkins, Associate Minister Martin and the Secretary for Education, Iona Holsted.
Principals’ concern about the damaging impact of extreme behaviour is reflected in the findings from the 2019 NZCER national survey hot off the press and publicly released this morning.
The survey finds 63% of principals identified support for students with mental health or additional wellbeing needs as a major issue for their school. The survey finds that many teachers experienced incidents of extreme behaviour-25% of teachers said that student behaviour often causes serious disruption in class. In 2019, 25% of teachers occasionally felt unsafe in their class, double the 12% who felt this in 2016.
Principals report having to deal with students who kick, bite, scratch, punch, throw objects and furniture, and abuse those around them. These young people need help. They need therapeutic interventions such as counselling and psychological services. Many need alternative school options because holding these students in classrooms is placing staff and students at risk. Above all, everything must be done to help these young people deal with the circumstances of their lives.
The lack of support and resources to deal with severe behaviour and students in crisis is unconscionable. The growing crisis is not a ‘wait to next year’s budget’ situation - it requires action now.
The government’s failure to respond to the call from practitioners for urgent assistance to deal with severe behaviour is adding to the stress and burnout of principals.
The NZCER survey finds that principals judge that too much was being asked of schools: 72% of principals say this, markedly increased from 53% in 2016. The effect of this for principals is to intensify their workload, with increases in stress levels, tiredness, and more feeling they can not give sufficient time to educational leadership. Only a minority felt supported by government agencies.
Last Friday, government announced spending of $32.8m over 4 years to fund 40 curriculum leads. These advisors will be based in the Ministry of Education and will work with principals and teachers to deliver a Health and Physical Education and Hauora local curriculum, including the refreshed Relationship and Sexuality Education Guidelines and the Wellbeing and Mental Health Guidelines. They will also support School Boards to undertake engagement with their local communities on the Health and Physical Education curriculum and promote positive school and kura environments.
This announcement commits significant funding to advisory services in the Ministry of Education at a time when the statistics regarding the frequency of severe behaviour and pressure on teachers and principals is ‘sky-high’ and increasing.
This announcement has had the effect of impressing on principals that the government places more truck in advisory services in Physical Education and Relationship and Sexuality Education than responding to severe behaviour. The provision of advisory services in Wellbeing and Mental Health has taken priority over the provision of specialist staffing to do the ‘hands on’ work with young people to help them deal with crisis and mental health challenges.
Schools do not need more advice; they need people to get their hands dirty, doing the mahi.
The announcement of the 40 curriculum advisors was not requested by practicing principals or teachers. It appears that Education Review Office data was used as the justification for this decision.
There was no conversation with the sector about the appropriateness of this policy. I ask government: is this what partnership between the Ministry of Education and the sector looks like-policy launched at schooling without consultation? Establishing the priorities for the spend in education should never occur in isolation and should never exclude the important practice-based voice of principals.
It is not appropriate for government to be funding more Ministry of Education advisors when principals cannot get help from agencies for the legions of students cutting themselves in our schools, or the students dealing with the impact of sexual and physical abuse, or the child who lashes out constantly in class because he/she has been passed around multiple foster homes and feels unloved, unwanted and angry, or the school who has to call on Police to attend to restrain and remove students who are dangerous and out of control.
These young people need trained therapeutic expertise. But it is not available. It can not be sourced from Oranga Tamariki or the DHBs or the Ministry of Education; the demand for service is huge and every principal has stories of the constant knock back on resourcing requests or the offer of paltry resources that are insufficient to match the needs.
I have written to Minister Hipkins to request an urgent meeting regarding this matter.
Ngā manaakitanga
Perry Rush
perry@nzpf.ac.nz
Banking Staffing Update July 2020
Completing 1 July Predictions on the “Supplementary Questions” Email you receive from MOE as part of the July Roll Return process.
Suggested minimums for each year level. Feel free to inflate to reflect your circumstances.
Primary:
Remember to use Table M1 from the March Return for your minimum entry level predictions and Table J1 for all other year levels. (Or M3 and J3, depending on your SMS.) I recommend that your predicted Yr 1 Adjustment prediction be the same prediction you used for your entry year (Y1) prediction. This means you expect about as many year 1s to enrol between 1 March and 10 October as you expect to enrol from 1 July this year to 1 March next year. Look for the box asking “How many Year ones will enrol between 1 March and 10 October”. It is on the page following the y1 to Y8 predictions
Contributing Schools:
Use the primary suggestions above then:
Include a year 7 prediction based on about 25% of your average cohort to take account of April May June enrolments who will spend over 6 years at your school!
To double check, calculate the Y6 plus Y7 total on 2020 Table J1 (the number MOE thinks are leavers) less your current “in house” year sixes (the number that you know to be leaving) and use the greater of that result or the April May June 25% system above for your y7 prediction.
Area Schools:
Use the Primary suggestions above for y1 to 8, and the Secondary suggestions below where appropriate for other year levels. (When you contact your contributing schools, ask them to send you their draft J1 Table from their SMS so you can calculate all the available entry year pupils.)
Intermediate and Secondary schools:
Apply the same proportion of “available enrolments” from each contributing school as you received this year, applied to your expected available enrolments coming next year to predict your entry year numbers for 2020. Where possible ask all of your contributing schools for table J1 so you have the best possible picture of “available enrolments” and thereby can base your predictions on the same information that MOE uses for its initial predictions. For all other year levels use March 2019 to March 2020 progression rates from Tables M1 2019 and M1 2020 applied to this year’s 2020 M1 March roll numbers. (When you contact your contributing schools, ask them to send you their draft J1 Table from their SMS so you can calculate all the available entry year pupils.)
Important for all schools with leavers:
Please pass on table J1 to all the schools that any of your pupils might be attending next year as soon as you have an accurate draft and before the July roll count date.
Link to MOE Provisional Staffing Round processes for all school types.
Gavin Price NZPF Life Member 027 607 6220 gavin.price@xtra.co.nz www.bankingstaffing.co.nz
Nominations for NZPF Election 2020
Nominations are now open for NZPF President and Vice President for 2021.
Click here to download a nomination form.
Nominations close on 5 August and the electoral roll closes on 25 August. Your subscription payment must be received by this date in order to be eligible for voting.
Trans-Tasman APPA/NZPF Conference Postponed
Due to the uncertainty for both countries surrounding large gatherings and travel, the organising committee has made the difficult decision to postpone this event.
The new dates for the Trans-Tasman Conference will be 20 to 23 July 2021. All delegates and exhibitors have been sent correspondence with details of the change.
For more information and to register for the 2021 Trans-Tasman Conference, click here.
NZ Principal Magazine also Online
You and/or your team members can easily access the NZ Principal Magazines online, as an e-magazine or as a PDF. Additionally you can search for a previous issue, an article by title or by the author of the article. All magazines back to Term 1 2012 are available in this format. To view or search click here.
Netsafe LIVE PLD
Providing a safe online learning environment and the skills and dispositions needed to connect and navigate safely online is critical for our rangatahi's wellbeing. Netsafe is partnering with the VLN Primary to bring this free event to schools and parents in August.
Join Netsafe’s Education Advisor Pauline Spence as she unpacks the risks, challenges and opportunities of digital tech and online spaces, and ways we can help young people to be safe online. There are sessions for school leaders and educators, parents and whānau. More information & flyers here.
David Stewart Memorial Scholarship
Due to the COVID-19 Health Crisis, it was agreed that the timeline for the David Stewart Memorial Scholarship would be extended.
The agreed extended date for receiving applications is now July 31, 2020 not 31 May 2020 as originally published.
Please share this information with any colleagues who might be interested in taking up the scholarship.
For more information about the David Stewart Memorial Scholarship, please click here.
NZPF assures its business partners that, as members, you will contact them to have a conversation if you are purchasing products, services or solutions for your schools that a business partner supplies. Please support our partners as their assistance to NZPF means better membership services to you.
