Party policies, simplified: Education

The General Election day is approaching on Saturday November 7. We reached out to political parties National, Labour, Te Pāti Māori, ACT, New Zealand First, the Green Party, and The Opportunity Party with the same questions across housing, transport, disability policy, funding, healthcare, education, employment and accessibility.

Here’s how they say their education policies will serve disabled students. We also asked for each party’s stance on using ‘reasonable force’ on disruptive students.

NZEI Te Riu Roa estimates that hundreds of young people are waiting for a place in specialist education. Meanwhile for those who are in schools, the latest 15-year checkpoint findings from the Growing Up In New Zealand study finds that only a quarter of young disabled people reported high levels of school satisfaction, compared to 43% of non-disabled peers, and are often experiencing discrimination at school.

As per the Government’s investment in specialist education infrastructure, if reelected, National will continue to deliver 142 new specialist classrooms, three new specialist schools, and “comprehensive redevelopments” at six existing specialist schools.

Te Pāti Māori would establish a Māori-led taskforce to “transform how students with disabilities, neurodiversity [sic] and learning differences are taught and supported.” They added: “We will also address systemic exclusion within education settings, and ensure resourcing for support teachers, accessible learning environments, and ongoing professional development grounded in mātauranga Māori.”

The Greens will support an inclusive education system by expanding the criteria for accessing learning support, establishing a single agency to coordinate and resource specialist support for learners with health and disability support needs, and implement all actions in the Ministry of Education’s ‘Framework for Action: A quality education for all’.

NZ First and Labour expressed a commitment to inclusive learning. ACT says they are providing families more choice outside of the mainstream system through charter schools. Neither NZ First, Labour or ACT provided any future policies. However at the D*List Disability Debate, Labour representative, Priyanca Radhakrishnan said that if elected to government, Labour would progress the findings of the Highest Needs Review to “fix” the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme.

In August this year, ACT introduced a new policy that would allow teachers to remove “seriously or persistently disruptive” students from a classroom with “reasonable force.” Autism New Zealand was among many to raise concern over the policy, saying that removing a child from a classroom or using restrictive approaches should always be the last resort. ACT says this is to “prevent a student harming themselves or others, or causing serious property damage, while keeping clear safeguards against excessive force.”

Te Pāti Māori, the Green Party and the Labour Party all oppose this policy, while National and NZ First did not comment on their position.

TOP did not respond to any of our questions. However, the party is campaigning to work across the political spectrum to bring all political parties together to develop a 10-year plan in health and education.*

Responses about past policies, or generic statements without indication of the party's own intention, actions or policies have been excluded.

Summary by party

*indicates policy found outside of questionnaire responses or policy announced after the party’s response was submitted.