PM Edition: Top 10 Energy Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for October 22, 2026 – Full Text

Source: New Zealand Government

Thousands more children are getting the help they need at school as the Government’s record investment in learning support delivers real results, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.

“Last year, we invested three-quarters of a billion dollars in learning support, the largest investment in a generation. 2026 is the first year that investment takes effect, and already thousands more children are getting the support they need.

“For too long, parents have struggled to get help for their children, teachers have been stretched, and waitlists have continued to grow.

“We promised to do something about it, we backed that promise with funding, and now we’re delivering.

“The results from our first year of investment speak for themselves:
 

Over 1,000 more children receiving high-needs support. We uncapped funding for the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS). As a result, in the past 12 months, an additional 1,057 children with the highest learning needs have received support.
Thousands more children receiving early intervention. We extended Early Intervention Services through to the end of Year 1 at school. More than 6,100 Year 1 children have already received support this year, and the total number of children receiving early intervention has grown by almost 25 per cent to more than 12,200.
Early intervention wait times reduced. Children are now waiting an average of 16 fewer days for early intervention support compared with December last year.
Learning Support Coordinators funded for every primary and intermediate school. This year, we’ve brought coordinators to 474 more schools, increasing the percentage of schools receiving support from 41 to 62 per cent. That will rise to 80 per cent next year, with every school covered by 2028.
190 more learning support specialist positions filled. Since December, we’ve filled additional positions, including speech-language therapists, educational psychologists and early intervention teachers.
1,000 private-sector specialist places contracted. We’ve delivered on our promise to bring in private specialists to reduce wait times, contracting up to 1,000 places at any one time for children needing speech-language therapy, educational psychology and occupational therapy.
More teacher aide hours delivered. We’ve funded 896,210 additional hours in 2025/26, building towards more than two million additional teacher aide hours every year from 2028 onwards.

“We’ve also ended the decades-long debate on what inclusion in special education means by backing the choice that parents have been asking for. We have invested more than $317 million in funding for three new special schools – the first in over 50 years – 142 new specialist classrooms across the country, learning support modifications and the full redevelopment of six existing specialist schools.

“We said inclusion means choice, and we’re delivering more options for families and better learning environments for children with the highest needs.

“These aren’t just numbers on a page. They represent thousands of children getting extra help with their learning, families getting support earlier, and teachers getting the resources they have been asking for.

“Labour had six years in Government, but too many of their learning support promises were never delivered.

“They produced a Learning Support Action Plan that was never fully implemented, with key initiatives unfunded. Their High Needs Review went nowhere. They promised Learning Support Coordinators in every school but stopped after the first tranche, leaving most schools without one. And they failed to deliver on their promise to uncap ORS funding.

“Labour didn’t lack promises or strategies. What was missing was the delivery.

“Our Government has backed its commitments with the largest investment in learning support in a generation, and these early results show what that funding is achieving.

“This is only the first year of rolling out our three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar investment. Our $266 million investment in early intervention alone will fund more than 560 additional specialist roles over five years. Every year, more specialists, more teacher aide hours and more support will reach children and their families.

“We’ve funded the changes, the rollout is underway, and we’re already seeing results.

“Parents and teachers need more than promises. They need real support for their children, and that’s what this Government is delivering.”

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/10/22/government-delivers-more-learning-support-for-thousands-of-children/