Labour targets young readers

A programme that targets at-risk kids with special reading tuition is effective but too expensive, a Napier school principal says.

Marewa school principal Phil Jackson said the decile one school had about 70 year-one students, but only three spaces for the celebrated reading recovery programme.

"We could probably use twice as many as that," he said.

Reading recovery provides one-on-one teaching for students who have struggled with literacy learning in their first year of school. It currently helps about 14 per cent of 6-year-olds nationwide.

Mr Jackson welcomed a Labour Party proposal to increase funding for the programme under its new education policy, announced at the weekend by party leader David Shearer.

"It has a proven track record ... but the only problem with reading recovery is it's a very expensive programme," Mr Jackson said.

Mr Shearer applauded the "gold standard" programme for its 80 per cent-plus success rate and said under Labour it would become universally available.

This would add about 5000 more six year olds each year, costing an extra $20 million annually. At the moment, only 59 per cent of low-decile schools had access to it, compared with 73 per cent of high-decile schools, Mr Shearer said.

The party has also proposed a similar maths recovery programme for seven and eight-year-old students and has pledged to provide free food for all 650 decile one to three schools at an annual cost of up to $19 million.

Mr Shearer yesterday justified the policies, which received backing from the New Zealand Educational Institute and Kids Can Charitable Trust - an organisation that provides breakfast in schools.

"If kids can't get to school and be ready to actually learn then they're not going to learn," Mr Shearer said. "Fifty per cent of our prison population are functionally illiterate so we've got to really make an effort to make sure that those kids don't slip behind."

And though the National Standards grading system would not be scrapped under Labour, individual schools could opt out of them if they wished.

NZEI president Ian Leckie said under the current system too many students were missing out on reading recovery, adding to New Zealand's literacy woes.

"The schools that don't have it aren't saying they don't want it. They say it's a funding issue ... as it is expensive."

Kids Can chief executive Julie Chapman said the organisation's food programme could be used in low decile schools under the free food proposal, but it should be targeted to those most in need.

Labour's plans

• 
  Extend reading recovery to all schools, making it available to 5000 more 6-year-olds a year. Cost - $20 million.
• 
  Make National Standards optional.
• 
  Introduce individual report cards for each school.
• 
  One meal a day for children in decile 1 to 3 primary and intermediate schools.