At-risk students cared for by Te Kura should be better supported by schools and local services- ERO

The Education Review Office (ERO) has warned that a rapid increase in enrollments of at-risk students is straining the correspondence school, Te Kura.

The roll at Te Aho o te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura) has climbed 40 percent since 2018.

The examination board report on Te Kura indicates that the Ministry of Education relies more on the school to accommodate disengaged ākonga (students), as it is more difficult to enroll them in regular schools.

He says that although Te Kura does a good job under the circumstances, at-risk ākonga should be better supported through local schooling options and inclusive services.

“Providing distance education to ākonga in remote and rural communities no longer defines the primary purpose of the school,” said Jane Lee, deputy director general of review and improvement services. ERO.

“Although the school remains an important access point for more than 400 geographically isolated children, the school is increasingly dealing with tamariki with challenges related to schooling that extend far beyond geography.”

The report says the school has grown rapidly and more than seventy percent of its 23,400 students have been referred by the ministry or by Oranga Tamariki. Other students are referred by the Department of Corrections and the Ministry of Education.

“Before being referred to Te Kura, these learners are often out of school for a long time for various reasons, such as short-lived, expulsion and alienation from their local school,” Lee said.

“A disproportionate number of these underserved learners are Maori. The number of at-risk Akonga on Te Kura’s list now equals that of a major New Zealand high school, or around 1,200 learners.

“Across the system, we have to work together to do better for these learners.”

The ERO recommended that the ministry and Te Kura focus on greater collaboration, priority funding reviews, and a deeper examination of Te Kura’s role in New Zealand’s education system.

He said Te Kura has developed a capacity and capability for the digital delivery of best practices that the wider sector, especially in a Covid-19 climate, could benefit from.

The ERO last examined Te Kura in 2015.