Student needs unmet because of lack of teacher aides

Wednesday, 23 April 2025

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Malisha Patel has been working as a teacher aide for 12 years but she knows it would not have been possible if it wasn’t for her husband’s support.

Most other teacher aides she knows have two to three jobs or are reliant on their partner’s income to be able to stay in the classroom.

Patel, who works at Holy Cross School in Miramar, has stayed in the job because it is her passion and the rewards of seeing students overcome barriers far outweigh the challenges.

But it was frustrating that the system seemingly ran on goodwill when the needs of students were ever increasing, she said.

“There simply is not enough funding to give us time to prep resources or plan or come in and set up for the day – and that's no fault of the schools. It just is the system that we're working with.”

Increasingly, less experienced graduates were being hired as they were cheaper while those with experience were having their hours reduced, Patel said.

She is one of many calling for better teacher aide funding to ensure more stable hours and be able to do their job to support individual students overcome barriers in their education.

Government funding covered $23-$23.78 per hour to employ teacher aides when students qualified for ongoing resourcing scheme (ORS) funding, which provides support for students with the highest level of need for specialist support.

Most teacher aides were paid $26.59 - $33.23, according to NZEI, which meant schools had to supplement the difference.

As of May, there were 27,000 teacher aides working in more than 96% of schools.

The Education Ministry spent $1.3 billion each year on learning support, including providing a contribution towards teacher aide employment.

“Teacher aides are essential in New Zealand schools,” said Sean Teddy, hautū (leader) operations and integration at the Ministry of Education.

One of Education Minister Erica Stanford’s six education priorities was targeting effective learning support interventions for students with additional needs. It was unclear whether more funding would go towards teacher aide resourcing.

President of the New Zealand Principals' Federation Leanne Otene said New Zealand had “one of the longest tails of underachievement in the developed world”.

“We’ve known this for years and yet our system continues to under-resource the students who need it most,” Otene said.

“We can't talk about reforms, standards, any of that without acknowledging this reality and far too many of our tamariki, particularly those with leaning difficulties, behaviour needs, socio economic disadvantage, are just falling through the cracks.”

Otene said the “broken system” for learning support meant the burden fell “squarely on schools”.

“Principals are being left to stretch budgets, patch together support staff and navigate those long waiting lists for specialist services while trying to ensure that every child has access to meaningful education.”

She called for at least one teacher aide in every classroom, for it to be centrally funded and for the Government to recognise they were key to tackling underachievement in Aotearoa.

Otene, who is also the principal of Manaia View School in Whangārei, said she had as many teacher aides as she did teachers at her school. About a quarter of the operational grant went towards teacher aides.

“We can't shorten the tail if we keep leaving the same kids behind,” Otene said.

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