Ministry of Education

Introduction

Education enables people to gain knowledge, skills, and attitudes so they can participate fully, socially and economically, in the community. The Ministry of Education’s role is facilitative rather than directive, with the purpose of Te Ihi, Te Mana, Te Mātauranga - Empowering Education. The ministry empowers through its leadership, management of the infrastructure, problem-solving ability, and assistance of those at risk of underachievement.

Accordingly, the ministry’s mission is to raise achievement and reduce disparity. Quality education enables individuals to achieve their full potential. Expectations rise each year, and the educational achievement levels of all students must also continue to increase. At the same time, there are currently significant differences in the levels of educational achievement between groups in our community. It is the Ministry of Education's responsibility to tackle these disparities, as well as to raise the overall level of educational achievement.

The Ministry of Education’s Statement of Intent 2007-2012 has set an overarching outcome of building a world-leading education system that equips all New Zealanders with the knowledge, skills and values to be successful citizens in the 21st century. To achieve this the ministry is focused on three paths:

• Significant improvement in presence, engagement and achievement in early childhood education and schooling, and improvements in quality and relevance where needed in tertiary education.
• Developing the key features of personalising learning that will support the system to deliver educational innovation and change.
• Lead and support change to ensure that the education system values, respects and is successful for all children and young people, in particular Māori, Pasifika and students with special education needs.

Implementing the New Zealand Disability Strategy across the Ministry

The New Zealand Disability Strategy is incorporated into the Ministry of Education’s Statement of Intent 2007-2012. The ministry is committed to implementing the New Zealand Disability Strategy to ensure that people with impairments can say that they live in “a society that highly values our lives and continually enhances our full participation.” The incorporation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy throughout the education system is necessary to achieve this vision.

The Statement of Intent identifies that significant changes across the system will need to occur if we are to make progress. The ministry will need to take the lead across the sector to ensure that:

• No child is denied access to their local school because of their impairment
• Teachers and other educators understand the learning needs of disabled people
• Disabled students, their families, teachers and other educators have equitable access to the resources available to meet their needs.

Students with Special Education Needs

The New Zealand Disability Strategy is a key source document for strengthening outcomes for students with special education needs.

The Ministry of Education’s special education policy and service provision are focused on ensuring that all education providers have the capacity and capability to effectively support students with special education needs. The ministry expects that with improved teaching and appropriate support learners with special education needs can achieve to a greater extent than in the past. For some students this may mean higher academic achievement; for others it may mean better skills and competencies for adult life.

The Ministry’s Group Special Education provides a range of special education services to over 35,000 children and families, as well as providing support and services to schools, early childhood education centres, parents and whānau. The Ministry has developed an action plan, Better Outcomes for Children, to enhance outcomes for children and young people with special education needs. This plan sets out important outcomes for children and young people – presence, participation and learning leading to achievement and wellbeing.

The plan has introduced a more explicitly outcome orientated and evidence based approach to the delivery of services including promotion of more effective professional practice. Better Outcomes for Children also aims to improve information collection, leading to better informed service provision and better informed policy development. Group Special Education initiatives included in this plan include links to Better Outcomes for Children as well as the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

Accessible government

All government agencies are asked to prioritise actions to increase their accessibility to disabled people. This is about getting the basics right, so that disabled people can access government on the same basis as other people.

These actions support realisation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy’s objective 6: foster an aware and responsive public service.

Four critical areas where disabled people interact with government agencies are:

• information – such as brochures, letters, publications, websites
• buildings – such as service centres, corporate offices
• services – such as face to face at a service centre, call centres, information electronically or hard copy
• as an employer – such as job application procedures, job descriptions, accommodations in workplaces, intranets.

Accessible information

Outcome: Disabled people can access publicly available government information on the same basis as non-disabled people. Disabled people know about, access and use government information and services.

Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008. Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.

1. Online information (internet and intranets)

2. Hard copy information

3. Audio/visual resources

4. Other information

Accessible buildings

Outcome: Disabled people can visit, work, and move about independently in all government buildings and carry on ordinary activities there, on the same basis as others.

Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008. Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.

1. Structural elements

2. Contact with the public

3. Workplace management

Accessible services

Outcome: Disabled people can access government services on the same basis as non-disabled people.

Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008. Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.

1. Policy and practice

Being a good employer

Outcome: Government agencies provide equal opportunities in employment for disabled people to be recruited, retained, and promoted on the same basis as non-disabled people.

Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008. Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.

1. Employment practice

2. Supports for disabled staff

Including a disability perspective

Achievement story

A number of activities have encouraged Ministry staff to include a greater disability perspective in their work. As one example, Tania Thomas, Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner, gave a ministry-wide seminar on including a disability perspective in our work entitled “Nothing about us without us”. A number of “thinking points” were provided, which highlighted a number of issues and perspectives ministry staff should think about as they prepare any policies, information or services.

Another example is a series of three conferences addressing the issue of inclusive learning environments. The first event, in July 2006, was for ministry staff and focused on Rethinking Learning Environments. The goal was to gain a shared understanding of what ‘all learners’ means and to show that achieving effective learning environments for all learners requires a change to how we think. Networking across the ministry and with the school communities was also identified as important.

Groups Special Education and Property Services combined forces to sponsor and the second conference: 21st Century Learning Environments for all Learners conference, held in June 2007. This was extended to the wider education and property development communities, with the needs of students in the future being very much the theme. A range of speakers considered how to create innovative and effective learning environments for all learners. Future learners and how they will learn set the scene for further presentations, which provided a more explicit link to how environments can significantly impact on learning. Finally, the importance of networking to achieve success was highlighted.

The overarching message was that a focus on universal designs and collaboration with the community is essential, in order to meet the needs of all learners. Many of the speakers brought to the conference successful examples, from both New Zealand and Australia, of where learning environments have been created (or recreated) with successful outcomes. The challenges they faced and how they were overcome, the communities they worked with, the physical design of the school, and the outcomes were shared with all.

The final conference will be an international event, in conjunction with the OECD Programme on Educational Building, to be held in Auckland in March 2008, with the overall theme of Inclusion and Integration through Innovation. Four themes within this include: improving social participation and access to education; integrating disadvantaged groups; promoting inclusion in special schools; and, ensuring inclusion through design quality.

Policy making and service development

Outcome: Government agencies’ policy development shows analysis of the impact upon disabled people. Disabled people experience an increase in their well-being and ability to participate in society as the result of government policy.

Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008. Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.

Implementation beyond your agency

Outcome: Government agencies promote action to implement the New Zealand Disability Strategy in other agencies within their monitoring and/or reporting responsibility

Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008. Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.

Leading work that makes a difference

This section is for agencies to describe key work that you are leading that makes a difference in the lives of disabled people. This work may be directly relating to disabled people, or it may be for all people but have a strong impact on disabled people.

You should use this template to:

• describe your planned work
• report progress against previously planned work and/or new work undertaken since the last plan.

There are separate sections for you to record any specific activities in support of:

• New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006
• National Health Committee’s 2003 report: To Have an ‘Ordinary’ Life: Community membership for adults with an intellectual disability.

You may like to consider whether you can plan implementation action over several years, with milestone dates that you can report progress against annually. There may be a wider goal that your agency is working towards that several pieces of work may contribute to, and you should refer to this goal in the following template.

Achievement Story

New Zealand Sign Language in the New Zealand Curriculum.

Four years in the making, New Zealand Sign Language in the New Zealand Curriculum was released in March 2007, creating the opportunity for all students to learn the third official language of New Zealand. While already taught at some schools around the country, the NZSL curriculum guidelines provide a basis for NZSL programmes in early childhood settings and in primary and secondary schools. Curriculum guidelines set out a clear progression of achievement in language skills and cultural knowledge through eight levels of achievement in schools.

In learning languages, students learn to communicate in an additional language, develop their capacity to learn further languages, and explore different world views in relation to their own. New Zealand Sign Language in the New Zealand Curriculum is designed to help teachers to plan and implement programmes that encourage students to broaden their knowledge beyond cultural stereotypes and enable them to interact effectively with NZSL users in a range of social situations. New Zealand Sign Language in the New Zealand Curriculum has been developed as a result of extensive consultation and collaboration with the Deaf community, parents, and NZSL users as well as leading educators and teachers in the field of NZSL teaching and learning, nationally and internationally. Over four years, draft guidelines were prepared, trialled in schools, circulated to other interested groups for comment, and refined. The views of all those who have contributed and the specialist knowledge of NZSL first language users have been taken into account in preparing the final version of the curriculum guidelines.

A further resource is being developed to support teachers in the planning and implementation of NZSL programmes. The Learning Languages Series provides teachers with a multimedia resource specific to each language taught in schools, to further assist them in developing and implementing effective programmes covering the achievement objectives of curriculum levels 1 and 2. The NZSL contribution to the series will follow a format already known to be successful in the teaching of a number of other languages. The importance of learning both the language and the culture is the focus of this Learning Languages resource, and is recognised particularly in the measures of progression through the curriculum levels. Consultation with the Deaf community is continuing, with a reference group formed to advise the Learning Languages resource development.

NZSL is essential to many Deaf people for effective daily communication and interactions. New Zealand needs more people who are users of NZSL and have an appreciation of Deaf culture. By learning NZSL, hearing students are able to communicate with their deaf peers and participate in the Deaf community. This can also lead to enhanced participation in education by students whose first language is NZSL. Skilled communicators may find career opportunities that involve working with Deaf people. As Deaf people come to have a wider circle to converse with, our society becomes more inclusive.

1. Better Information to Address Barriers to Learning

a) What time period does this work cover?

The project began in 2005 and the initial development phase ends in June 2007. Further trials of the material developed to date will be conducted in the next phase from July 2007.

b) Please describe this work

The Better Information to Address Barriers to Learning project seeks to help children achieve improved learning outcomes (including social and cultural outcomes) by providing classroom teachers with resources to help identify and address barriers to learning.

Overall, the project seeks to:

• Develop resource material for educators of children aged 0 - 8 years that will help them to clarify learning needs of children and to better respond to those needs.
• Engage with specific local communities and education facilities to clarify what is working well and what can be done to help identify needs at the earliest possible time.
• Link with local health and community services to make best use of the support networks available.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

Teachers will teach to the strengths and address the needs of children who are not progressing as expected. This reduced progress may be because of undetected health issues, such as impaired hearing or vision or because of low teacher expectations.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to?

Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal? The Better Information to Address Barriers to Learning project will help to extend the evidence base for all those supporting children aged birth to eight years old.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

Stage one was a trial of a combined ecological and development resource. A limited print of the resource for educators was completed in October 2006 and a website for the e-copy of the resource was established in March 2007. The resource was trialled in three development sites – Pasifika, Māori and semi-rural. It was well received in all three sites.

Stage two gave password only access to a website for users of the resource. Use of the website and feedback on the resource is being collected (an electronic survey is included in the site). Internal participatory evaluation activities will be conducted in May-June 2007.

Stage three is planned for the 2007/08 year and possibly into the following year. This will involve exploring the use of the resource in three further sites, again focusing on Pasifika, Māori and semi-rural development sites.

The project is subject to an external formative evaluation which will continue to inform the refinement of the resource material in 2007/2008. Learning from this project and the evaluations will be shared with the Ministry of Health for work in relation to their project on school readiness.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objectives 3.1, 3.3, 3.6, 3.7, 7.3, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 15.3, 15.8

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

Links to Better Outcomes for Children Action

1.4: Group Special Education’s evidence-based contribution to policy development Action
3.4: Agree what constitutes evidence, in which circumstances and why Action
3.6: Systematic literature reviews and evaluations to reduce information gaps completed Action
3.7: All managers and practitioners apply agreed national evidence and models practice

2. Improving learning for children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

a) What time period does this work cover?

Work in this area began in 2004, and is ongoing into the foreseeable future.

b) Please describe this work

This suite of research-led, capability building initiatives aims to increase effective support and services for children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The funding and therefore the mandate for this work specifies that the focus is on children and young people with ASD, although the skills and knowledge gained through many of the professional learning and development initiatives may have broader application. The work programme consists of several components:

Evidence-based Guideline for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – jointly sponsored and funded by the Ministries of Health and Education. For the first time in New Zealand, a draft ASD Guideline has been developed to provide evidence-based information to guide provision of support and services for both children and adults with ASD, their families and whānau. There have been many requests from people with ASD and their families, together with service providers who support them, for guidance about interventions that are effective. We understand that this is the only ASD Guideline in the world that takes a whole-of-life and cross-sector approach. This collaboration was in response to repeated pleas from people with ASD, their families and whānau, who routinely have to deal with many services and professionals.

The draft ASD Guideline is an evidence-based summary that covers the identification, diagnosis, ongoing assessment, interventions and services for people with ASD. It seeks to provide the best evidence currently available to help with decision-making that will improve health, educational and social outcomes. The ASD Guideline is intended for use by primary care practitioners, specialists, education professionals, policy makers, funders, parents, carers, and any others who make provision for individuals with ASD.

Public consultation on the draft ASD Guideline occurred from December 2006 to March 2007. The responses are now being analysed, and, together with national and international peer review reports, will be incorporated into the final ASD Guideline, which is expected to be published by the end of 2007.

Health Outcomes International (HOI) has been contracted to assess the likely impact of implementing the key recommendations in the Guideline. HOI will identify and prioritise what is required to action the recommendations in the draft ASD Guideline, and generate options for implementation.

Following completion of the impact analysis (expected in June 2007), a report will be provided to Cabinet and Ministers. The report will include proposals for priority areas, associated costs, and key actions which will then be addressed through an agreed implementation plan.

Development projects, with an emphasis on early intervention. Thirteen early intervention teams around NZ are participating in this project, which uses an action learning approach and is designed to:

• improve early intervention practice with children with ASD in the New Zealand context; and
• contribute to a model of professional learning and development.

The development projects will explore the use of the Social Communication, Emotional Regulation and Transactional Support (SCERTS) framework. The framework was developed by Barry Prizant and his colleagues for working with children with ASD. Assessments and interventions are embedded in the settings, activities and routines of the child’s regular day. The framework also utilises elements of other approaches such as visual strategies, social stories and contemporary Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) techniques.

Revise, reprint and disseminate acclaimed Autism Spectrum Disorder booklet for teachers

Update and expand ‘tips for autism’ whole team professional development programme. Five additional facilitators have been recruited and upskilled. ‘tips for autism’ courses have been and continue to be run throughout the Ministry of Education Central North and Central South regions, and expansion to the whole of New Zealand is planned by the end of 2008.

Continue joint purchasing of parent and caregiver education programmes. The Ministries of Health and Education jointly purchase the EarlyBird programme, provided by Autism NZ Inc.

Continue purchase of introductory, three-day workshop for specialist teachers.

Continue to jointly convene inter-sectoral ASD Advisory Group, with the Ministry of Health. This broad sector stakeholder group includes people with ASD; parents and caregivers; health, disability, welfare and education service providers; policy and operational perspectives; and professional associations.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

The Evidence-based Guideline will form a shared foundation of robust information for providers of specialist services across health, disability support and education, as well as providing information for the wider social services sector, and is thus expected to lead to improved services and outcomes for people with ASD.

The development projects will increase the skills, knowledge and confidence of early intervention and early childhood service providers supporting young children with ASD, and thus lead to more effective interventions and support which in turn improve learning, social and cultural outcomes for children with ASD.

The booklet ‘Autism Spectrum Disorders: a resource for teachers’ has been updated in response to continued significant demand. The booklet provides busy teachers with insights into the impact of ASD and equips them with some simple teaching strategies. A key message of this booklet is that educational contexts and practices can be adapted to fit the strengths and needs of the student with ASD, rather than expecting the student with ASD to fit into the schooling system.

By participating in the ‘tips for autism’ programme, the family and teaching team learn how to plan, problem-solve and generate strategies which build on the young person’s interests and abilities. This collaborative process leads to more effective interventions and improved outcomes for the young person with ASD.

EarlyBird parent education programme continues to be valued by parents as they learn more about their child with ASD and effective strategies to support them. Families report improved family dynamics and more effective coping strategies, so enabling them to better support their child with ASD.

The three-day introductory workshop for specialist teachers increases the knowledge, skills and confidence of those teachers who in turn support classroom practitioners to provide more effective teaching and learning opportunities for young people with ASD.

The inter-sectoral ASD Advisory group continues to meet twice a year to provide advice and guidance to the inter-sectoral ASD Officials group and directly to government agencies. This advice contributes to more meaningful programmes of support for people with ASD.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to? Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

This work is being undertaken as part of the Ministry’s lead responsibility for the governments focus on families young and old. It also contributes to the Better Outcomes for Children GSE plan as outlined below, which focuses on presence, participation and learning. It has also contributed to the GSE business plan 2006/07 focus on skilled staff, quality services and working for outcomes.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

The Social Development Cabinet Committee approved public consultation on the draft ASD Guideline on 15 November 2006. The impact analysis report is due on 30 June 2007, after which a joint Health-Education implementation plan will be developed for Cabinet consideration.

The early intervention ASD development projects will be in place for the two years to December 2008, punctuated by regular milestone reporting. This will then be followed by a second phase, from January 2009 – December 2010.

10,000 copies of the booklet have been printed and made available to support specific activities and by request. Further printing will take place based on demand.

At least 24 teams will have taken part in ‘tips for autism’ between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007. It is anticipated that this many, if not more, will take part during the 2007/08 year.

Additional facilitators will again be recruited and upskilled to enable the expansion of ‘tips for autism’ to the whole of New Zealand. Recruitment will occur over March and April, with workshops in Terms 2 and 3, 2008.

Between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007, a further 78 families will have taken part in parent education programmes. Additional funding will be made available in 2007/08 to increase the number of families able to participate, dependent on provider capacity.

Between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007, a further 100 specialist teachers will have taken part in the three-day introductory workshops. These workshops will continue into 2007/08.

The inter-sectoral ASD Advisory Group have met twice this year. The Ministry’s of Education and Health will continue to convene these meetings twice yearly.

A ‘tips for autism’ multi-phase evaluation is planned for the three years to 2010.

It is intended an evaluation will also begin in 2007/08 for the ASD early intervention development projects. This will likely be in the form of a longitudinal study, taking place over several years

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objectives 1.2, 3.1, 3.3, 3.6, 3.7, 7.3, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 13.4, 15.3, 15.8

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

Links to Better Outcomes for Children Action

1.4: GSE’s evidence-based contribution to policy development Action
3.4: Agree what constitutes evidence, in which circumstances and why Action
3.6: Systematic literature reviews and evaluations to reduce information gaps completed Action
3.7: All managers and practitioners apply agreed national evidence and models practice

3. Better Outcomes for Children Action Plan 2006-2011

a) What time period does this work cover?

This piece of work is entering its second year of implementation.

b) Please describe this work

Better Outcomes for Children is an internal plan for the Ministry of Education. It is about raising achievement and improving services for the children who are eligible for specialist services from GSE.

The current focus is to develop and integrate the aims of Better Outcomes for Children into the “business as usual” work undertaken by GSE. Though the aims of the plan will still be reported against there is a move away from time-limited, project work to that of an everyday focus on the desired outcomes. As part of meeting the aims, an Implementation Manager has been appointed to oversee this work, in conjunction with the GSE National Management Team. This role replaces that of the steering group, though external advice will continue to be sought where beneficial.

Previously reported as the Outcomes, Evidence and Monitoring project, the work reported here in past plans has devolved into two projects for the 2007-08 year:

• Develop indicators and information about our performance to determine our success in advancing Better Outcomes for Children goals
• Develop an evidence statement, as part of the work leading to an improved evidence base for contributing to the long-term policy development for children receiving special educations services.

Part of these projects is to integrate the indicators and evidence-based focus into the “business as usual”, everyday work of GSE.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

Service provision will be more effective, leading to more successful outcomes for children eligible for Ministry of Education, Special Education specialist support and their families.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to? Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

These projects are part of the wider GSE business plan 2007-08, with the overarching goal of achieving implementation of Better Outcomes for Children, GSE’s action plan 2006-2011.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

• There is an agreed project plan and progress to early milestones. Alignment to the Disability Strategy has been assisted through Jan Scown (CEO of Office of Disability Issues) being a member of the steering group.
• Shared understanding of the outcomes has been promoted externally by national communications about the framework to GSE stakeholders and via information on the website. Consultation with the wider sector has to date identified consistent support for the outcomes framework.
• Workshops were held in all regions/districts with all GSE management staff to introduce the plan and the managing for the outcomes framework. GSE staff have also been participating in shared learning to ensure strong foundations supported by a Managing for Outcomes kete distributed nationally.
• Work has begun on the development of a GSE monitoring and evaluation system that includes outcome indicators. DMA have matched databases and provided GSE client specific information on system wide indicators relating to the outcomes of presence and achievement using stand-down and suspension data and NCEA results.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objective 3

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

Links to Better Outcomes for Children

Action 1.4: Group Special Education’s evidence-based contribution to policy development

Action 1.5: Shared understanding of outcomes and managing for outcomes developed

Action 1.7: Outcomes and indicators promoted and further developed jointly with sector

Action 1.8: GSE monitoring strategy implemented

Action 1.10: National education indicators include children GSE serves

Action 1.11: Annual review of Action Plan and progress reports regarding implementation

Action 3.4: Agree what constitutes evidence, in which circumstances and why

4. Professional Development of the Special Education Workforce

a) What time period does this work cover?

Work in this area is ongoing, with a variety of short-term, long-term and ongoing projects.

b) Please describe this work

Several ongoing projects are being progressed to enhance the capacity and capability of the Special Education specialist workforce. These include:

• Study Awards provided for teachers and others wishing to undertake the training required to work as: a Teacher of the Deaf, a Resource Teacher Vision, an Early Intervention Teacher, a Resource Teacher: Learning and Behaviour, a Learning Support Teacher, a Special Needs Teacher or an Adviser on Deaf Children.
• Contracts negotiated with providers, and ongoing monitoring, to ensure training is made accessible to teachers who wish to train as: Teachers of the Deaf, Resource Teachers Vision, Early Intervention Teachers, Resource Teachers Learning and Behaviour, and Advisers on Deaf Children.
• Workforce planning to consider the acquisition, development and retention of specialist workforces. It is intended there will be a strategy written by the end of the 2006/07 year.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

Professional development opportunities will be available and accessible to support the development of specialist workforces. This will lead to a skilled and well trained specialist workforce to support disabled learners in educational settings. The Study Awards have been set up to ensure that the supply of trained specialist teachers is sufficient to meet the demand required from the specialist workforces. A good balance between supply and demand of trained specialist teachers is likely to contribute towards providing better learning outcomes for children.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to? Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

This work contributes to GSEs goal of skilled staff by 2011, as identified in Better Outcomes for Children, an action plan for GSE 2006-2011.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

• For the 2007 academic year, the following study awards have been allocated for study; 10 for full time Teacher of the Deaf training, 95 for part time Resource Teacher: Learning and Behaviour training, 6 for Learning Support Teacher training, 18 for Special Needs Teacher training, 13 for part time Resource Teacher: Vision training, 41 for part time Early Intervention training and 2 currently for Advisers on Deaf Children training but with 7 more possibly starting in the second semester.
• Contracts that are in place and are being monitored over the 2006-07 period include a variety of contracts to cover the part time delivery of training for Early Intervention Teachers, Resource Teachers Vision and Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour, and a contract to cover the development of papers to support the training of Advisers on Deaf Children.
• A workforce planning strategy has been drafted and presented to GSE’s National Management Team. This is due to be finalised in July 2007.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objective 7.8

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

Links to Better Outcomes for Children

Action 3.2: National plan for professional development that supports ongoing competency implemented

Action 3.3: Workforce development strategy implemented

5. Implementation of National Specialist Service Standards

a) What time period does this work cover?

This is part of the Better Outcomes for Children, 5 year GSE action plan 2006-2011.

b) Please describe this work

The goal of this work is to implement specialist service standards for all Ministry of Education funded specialist services, which includes services provided by Special Education, Early Intervention service providers and other fund managers for students who are ORRS-funded.

A collaborative process was used to develop these service standards involving a wide range of stakeholders participating in regional focus group workshops. Providers have chosen a similarly collaborative implementation path.

There will also be a process developed for monitoring and reviewing service standards which will include representation of all provider types and of parents.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

All learners with disabilities who require specialist education services will be able to access more consistent and standardised services across the country.

The national framework for provision will allow a child-focused approach and encourages a collaborative approach to providing service.

Disabled people are involved in the decisions that are made around setting and monitoring service standards.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to? Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

This work contributes to GSEs goal of quality services by 2011, as identified in Better Outcomes for Children, an action plan for GSE 2006-2011.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

• Nationally developed documentation that defines standards for specific services are in place, when they are required in addition to generic service standards. Behaviour standards have been in place since July 2006.
• Joint training in the standards was completed by September 2006.
• A documented process is being developed for regular review and, where necessary, modification of service standards takes place. This has progressed steadily in the 2006-07 year, and will be completed by July 2008.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objectives 3.1, 3.4, 13.5, 15.5, 15.6

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

Links to Better Outcomes for Children

Action 2.1: Nationally consistent ways of working to deliver outcomes implemented

Action 2.5: Nationally consistent and effective workload and resource management implemented

Action 3.5: Model of practice and principles agreed with evidence-based operational detail

6. Ministry of Education protocols with the Ministry of Health and ACC for students in schools with special education needs

a) What time period does this work cover? Approximately two years, from 2006/07 onwards.

b) Please describe this work A review of the protocols between Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, and between ACC and the Ministry of Education.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

The purpose of the interagency protocols is to clarify roles and responsibilities around students who receive therapy services and/or equipment from either the Ministry of Health or ACC and are accessing specialist education services under Special Education 2000 policy.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to? Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

This work contributes to GSEs goal of quality services by 2011, as identified in Better Outcomes for Children, an action plan for GSE 2006-2011.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

Health Protocol:

• A proposed joint work plan for assistive technology protocols have been developed by Health and Education.
• Terms of Reference are currently being developed as part of this work.

ACC Protocol:

• In the early stages of developing these protocols, some clarity about the way in which services were provided by each agency was achieved. Given this new situation, it was determined that developing the protocols should not be a high priority. If deemed appropriate in the future, work may resume.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objectives 3.2, 3.4, 3.6, 3.7, 6.1, 6.3, 6.4, 13.1, 13.5, 13.6

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

Links to Better Outcomes for Children

Action 2.1: Nationally consistent ways of working to deliver outcomes implemented.

Action 2.3: Address service process issues from children’s feedback and from Local Service Profiling meetings.

7. Assessment for Learners with Special Education Needs

a) What time period does this work cover?

There are two main phases of work. Development of the exemplars began in January 2006 and will go through till December 2008. Outyears funding will see professional learning and rollout occurring from January 2009 onwards.

b) Please describe this work

This work involves the development of curriculum exemplars for learners with special education needs for assessment and teaching purposes. A range of curriculum exemplars and support materials will be made available to teachers of students with special education needs. This will promote effective assessment of learning for students with significant learning needs, who are likely to be working long-term within Level 1 of the New Zealand Curriculum.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

Primary and secondary teachers are better able to assess learning and provide meaningful learning opportunities for students with special education needs.

Teachers have higher expectations for students’ learning and increased confidence to teach students with special education needs.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to?

Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal? This work contributes to both the Assessment Strategy, in terms of professional learning and assessment tools, and the Better Outcomes for Children Action Plan.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

Milestones within the following contracts:

• Project writing teams contract - UC Education Plus has been contracted to prepare exemplar materials (contract signed April 07).
• Publication – Time and Materials contract
• Research and evaluation - Request for Proposal (RfP) for evaluation is due to be let mid-May and the expectation is that a contractor would begin work on this mid-year, in collaboration with the contract writers.
• Professional learning – RfP in planning stages, due to be let toward the end of the 2007.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objectives 3.1, 3.3, 3.6, 3.7

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

This work contributes to the Ministry wide focus on effective teaching (Statement of Intent), the GSE focus on presence, participation and, particularly, learning (Better Outcomes for Children) and the Schooling Strategy goal: ‘all students achieving their potential’.

8. Survey of Special Education Resourcing

a) What time period does this work cover?

This work was initiated in the 2006-2007 year and will be completed by May 2008.

b) Please describe this work

The Ministry will undertake a survey of what special education resourcing is available, from all sources, to children with special education needs in New Zealand. This initiative will provide greater understanding regarding how individual and school targeted funding is deployed at a local level and will provide families and schools with greater clarity and certainty about the ways resourcing is used across the country. Parents will be interviewed as part of the survey, but questions on preferences for resources and allocation mechanisms are beyond the scope of this survey.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

The desired outcome is an information base on special education resources received by children in schools around New Zealand that will inform special education policy development to the benefit of children who need these resources.

It will inform future policy decisions, including the allocation of funding and resources to individuals and schools to assist in the education of children with special education needs. It will provide a more robust basis for reviewing levels of support and cost pressures to ensure that consistent and equitable support is available to those children who need it.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to? Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

The Survey will contribute to the aims of Special Education 2000 particularly those relating to consistency, predictability and equity of resourcing. Resourcing matters are under ongoing review by the ministry.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

The survey is in the setup phase. A pilot will be run in June 2007 with the main survey going into schools from September to November 2007. The project will be completed in May 2008.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objectives 3.4, 3.6, 13

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

The Survey connects with the “Quality Providers” section of the Ministry of Education’s Statement of Intent.

9. Behaviour Screening Tool

a) What time period does this work cover?

Work to develop and implement a new tool began in 2006/07. It is intended to have an existing tool identified and implemented, including training initiatives, in early 2008.

b) Please describe this work

This initiative will allow for the identification of a screening tool and implementation into Group Special Education (GSE) behaviour services and other existing support services to better identify high risk children for earlier intervention. The focus will be on screening children under eight years of age, and linking this to access to the Incredible Years programme. There is an emphasis on evidence based intervention services developed for all young children with behaviour problems, with or without a disability.

A national norming process will provide a national prevalence survey of behaviour problems and the appropriate cut off point to provide services to the highest need children within current resources. Training will be required for implementation and use of the tool will be embedded into standard practice models within existing resourcing.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

Children who need behavioural services are accurately and effectively identified sooner, and receive appropriate and timely support services.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to?Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

This piece of work is part of a wider, inter-sectoral anti-social behaviour strategy, with contributions from the Ministry’s of Health and Social Development and CYF. The Incredible Years programme links to the government’s focus on Families - Young and Old.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

A decision has been made to make a new Research Funding Proposal to identify a more suitable existing tool, rather than developing a new tool. Focus groups will be consulted, and feedback used to ensure the most appropriate tool is identified for use. These groups will include members from Māori, Pasifika, disability and refugee communities. There will also be inter-sectoral consultation. It is intended that norms will be completed by the end of 2007, and the tool ready for use in early 2008. Training of the screening process for ministry staff, Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), early childhood and school teachers will also take place in early 2008.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objectives 3 and 13

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

This work contributes to one of the ministry’s vital outcomes of ‘developing quality providers’, as identified in the Statement of Intent.

10. Interim Support Fund

a) What time period does this work cover?

The fund is in place now and will continue to be available into the outyears. Future work will cover monitoring, reporting, data gathering, and possible bids for an increased budget.

b) Please describe this work

This initiative involves providing additional support to schools to better manage the immediate impacts of severe behaviour and to enable better integration of children who have received specialist or off-site support into the school.

Funding will be for short term emergency situations only and will be allocated on an individual basis by regional offices of the Ministry of Education in partnership with existing behaviour support services.

This will ensure that children with severe behavioural difficulties can remain in school, without putting themselves or others at risk, so that their needs can be addressed.

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

Barriers to participation for children with severe behaviour are reduced. The impact of severe behaviour on families, children and communities is mitigated.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to? Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

The Fund is part of the Tackling Disruptive Behaviour work.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

The fund has been available since the beginning of the 2007 school year. Regional staff have maintained a spreadsheet to record each incident, and how the funding was spent. In Term 2, schools will start submitting their final reports which will indicate the outcomes of the funding for the students concerned.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objective 3 and Objective 13

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

Tackling Disruptive Behaviour work.

11) Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Early Intervention Services Development

a) What time period does this work cover?

1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007

b) Please describe this work

To develop an implementation plan to allow GSE to have the capacity and capability to deliver early intervention services to children aged 0-3 years diagnosed through universal newborn hearing screening as deaf or hearing impaired.

This will involve: Defining the early intervention service, that will be provided for infants and young children identified by the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNBHS) programme.

Working collaboratively with health and other education providers in the development of seamless services for this group of children.

Using the evidence base to underpin all services to this group of infants and young children. Confirming the resources needed for delivering services to this group of infants and young children and their families and planning for how the development of these occur.

Clarifying the role of both education and health providers in providing services to these infants and young children.

Developing training packages for existing staff and working with Senior Adviser workforce Development and Advisers on Deaf Children and Early Intervention Teacher training programmes to ensure that both current and existing staff have the necessary skills ad knowledge to effectively deliver evidence based services.

Developing a monitoring/assessment protocol to assess children’s progress, linking health and education outcomes.

NB: The early intervention service will be firmly embedded within the GSE early intervention services offered to children with other disabilities and developmental needs. It will be strongly linked to the early childhood strategy, Te Whariki and early childhood practice in New Zealand

c) What difference will this work make to disabled people’s lives?

It will enable deaf and hearing impaired children the earliest possible assistance to develop language and communication skills, and thus partake more fully in society and education.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to? Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

This work contributes to GSEs goal of quality services by 2011, as identified in Better Outcomes for Children, an action plan for GSE 2006-2011.

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

General programme measures will include the take up of the service as a percentage of eligible children, timeliness in providing a service, and the percentage of children staying in the service at 3 and 5 years.
Specific indicators will be developed to measure the communication skills of children at set ages during their early childhood years.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objective 3 – Provide the best education for disabled people Objective 13 – Enable children and youth to lead full and active lives

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

Links to Better Outcomes for Children

Action 2.1: Nationally consistent ways of working to deliver outcomes implemented

Action 2.4: Manage service coverage and access to services to support outcomes and reduce disparity

New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006

This section should be used to describe work of your agency in response to the New Zealand Sign Language Act.

In April 2006, the New Zealand Sign Language Act became law. This legislation recognises New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) as an official language of New Zealand, gives the right to deaf people to use NZSL in legal proceedings, and provides guidelines to government agencies on the use of NZSL and on consultation with the Deaf community.

Section 9 of the NZSL Act 2006 states:

1. A government department should, when exercising its functions and powers, be guided, so far as reasonably practicable, by the following principles:

1. the Deaf community should be consulted on matters relating to NZSL (including, for example, the promotion of the use of NZSL)
2. NZSL should be used in the promotion to the public of government services and in the provision of information to the public
3. government services and information should be made accessible to the Deaf community through the use of appropriate means (including the use of NZSL).

2. Consultation carried out by a government department under subsection (1)(a) is to be effected by the chief executive of the government department consulting, to the extent that is reasonably practicable, with the persons or organisations that the chief executive considers to be representative of the interests of the members of the Deaf community relating to NZSL.

3. The purpose of the principles in subsection (1) is to promote access to government information and services for the Deaf community, but nothing in subsection (1) is to be read as conferring on the Deaf community advantages not enjoyed by other persons.

1. Implementation of the New Zealand Sign Language Act

a) What time period does this work cover?

This is a 5 year plan relating to the New Zealand Sign Language Act, passed in 2006.

b) Please describe this work

The Ministry has developed a five year plan indicating how it will implement the New Zealand Sign Language Act. The 2006-2007 plan was comprised of four key parts:

Section A: Communication and Awareness

• A beginners’ NZSL course in the Ministry.
• A scoping of Ministry National Operations communications.
• Consideration of NZSLA in stakeholder relationships strategy.
• Development of a protocol for Ministry receptionists for communicating with Deaf people.

Section B: Workforce Development

• A review of the Ministry’s Human Resources recruitment and EEO processes.
• Ministry contribution to an integrated approach, as part of a project led by the Office for Disability Issues, to funding and delivery of sign language interpreters.
• Fostering of an increase in the number of trilingual interpreters fluent in Te Reo through considering assistance.
• Maintenance of current contracts to ensure the continual supply of a well qualified workforce of teachers of the deaf, Advisors of Deaf children and sign language interpreters.
• A consideration of ways of increasing NZSL fluency and Deaf culture awareness for the specialist workforce.
• Internal and external liaison in relation to implications of the NZSL Act for the education workforce.
• Consideration in conjunction with other agencies of the development and utilisation of a workforce of Deaf mentors.

Section C: Access to learning through NZSL

• Making the tertiary sector more accessible.
• Making the Crown entities aware of the NZSL Act and its implications.
• Property advice to schools on the NZSL Act.
• Improved NZSL access to transition services.
• Rollout of the NZSL Curriculum.
• Some development of the NZSL multi-media package which is intended to support the teaching and learning for the NZSL Curriculum.
• Completion of the NZSL mathematics lexicon.

Section D: Other issues related to Principles of the NZSL Act

• Some development of improved website functionality and accessibility provided by the Ministry, in relation to the NZSL Act.
• Consideration of provision of strategic information and resourcing support for the NZSL Act.
• Ongoing provision of legal advice.

c) What difference will this work make to Deaf people’s lives?

Communication access issues for Deaf people in the area of education will be progressively addressed.

d) What wider goal does this work contribute to? Are there other pieces of work that also contribute to this goal?

The plan is aligned with the Ministry’s three vital outcomes (effective teaching, families and communities, and quality providers) and Group Special Education’s three intermediate outcomes (presence, participation and learning).

e) How is progress in achieving this work being measured or to be measured?

The five year long term plan is implemented by yearly plans, with achievements reported and measured yearly. Plans for the 2007/8 year are still to be determined. See the attached five year long term for more information about short and long term goals.

f) What objectives in the New Zealand Disability Strategy does this work connect with?

Objectives 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

g) What part of your Statement of Intent and/or other strategic documents does this work connect with?

This connects with all aspects of the Statement of Intent as it addresses all three of the Ministry’s vital outcomes.

The Ministry of Education’s 5 year implementation plan for the removal of language barriers to deaf people accessing education services

Table of Contents

(A) COMMUNICATION AND AWARENESS

A1) Availability of public communication and information about education in formats accessible to the Deaf community

A2) Access for deaf parents to information and support from the education sector, especially at a local level

A3) Availability of information and support for parents and family/whanau of deaf/hearing impaired children about NZSL and its role in their education

A4) Awareness of NZSL and Deaf culture by stakeholders in the education sector

(B) WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT FOR NZSL

B1) Increased representation of deaf/hearing impaired people in education workforce

B2) Availability of trained

• tutors in NZSL
• educational interpreters and training providers for the above

B3) NZSL proficiency level of the specialist and assistive/ communication workforces for deaf students

(C) ACCESS TO LEARNING THROUGH NZSL

C1) Ability of teaching workforce to communicate appropriately with deaf students (using NZSL and other visual communication techniques)

C2) Curriculum development and recognition of NZSL

C3) Access to the core curriculum for deaf/hearing impaired students

(D) OTHER ISSUES RELATED TO PRINCIPLES OF THE NZSL BILL

D1) Preparation of deaf students who use NZSL for the workplace

D2) The needs of different cultural groups of deaf people

D3) Access by deaf/hearing impaired students to extracurricular and other activities relating to education due to attitudinal and communication barriers

D4) Access to tertiary education sector for deaf/hearing impaired people

D5) Deaf community involvement in service design and delivery processes