Associate Education Minister David Seymour and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announce the Government’s plan to tackle truancy. Video / Mark Mitchell
A school pet, a social dinner and a Bluetooth speaker are some of the ways school principals spent a $6.3 million fund to support their wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Almost all of the May 2022 funding - to help with the disruption and difficulties of the pandemic - isunaccounted for, with only 69 of the 532 principals providing feedback on how the $12,000 funding per school was spent.
Released to the Herald under the Official Information Act, the feedback revealed the money was spent in many ways, including on education conferences and paying overstaffing bills.
This followed draft guidance from the Ministry of Education for principals to “treat yourself”, though it’s unclear how many schools this was sent to, and the phrase was absent in the final guidance.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the pandemic was “an extremely difficult time” for schools and principals “played a critical role” supporting their students, teachers and communities.
But she added: “I think the balance is that principals need to be well supported - they do a critical job and their health and wellbeing is important - but the public also rightfully has expectations around what is a reasonable and responsible use of funds.”
Education unions NZEI Te Riu Roa and PPTA Te Wehengarua both pointed to papers, including from the Education Review Office, showing the burden the pandemic placed on principals, especially those in rural areas or sole-charge positions.
“Principals face huge levels of burnout and stress in their work, which is a core driver for them leaving the profession,” NZEI said.
“New principals in particular faced enormous levels of stress during Covid-19. Wellbeing funds aimed to support the professional needs of school leaders and our expectation is that they would be spent appropriately.”
‘High-trust model’
Ministry documents show the funding was a “high-trust model”.
Prepared for May 2022 - after the Omicron variant had spread throughout the country - it amounted to $12,000 for new principals (in the role less than three years) to support their wellbeing through the disruptions and difficulties of the pandemic.
Draft guidance included a line saying “treat yourself - engage in activities to relax and restore your energy levels”, and this was shared for feedback with regional directors via the school support group Te Mahau. It wasn’t intended to be passed on to schools, though the Ministry of Education concedes it may have been.
Te Mahau said the guidance wasn’t clear enough, so the ministry sought further advice from school support staff from Te Pae Aronui (the operations and integration division), and was told to “narrow the examples of ‘good use of funding’.”
The line “treat yourself” was removed from the final guidance sent to schools on May 24, 2022, which told principals to be mindful of financial obligations, and included links to the ministry’s policies on sensitive expenditure.
Yoga classes were among the things the Covid-19 wellbeing fund for new principals was spent on. Photo / 123RF
Only 13 per cent of principals responded - most of them anonymously - to the ministry’s only request for feedback.
“The extra funds did allow my staff a massage each and they felt more valued for the work they do. It seemed to improve everyone’s wellbeing,” one anonymous comment said.
Another said: “The act of putting on food for people enhances appreciation and is good for wellbeing, and it creates an opportunity for socialising and connecting.”
And another: “A few examples of these sessions are ‘burn out’, ‘living above and below the line’, and ‘thoughts and mindfulness’.”
“As a result, some schools spent the funding in ways that could be considered to confer a private benefit, which is generally not appropriate for public funds. Examples identified this year included spending on personal trips for a principal and their family members and the purchase of personal home gym equipment.”
The differences between the draft and final guidance “caused confusion”.
“There was no evidence of clear instructions requesting that schools follow the final guidance and ignore the draft.”
It recommended the ministry “communicate more effectively with schools, including putting controls in place to prevent draft guidance from being sent to schools before it is finalised and approved”.
“Although this might have been an isolated matter, we often find that schools are not aware of, or do not fully understand, what is required of them.”
The Ministry of Education declined to comment.
Derek Cheng is a senior journalist who started at the Herald in 2004. He has worked several stints in the press gallery team and is a former deputy political editor.
