Part 2 of 3
I am sickened by the current, myopic focus on academic achievement when our most vulnerable children are turning up to school with trauma, hunger, and cold. Yes, we’ve seen lifts in structured literacy and maths, and yes, we are implementing culturally responsive pedagogies (thanks to the mahi of people like Laurayne Tafa of Tafaed) to address the persistent, shameful disparity for our Māori students. We are doing the academic mahi.
But can we please, for the love of our children, get real?
The real crisis is not achievement, it’s survival.
Every day, we face the fallout of poverty, drugs, domestic violence and homelessness that continues to plague our communities. These are the real educational barriers.
We are forced to have meeting after meeting about resourcing and keeping our kids safe with little to no funding for the students who need it most. Our most vulnerable are being overlooked, turning up with needs that require professional, systemic intervention. Our kids deserve so much more than what this system is currently providing.
I am furious at the eurocentric, privileged worldview that dictates educational policy, acting as if all children start from the same place. This view pretends that a few reading programmes can fix the generational trauma caused by housing insecurity or a parent’s addiction. It’s a willful blindness that is frankly, sickening. The unfunded burden on schools is unacceptable.
At the centre of all these discussions are little people whose basic needs are not being met. Families are left with nowhere to turn. It is heartbreaking. In the name of inclusion, our teachers and teacher aides (largely untrained in complex mental health, social work, and crisis intervention) are tasked with coping. We are expected to be, Counsellors ,Nurses, Psychologists, Educators and yet, we receive the instruction to 'address attendance.'