27 June 2018 – Education minister Chris Hipkins announced details of the Government’s Education Work programme earlier this year and invited participants to two summits. Altogether Autism national manager Catherine Trezona reviews the organisation’s involvement.

Ivan Davie and Chris Hipkins

ONE OF the six people who attended the education summits on behalf of Altogether Autism as part of the Government’s Education Work Programme says her main take-home message was the education system did not function well for children with autism, particularly those with special education needs.

Lynne Hansen, parent of a daughter on the spectrum and an education advocate, says having so much discussion in groups within the hubs was a positive.

“This government appears to be listening and acknowledging the issues,” she said.

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The Ministry of Education hosted the two summits in Auckland and Christchurch in May with up to 800 people attending.

Education minister Chris Hipkins told the Auckland summit the government wanted a high quality education system that provides all New Zealanders with “lifelong learning opportunities so that they can discover and develop their full potential, engage fully in society, and lead rewarding and fulfilling lives.”

He said he was interested in hearing from as many diverse voices as possible through a range of meetings, hui and fono.

The aim was to contribute to defining what the New Zealand education system should look like over the next 30 years.

Lynne Hansen and Sarah Blythe, who were two of our delegates

Altogether Autism was invited to nominate six people to attend these summits. They were Betty Pulefolau, Lynne Hansen, Sarah Blythe, Ivan Davie, Tom and Cat Noakes-Duncan.

Pulefolau, co- founder of Pasifika Autism Support Group (PASG) and member of the Altogether Autism Consumer Reference Group, came back from the summit hopeful and excited about the investment that the government is putting towards additional support and funding in classrooms starting with early childhood education.

Prime minister Jacinda Arden told the summit the Ministry of Education operates using a tick box system that is highly reactive, and that special education has been neglected and underfunded for some time.

It would take more than one budget to address all of the issues currently facing our education system, she said. This was a “once in a lifetime” opportunity.

Davie, who has a son on the autism spectrum, re-trained as a teacher in 2017 to better support his son and others with learning differences. He teaches at Tauranga Boys’ College.

His key motivation for attending the summit was a concern over the distance between educational inclusion policy and the reality he sees in the classroom.

“While the New Zealand Education Curriculum speaks to meeting individual learning needs, the reality for students on the spectrum in the classroom is often far from this,” he said.

“The education summits will raise expectations and hope for students with educational learning needs.  This is being done in a very public way which suggests a determination to act on what is being heard.”