Teacher aides reviewed

The Ministry of Education is currently consulting on how teacher aides are resourced in schools.

There are two main sources of government funding for teacher aides – learning support and operational grant funding.

The majority of schools spend more than the learning support teacher aide funding allocated to them on teacher aides, topping up with a portion of their operational grant funding and locally raised funds.

Primary schools employ the most teacher aides and fund the most hours of support from teacher aides for learners. This is in part because there are more students in Years 1-8 than Years 9-15, but also because many of the learning support interventions are aimed at primary school year levels. Key issues identified in work on the project so far has identified that the current application process for funding is time consuming and administrative and funding is unpredictable, contestable and time-limited (often short term.

The group overseeing the review is expected to submit their final recommendations to the Minister of Education by the middle of this year.

New Board office build

Building work is continuing on the new Rodney Local Board office in Elizabeth Street, Warkworth, with no opening date yet confirmed. The new premises will be used for board business meetings and other public engagements, as well as office space for staff and elected members. Auckland Council local area manager Lesley Jenkins said it would not replace or duplicate services provided at the existing Council Service Centre at 1 Baxter Street. She added that information on the cost of the new office could not be provided while the project was still under construction and subject to commercially sensitive construction contracts.

For a full range of family medical care, including A&M services in an integrated system 24 hours a day, across our region, including public holidays