District Manager

`Walking the talk' in GSE's Central/Te Haunui district

Thirty-six-year-old Miha, who has a learning disability, reminds Garth about the importance of top-notch disability services each and every day.

Miha became part of Garth's family almost 30 years ago when he, at age seven, moved into a group home for people with learning disabilities run by Garth and his partner, Robyn.

Miha's severe learning disabilities mean he has frequently been labelled as having `challenging behaviour'.

He arrived at Garth's group home amid an ongoing struggle with the country's social services - he'd been kicked out of a special school, placed in more than 40 foster homes and was about to be institutionalised - when he and Garth struck up a lasting rapport.

Today Garth is a Ministry of Education, Special Education (GSE) district manager in the Central or Te Haunui district. He and his partner are Miha's partial guardians and Miha an integral part of their five-person family.

"Miha's an amazing singer, has a wonderful sense of humour and makes a huge contribution to our family," says Garth.

"He's also an amazing survivor and reminds us why this country's services still need a lot of work - we've been through the system with him and have seen first hand what it's like from his point of view."

Garth, district manager since 2002, believes his 100-person team of specialists and support workers is steadily improving services in his area.

He attributes their progress, in part, to the wide-ranging structural changes made to special education during the past few years when Specialist Education Services (SES) merged with the Ministry of Education.

"The changes have allowed each district to set up their services according to the needs of their local community."

"At the same time our services fit within a national framework which means if you live in Palmerston North, for example, you'll receive the same quality and level of service as someone living in, say, Auckland or Timaru."

Garth has a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in social work and social policy from Palmerston North's Massey University.

He has worked in both the public and private sectors, specialising in disability social work, for more than 25 years. His past roles include field worker, manager, advocate, policy and programme maker, and consultant.

The following are just a few of the changes Garth's team have made in his district in the past 18 months.

Sub-district specialist teams

They've set up four sub-district teams of specialists: one in Otaki, one in Palmerston North East, one in Palmerston North West, and one in Wanganui.

Each team comprises a range of both early childhood and school sector specialists. And each team has a primary relationship manager (a lead worker) who manages the team's relationships with individual early childhood education services and schools.

"Feedback from schools has been overwhelmingly positive," says Garth. "We're more responsive and our services more coordinated."

Stakeholder reference groups

The district has set up five public committees (called stakeholder reference groups) focused on special education services in Central/Te Haunui district.

Three general stakeholder reference groups are based in Wanganui, Otaki and Palmerston North. Members determine their own agenda and receive some administration support from Garth's team.

Another stakeholder reference group comprises only parents or parent group representatives. This year parents are looking at advocacy, professional development, and the New Zealand Disability Strategy. Again, this team receives administration support from Garth's team.

The fifth group is a GSE-run district-wide stakeholder reference group focused on special education strategy and so-called `big picture' issues.

"These groups mean we have real community engagement in what we do, people are involved and can get involved in a range of ways - the way I see it, we're walking the talk," says Garth.

Networks of learning support

Garth's team is starting to talk to stakeholders about what a `network of learning support' might look like in their district.

For example, they are discussing the pros and cons involved in changing the way special education resources are allocated, managed and provided in their district.

"These are exciting times for our district. It's hugely empowering to be able to come up with our own solutions as a community by collaborating and working together, while staying within the overarching policy and regulatory framework."

"I'm very open to change, but it's important that we take it one step at a time, that change doesn't come about all at once. If something doesn't work, we need to have the opportunity to start again - that's the key to success I think," says Garth.

Māori Education Strategy for special education

The district has implemented the GSE's national strategy. That means the team has employed a fulltime pouārahi-ā-takiwa or Māori district advisor (the only fulltime position in the country), more than doubled the number of Māori staff employed in the district, developed a bicultural approach to providing services among all district staff, provided all staff with access to relevant cultural advice through the pouārahi-ā-takiwa and kaitakawaenga (cultural liaison officers), developed Māori programmes, and is referring Māori children and young people with special education needs to Māori specialists and support people wherever possible.

Increasing the participation of people with disabilities

The district is looking at setting up a stakeholder reference group for people with special education needs, employing more staff who have disabilities and employing a a parent or disability advisor.

The GSE management structure

The Ministry of Education, Special Education (GSE) has 16 districts and 16 district managers. Services provided by district staff are run from a district office and smaller satellite centre offices.

Each district belongs to a region. The country is divided into four GSE regions. Each region has a regional manager.

The GSE management team is headed by the GSE Group Manager, the four regional managers and four national managers. National managers are based at GSE's national office in Wellington and are responsible for - operational policy, professional development, Māori services and the Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Scheme (ORRS).

GSE is part of the wider Ministry of Education which is led by Karen Sewell, the Secretary for Education. The Ministry of Education also has National Operations offices through-out the country. Staff in National Operations offices work alongside staff in GSE district offices to provide services and advice to schools.