Skip to main content
Ministry of Education New Zealand
On this page

Alternate formats#

More alternate formats for this information will be available on Friday, 19 December 2025.

Contact us through New Zealand Relay#

If you are Deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, speech impaired or find it hard to talk, you can contact the Ministry of Education through the New Zealand Relay service.

NZ Relay

Services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
TTY: 0800 4 713 713
Voice: 0800 4 715 715
Email: [email protected]

Framework for action#

The Ministry of Education will take reasonable steps to implement the following actions:

1. Investigate options for enhanced, more regular and transparent reporting of data about disabled students by schools and report to the stakeholder group on the outcomes of that investigation#

The options explored will include enhanced requirements for Boards of Trustees to report annually to the Ministry on the school experiences of disabled students, including data on the presence, participation and achievement of disabled students, accommodations required for equitable access to education and school life, workforce capacity to teach diverse students and school capacity and capability to provide them with a quality education. The goal of this investigation is that students will be visible in all reporting, including system-wide indicators used to monitor and report on the performance of the education system, and this information will be appropriately aggregated and disaggregated.

2. Improve data collection by the Ministry#

The Ministry will collect prevalence data on students requiring accommodations and specialist support services to learn. The Ministry will use that data and actual accommodation costs to inform education policies, resource frameworks, plans, and programmes. All disabled students will be subjects of aggregated and disaggregated data collection so that an up-to-date database is available to guide the resourcing and policy framework, which is regularly reviewed, monitored, and adjusted annually.

3. Investigate alternative funding structures for disabled students and report on the outcomes of that investigation#

The Ministry will reconsider all disability education funding sources in respect of effectiveness, impact and consistency with disabled students’ rights to reasonable accommodation and accessible learning environments. The goal of the investigation is that there will be an emphasis on earlier investment in disabled students’ education and wrap-around support, to ensure students have the correct individualised support for participation and learning in place for as long as needed.

4. Improve access to specialist support services#

The Ministry will take steps to improve access for schools and disabled students to timely and evidence-based specialist support services (communication, behaviour, and other specialists) by addressing current workforce supply issues and inter-professional relationship issues.

5. Collaborate with other systems stewards#

The Ministry will take steps to collaborate with other education system stewards including the Teaching Council and the Education Review Office to identify and jointly address concerns related to system quality and performance in respect of the enrolment, participation, learning and achievement of disabled students.

In particular, the Ministry will work with the Teaching Council, to take steps to facilitate:

  • initial teacher education core pedagogy programmes that build teacher capability and confidence in teaching diverse learners, and
  • teaching standards for registration, teacher and principal mentoring, and accreditation processes that include the need to demonstrate evidence of effective teaching and monitoring of the achievement of diverse learners.

6. Ensure the curriculum reflects and includes all learners#

The national curriculum will be responsive to the needs of all learners. In alignment with Action 1, the Ministry will take steps to support ongoing monitoring and reporting on the learning achievement of all disabled students. This will include those learners working at a different level of the curriculum to their same-aged peers.

7. Enable accessible infrastructure#

The Ministry will take steps to enable schools to be in a position to provide the physical accommodations (including technology and access) needed by its students. The Ministry will develop a transparent method for monitoring accessibility and accommodations provided.

8. Investigate the learning and life impacts of, and alternatives to, specialist schools and report on the outcomes of that investigation to the stakeholder group#

The Ministry will investigate the broad resourcing, and equity impacts of a dual system in which mainstream and special education systems are both sustained.

9. Investigate the impacts policy settings, including deficit-based funding, have on attitudes of ableism and report on the outcomes of that investigation to the stakeholder group#

Specifically, the Ministry will consider the impact of a deficit- based- approach on the way that disabled students feel about themselves and how other students and educators perceive them.

Contact us#

If you have questions:

Related