Reading, writing, eating

How much is the charity dollar propping up New Zealand's education system. Elizabeth Brown investigates

At least half of New Zealand’s schools have turned to charity to support students, according to a survey of NZEI members. Teachers say increasing numbers of children don’t have adequate lunches, appropriate clothing, or cannot afford to go on camps or trips.
Last year, one charity alone distributed 1.5 million food items to schools. Kidscan has supported 43,000 children in 201 schools, with another 105 schools and 21,000 children on its waiting list. As well as its crisis food programme, it will distribute 20,000 raincoats and 5800 pairs of shoes this year – a third more than last year.
It’s the stark reality of child poverty, and according to Kidscan chief executive Julie Helson the need is great and growing.
“With the rises in living costs a lot of people are really struggling to make ends meet. Parents who were getting by just aren’t getting by now.”
“It’s a grim reality for so many families. We are working at the base level and providing those basic items to kids in schools so they are in a position to learn. We see our role as trying to reduce the inequity that exists and provide a level playing field for all children.”

Serious hardship
A Ministry of Social Development survey of living standards reported that 19% of children were experiencing "serious hardship" and "unacceptably severe restrictions on their living standards”. A figure which correlates rather closely to the Minister of Education’s oft-quoted figure of student underachievement.
And there’s little comfort to be found in economic forecasts that predict food, petrol and rental costs to rise, and unemployment to stay at current levels. The Salvation Army’s report “Stalled”, released earlier this year, says there is evidence that child poverty rates are increasing, particularly in single parent households.
It’s something the Principal of Western Heights Primary in Rotorua doesn’t need to be told twice. Brent Griffin says there is no doubt people are doing it harder.
“Poverty is getting worse in the community. The same issues are out there, but they seem to have intensified with things like higher food and petrol prices as well as rent. Just because people are in a low socio-economic area doesn’t mean they don’t care about their kids – it’s just that they struggle.”
Brent is determined that poverty won’t be a barrier. “We work hard to try and offset the effects of poverty so our children can succeed and progress, and they do.
“I jump on anything that’s out there to support the kids and that’s where charities, trust funding and sponsorship come in. I spend a lot of my time sourcing and managing additional money.”

Educators are determined that poverty won't be a barrier.

Ability to concentrate
Western Heights was one of the first schools to access Kidscan several years ago. Along with a sponsored breakfast club, 45 children are being supported at the school with top up food such as muesli bars, dried fruit and juice boxes. The food is distributed discreetly to children identified by teachers as not having enough. The Fruit in Schools programme, initiated by Labour and continued by National in a reduced form, also means children in low socio-economic areas receive fresh fruit each day.
“Kidscan and Fruit in Schools are essentials now and without it many kids would be going short,” says Brent.  “Many families have food in their homes but it’s food which doesn’t translate into lunchboxes. You can’t bring a tin of baked beans to school.”
Not surprisingly lack of food interferes with a child’s ability to concentrate, learn and behave well. A study conducted by Massey University for Kidscan recorded teachers’ and principals’ observations. It confirmed that offering a nutritious health bar and fruit pottle definitely helped children who may have had no breakfast or lunch to cope with classroom work. It found the availability of food at school is pivotal in cases of deprivation.
In a recent NZEI telephone survey of members, 65 percent said they had noticed that more families struggling financially over the last couple of years. 60 percent said more children did not have adequate lunches, and 50 percent said more children were unable to go on camps or other extracurricular activities.

Hearing problems
As schools work to try and mitigate the effects of social inequity on children’s learning, the charity buck doesn’t stop with food.
Thanks to thousands of dollars of pub charity money, Western Heights School has been able to install Oticon Front Row early learning systems in several classrooms to help the more than 33% of children identified as having hearing problems such as glue ear.
“Some people would question whether schools should be using pub charity funding at all, but the difference the speakers and sound system has made for these children is huge. We’ve seen big improvements in their learning,” Brent says.
In addition, 36 year 4 children at Western Heights who have been diagnosed with Irlen syndrome now have glasses, thanks to an initiative by the local principals’ association and funding from the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust.
Then there’s funding from a local trust which provides uniforms and stationery for struggling families. The Ngati Whakaue Endowment Trust gives $26,000 to help children who are struggling academically.
A sponsorship deal with a local business allows Western Heights to run a bus services that battles its 70% transience rate. There are strong links between poverty, transience and low student achievement. The bus provides transport to children who may have moved out of the area but want to keep attending the school.
“It gives some sort of continuity and stability to their education. It’s hard to make progress or achieve when you’ve been to 10 schools in two years,” says Brent.

Achievement gap
Mike O’Brien from the Child Poverty Action Group says the increasing role of charity in schools is a sad indictment on society and while it is clearly meeting a growing social need, it should be raising a big red flag in terms of our priorities for education.
The Minister of Education and the government like to argue that poverty is too often used as an excuse for poor teaching and student achievement, and that $36 million worth of National Standards will be the fix-all.
However that ignores the fact that in New Zealand the achievement gap has widened as society has become more inequitable.
Professor Ivan Snook from the Quality Public Education Coalition warns that educational policy should not proceed apart from social policy. He says the bottom line is that “schools are relatively powerless to close the educational gap: closing the gap requires an emphasis on policies to remove the causes of poverty.”
Well-known American educationalist and one-time advocate of standardised testing and school choice, Diane Ravitch, now believes education reform should focus on getting children out of poverty, not on narrow student measurement and finding the “bad” teachers.
Professor of Education at Waikato University Martin Thrupp puts it this way. “If the primary intention of the National Standards policy is really to address the achievement of the 20% of children, especially Māori and Pasifika, who make up New Zealand’s so-called long tail of underachievement; it would make sense to take a more targeted approach. This approach should go beyond education to recognise the wider context of child poverty that the 'long tail' undoubtedly reflects.”
He adds, “Huge amounts of extra staffing and other resourcing would need to flow towards low socio-economic schools to start to seriously offset the effects of poverty on children’s learning.”

National standards?
Those at the chalkface couldn’t agree more. Clendon Park School principal Sue Dawson says the millions of dollars being spent on National Standards would be better off spent on consistent help for the kids who need it, better ratios and more specialist teachers.
“Our goal is to keep raising the underachievers at a rate of 5% a year and we have always done that – National Standards won’t change that. There are more tangible things which make a difference to student achievement.”
Brent Griffin’s perspective is that National Standards give a skewed picture of student achievement by ignoring the social factors and failing to acknowledge progress made.
“We have high levels of achievement in terms of progress. Many kids come to us as a blank canvas and we are starting fresh. By the time they leave they have reached a high standard of literacy but they may not have reached the National Standard at the right time.”
The signs are already there that the gap between rich and poor in New Zealand is growing and will continue to do so. And many predict that if educational policy continues to ignore social inequity, so too will the tail of underachievement.
As Kidscan head Julie Helson says, “Ideally there would be no need for Kidscan, but we exist to meet an immediate need so while things are bad out there charity does have a big role to play.”
Surely there’s a lesson in that.

Before the lunchboxes are even opened at Clendon Park School in the south Auckland suburb of Manurewa, classroom teachers already have their suspicions about who might not have eaten breakfast because they’ve seen the tell-tale behavioural signs during the morning.
If a child repeatedly has no lunch they are referred to the school’s breakfast and lunch club which is run by the Red Cross and Pak n’ Save. Up to 50 children a day attend.
Principal Sue Dawson says, “We have to take a holistic view of education which involves the child and the family they come from. Some kids are very disadvantaged and have so much catching up to do in so many ways. School becomes the place where they know they can get a square meal. For us providing that is just a natural part of the equation to help our kids achieve.”
Co-coordinating with funding agencies and hunting down extra money to create a more level playing field for the children at Clendon Park also takes up a lot of time. “You have to ask is this what we should be doing. It takes away valuable time that could be spent working directly with teachers and students.
“But you can’t fundraise in a community which has nothing, so we have to rely on charities, trusts, grants and sponsors. It’s really important in a school like ours to get as much sponsorship as we can so we not only provide the basics but also open the kids’ eyes up to what’s out there.”
An example is the school’s sports programme, run by Kelly Sports, but funded through thousands of dollars from both the Sovereign and Grass Roots Trusts.
Sue says without that the school would be very limited in what it could offer in terms of sport, and it allows students to experience a wide range of sports.
Businesses are approached for money so children from Clendon Park can go on camp, while a local trust gave $35,000 for classroom AV gear – critical learning equipment the school would never have been able to afford.


Key points
Kidscan donated 1.5 million items of food to school children last year, and demand is growing.
19% of children experience “serious hardship”.
Hunger and untreated ill-health make it harder to learn.
New Zealand has become an unequal nation.