An email from Ministry of Education deputy secretaries Pauline Cleaver and Mere-Hēni Simcock-Rēweti was sent to principals at the end of last month.
It said the ministry was considering reinvesting funding for Resource Teachers: Literacy and Resource Teachers: Māori into “more optimised and efficient frontline supports and services for schools”.
“Developing in-school expertise is a priority so that supports are brought closer to the child,” it said.
“Her level of expertise is what makes the difference,” he said.
“Someone with a really in-depth knowledge of literacy learning can work one-to-one with these students.
“That’s the argument against it [reinvesting funds].”
In the consultation document, Minister of Education Erica Stanford said the current service created large-scale inefficiencies, with individual staff trying to cover huge areas and multiple schools across large clusters.
“I want to ensure that we have the right roles, in the right place, with clear purpose and direction to support a nationally consistent approach to teaching and learning,” she said.
Tawhero Primary School principal Karleen Marshall says the Government's proposal 'doesn’t feel like best practice'. Photo / NZME
A funding cut would mean the end of 174 roles across the country.
Collins said having more teachers in large geographic areas, or areas with a lot of students needing help, would ensure they could provide an optimal service.
“The inequity is a result of some of us trying to support 30 to 40 schools whilst others may only have eight,” she said.
“Erica Stanford has stated it is not the service we provide that she is opposed to, it’s our structure.
“Improve our structure, don’t deprive our most vulnerable students of our highly specialised support.”
Johnston said that while he did not want to “jump on the bandwagon” against the Government’s proposal, teachers like Collins were a precious commodity.
“If we had done a sensible review, we could have had a better outcome.
“Nicky picks up the vulnerable, the most needy. She is a key person in our community.”
Consultation on the Government’s proposal is open until March 21.
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.