Terms of reference for the Review of Special Education

1. Special education is about ensuring that children and young people who require additional supports are able to participate in education and achieve to their potential. This Review is about doing better with what we have, rather than establishing a case for more funding.

2. Over $450 million is invested each year in special education (excluding tertiary education). This represents a major investment for the Government and special education is a matter of considerable interest to schools and the community. The government is aware of concerns that are held by some schools, parents and sector groups regarding the supports available and the outcomes being achieved for the Government’s investment.

3. For these reasons, the Government has decided to undertake a Review of special education, led by Heather Roy, the Associate Minister of Education.

4. The Review of special education will consider key issues such as access to schools, quality of workforce, accountability, price and volume of services and how to address these within existing funding. It will also provide advice on how to put into operation the additional funding for the Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes ($51 million over four years) that was provided in Budget 2009.

Principles

5. The terms of reference for the Review reflect the Government’s expectations and also its aspirations for special education. A set of principles have been adopted to guide the Review. The principles will be used by Government as a gauge with which to test options for improvement. The principles bring forward themes which Government consider should be essential characteristics of special education. For example, choice, access, quality, value and outcomes are all included in the principles.

6. The principles Government has adopted for this Review are:

1. Our goal is that every child and young person reaches their potential.
2. Education must be accessible and available to every child and young person. Access to additional resources and services for those with special education needs should be fair and consistent.
3. Education must provide value for money and deliver the best outcomes for every child and young person.
4. Every child and young person has the right to expect high quality education and professional services.
5. Families and whānau should have choices and be actively involved in decisions that take into account the child or young person’s best interests and cultural context.
6. All involved have a shared responsibility to work effectively and collaboratively to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people with special education needs.
7. Options for special education must assume no new money in special education.

7. In addition to the principles, the Review must reflect the needs, interests and aspirations of Māori as well as those of other cultures. The Review must also result in services and supports which are consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the New Zealand Disability Strategy. The Convention was adopted by Parliament in 2008 and more information on it can be found at http://www.un.org/disabilities/.

8. The 2001 New Zealand Disability Strategy includes a commitment to ensure that no child is denied access to their local, regular school because of their impairment. Further information on the Strategy can be found at http://www.nzds.govt.nz/nzds/.

Two phases

9. The Review will be carried out in two phases. Phase One will commence immediately and focus on the most pressing priorities, including how to put into operation the additional funding for the Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes (ORRS) that was announced in Budget 2009. Phase Two will commence in late 2009 and consider matters that require additional time to explore. The Review will report to Government in July 2010. Within each phase are specific work areas, as outlined below:

Phase One 

• Access to and allocation of, special education funding and services for children with high and very high needs – this is about fairness, reducing barriers and expanding the ORRS programme;
• Access to schooling for children with high and very high needs- this is about ensuring parents have choices for their children including to attend their regular local school; and
•  Outcomes and accountability- this is about performance, what is being achieved and whether providers are sufficiently accountable (to parents for example) for their performance.

Phase Two 

• Workforce- this is about having a confident and capable workforce;
• Transitions- this is about ensuring that major transitions like from school to life after school are well managed;
• Service development- this is about improving how we do things and whether we can reduce administration and be more responsive; and
• Integration and collaboration (reducing fragmentation) – this is about ensuring agencies work well together, that services are coordinated and children and families get what they need when they need it.

10. Although consideration of integration and collaboration within and between agencies is occurring in Phase Two, Phase One will need to consider cross agency integration and collaboration issues and opportunities as they relate to proposals in Phase One.

11. The Review will include services provided by the Ministry as well as those delivered by schools and other providers. The Review will consider special education services provided to children and young people to 21 years of age and how to allocate the additional $51 million over four years being made available to expand ORRS. With the exception of how to simplify the transition from early childhood to school for children already receiving special education services, the Review will not consider services specifically delivered to pre-school children.

12. In addition to early childhood services, the other services that will not be fully included relate to behaviour and school property. Behaviour is an education-wide issue rather than specifically a special education issue. A separate work programme on addressing behavioural issues that builds on the findings from the recent Behaviour Summit, and Drivers of Crime work is under consideration in different contexts. School property and other capital expenditure is an important element of special education and though Budget 2009 included some additional capital for special schools, there are well established approaches to prioritising capital investment.

When the Review will be completed

13. The Review will conclude in July 2010. Until the Review has concluded, it is not possible to say what will change and when, however the intention is to take interim decisions on the ORRS scheme in September 2009 in time to expand the programme in 2010. Other changes that may come from the Review will be considered for implementation over 2010 and 2011 if needed.

14. While the Review is underway the Ministry of Education will work to ensure there is no disruption to existing services. Any change that may arise as a result of the Review will be implemented in such a way that any disruption is minimised.

The approach to consultation

15. Government wants to seek the views of parents, teachers, principals, the disability community, sector groups and other interested parties. A consultation document will be made publicly available that covers the core issues in Phase One that relate to:

• Access to and allocation of, special education funding and services for children with high and very high needs;
• Access to schooling for children with high and very high needs; and
• Outcomes and accountability.

16. Anyone who wants to make a submission will be able to do so. Public consultation will commence in late 2009 and extend into early 2010. In addition to the consultation document, the Ministry of Education will be convening meetings with its sector reference groups.

17. The remaining issues (Workforce; Transitions; Service Development; and Integration and Collaboration) will not be covered by the consultation document. They will be considered in Phase Two and because of the nature of the issues, Government prefers that engagement occur directly between the Ministry of Education and key sector groups.

18. Accordingly, the Ministry of Education will be directly contacting sector groups in early 2010 and start the Phase Two engagement process. Consultation via the consultation document for Phase One and later by direct engagement in Phase Two will be important inputs into Government’s thinking regarding how to improve special education. Other important considerations will be ensuring  proposals are workable within existing funding, existing strategic policy settings, such as the New Zealand Disability Strategy and what research and other experiences may show are preferred directions for change. As a result, while Government expects that consultation will be influential of final decisions it will not necessarily determine what those decisions will be.

19. It should also be noted that if Government decides to make changes, these may be in-principle decisions and be subject to further discussions with those involved. For example, if proposed changes impact on schools there may be further discussions with schools on how those changes would be implemented prior to final decisions being made.

Further information

20. The Ministry will be communicating with sector groups and schools directly as required via email. This will include periodic updates on the progress of the Review.

21. Minister Roy signalled that a discussion document covering the issues identified in Phase One of the Review would be available for feedback in late November. The education sector has indicated, however, that this is not ideal timing as it will clash with busy end-of-year activities and the summer break.

As the Minister wants the sector to give careful consideration to the issues and options within the document, she has decided to delay the release until the start of the 2010 school year. This deferral will not impact on the scope of the Review. Schools and others who wish to respond to the document will have at least six weeks at the start of 2010 to consider it and make a submission. The Minister still expects to be able to conclude the Review by July 2010.

This decision will not compromise the Government's commitment to providing more students with additional support through the extension of the ORRS. In 2010 an interim approach will be used to allocate funding and resources, while the Review of Special Education will inform the full roll-out in 2011. The Minister will provide further details of the approach for 2010 in the near future.