07. High quality services
The best way to improve services and to improve value for money within current funding is to focus on the volume and quality of services that are already provided. There are a number of initiatives in place or planned to improve quality, such as the professional standards, which are applied to specialist staff that support consistent practice and quality of outcomes.xx
There is an opportunity to do more and achieve better results. For example, there is currently little advice that schools can draw on about how to use teachers’ aides to produce the best outcomes for individual students, teachers and classes. This means that most schools just do the best they can. There may be other examples where information or teacher education can help achieve better results and more value for money.
Another important aspect of quality is access to services. The current model is that all students should have the same opportunities to succeed regardless of the schools they attend. This means that specialist staff travel to where children are if specialist supports cannot be provided by the schools themselves. As a result, the Ministry is the largest employer of specialists to ensure that all children with special education needs and the schools they attend can be supported, even in remote locations.
Because New Zealand is spread out with a number of quite remote communities, it can be hard to provide specialist services in every location. Distance and the low numbers of students with high or very high special education needs in some schools can make the challenge harder still.
In urban centres there may be more options for other providers, including private providers, to deliver services. Having a range of providers can make it easier for services to be provided in different ways to suit the different needs of communities, such as Māori and Pasifika communities. However, having a range of providers may not be viable for all special education services and in all locations and this underlines that all providers need a core capability, such as meeting the needs of Māori as well as Pasifika.
A further consideration is what is meant by “quality” and who decides this. This is touched on later, in the Accountability section, but when you respond to this question you may like to also provide your comments on this.
Question 6
How can the quality of services be improved?