Millions spent to help kids’ English
Almost half of the tens of thousands of school children needing help to improve their English skills were born in New Zealand.
More than 215,000 pupils received ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) funding over the past six years –
99,000 were born in New Zealand. The grant is for pupils as young as five, who need help reading, speaking, or writing the English language. Quite often, they’re needing help to do all three. It targets those with the highest English language learning needs.
Pupils – New Zealand-born, migrant and refugee – were funded to the tune of $67 million over that same period, according to figures released under the Official Information Act.
Last year, 24,000 migrant and refugee students received funding for term three and four.
During that same period, 20,000 New Zealand-born pupils were funded. New-Zealand-born pupils made up one-third of the $1 million in funding dished out in the Waikato last year.
According to the data, funding for migrant pupils in the Waikato increased by $210,000 in six years. But for refugee pupils, funding more than doubled – from $58,000 to $149,000. Funding for pupils born in New Zealand also more than doubled, from $125,000 to
$297,000. The Hamilton suburb of Rototuna is an area that’s experienced huge growth over the past decade.
It’s also seen an increase in the number of migrants moving to the area, drawn in by relatively cheap house prices compared to Auckland, and several good schools, said local real estate agent Cathy O’Shea.
O’Shea said high numbers of Chinese and Indian professionals were attracted to Rototuna because they believe it’s a safe community.
Te Totara School, in Rototuna North, had 150 pupils of its roughly
800 student roll that qualified for ESOL funding last year.
Principal Brian Sheedy said that number amounted to nearly a fifth of the students at his school.
Last year there were about 100 Chinese families at the school, Sheedy said.
And it’s a statistic that’s echoed in the Rototuna community. About
16 per cent of the suburb’s residents identify as Asian. Across the country, and for the past six years, the most commonly used language for students who receive ESOL funding, was Samoan.
In the Waikato, the most commonly used language was Mandarin, followed by Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish, and then Tongan.
In June last year, the former
government pledged to inject an extra $9.4 million for ESOL pupils over two years. Funding has increased from $10 million for the second half of 2012, to $16 million in the second half of 2017.
Ministry spokesperson Katrina Casey said decisions on how funding is used is made by schools.
That could include specialist ESOL programmes, bilingual support, professional development or learning materials.
Ministry support included regional migrant and refugee education co-ordinators, a bilingual assessment service to look at support needed, and online multilingual notices and forms.
All students who are eligible for funding receive the support, Casey said.
For New Zealand-born students to be eligible, they must have been at school for two terms. They also need to have one parent that is a migrant, and a language other than English must be commonly spoken at home.
Casey said funding increases are driven primarily by migration patterns and as most migrants settle in the Auckland, most of the ESOL funds are pumped into that part of the country.
In its response, the Ministry of Education said the annual figure for each year – for all four school terms – is likely to double.