Autistic students are almost three times more likely to be stood down or suspended from New Zealand schools, new research has found. Stock photo / 123RF
Autistic students are almost three times more likely to be stood down or suspended from New Zealand schools, new research has found. Stock photo / 123RF
Suspending autistic students from school may lead to them getting better funding support, the head of the NZ Principals' Federation says.
Those comments come in the wake of new research showing autistic kids are stood down or suspended far more than other students.
About 500 autistic students were stood down or suspended in 2018, at a rate almost three times the population average.
But the research also showed those that receive high needs funding through the Ministry of Education's Ongoing Resourcing Scheme were no more likely than anyone else to be stood down.
Currently 1.3 per cent of students get ORS funding. It's long been argued the scheme is capped too low for the level of need in New Zealand, leaving children to compete to win ORS funding.
NZ Principals' Federation president Cherie Taylor-Patel says standing an autistic child down may lead to them receiving more funding support. Photo / Supplied
NZPF president Cherie Taylor-Patel told Newstalk ZB's Kate Hosking this morning that students who had the right level of funding were more likely to experience success.
"The frustration with the system is that funding is often woefully inadequate."
Schools sometimes turned to stand-downs or suspensions when they had tried everything they could and it hadn't worked.
"Once they get to that level, once [the students] are suspended, everyone's more concerned. And sometimes you can actually push people in the system to get that funding and that is ultimately really good for students."
ORS funding is most often used to provide one-to-one support in the classroom, often through a teacher aide.
But Taylor-Patel said it was "a bit of a lottery" to get that money, and the resourcing often only provided learning support for five or 10 hours, when the student was at school for 25 hours a week.
Disability advocate Joanne Dacombe, who co-authored the research and is herself autistic, told the Herald some schools claimed they could only get support by standing a child down, which would prove the child's level of need.
Disability advocate and research co-author Joanne Dacombe has concerns about schools using stand-downs to get autistic children more funding support. Photo / Supplied
"But what does that do to the mana of the child? What does it do to the child's self-esteem? And what's happening to the whānau, the amount of stress - or Mum or Dad having to take time off work to look after the child while they're stood down?"
Dacombe wanted teachers to be better trained to understand students with disabilities but also said there was a need for more funding to support autistic students in the classroom, particularly through teacher aides.
But she felt it was unfair to expect teachers to do everything, particularly in a large classroom, "without an extra pair of hands and eyes" that could be provided by a teacher aide.
Dane Dougan, chief executive of Autism NZ, told ZB's Mike Hosking that putting more funding into the system would help, although it wouldn't solve every problem.
Autism NZ CEO Dane Dougan says there's a "critical flaw" in our system - we don't know how many autistic people are in New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
"Without knowing the number of children or adults who are diagnosed, as a statistic, how do you know how much resource to put into the system?"
He wasn't aware of suspension triggering anything at the Ministry of Education to make them look at whether that child had a disability like autism.
Autism NZ had been involved in the Highest Needs Review, which is being carried out by the ministry to look at what support is available for children with learning needs. He was hopeful that the review would lead to major change.
Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti told the Herald the Ministry of Education was "not yet in a position to comment on any change of direction for ORS".
Submissions on the Highest Needs Review were being analysed and options would go to Tinetti in October.
