According to Guy Pope-Mayell of the Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand, schools are facing a “massive equity gap” in addressing which students are and which students are not receiving help and interventions for dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Speaking to Stuff, Pope-Mayell explained that there are a large number of students who haven’t had their dyslexia or learning differences picked up on, especially in schools in areas that are less economically developed. “There’s a lot of undiagnosed, unidentified students in low decile schools… It is a crime,” he reflects. “For higher decile schools, between 12% and 18% of students would get a special assessment [or help in exams]. In low decile schools, the number is actually less than 3%.”
The decile schools grading system is a process used in the New Zealand education system (and elsewhere) to decide target funding for state and state-integrated schools, with the intention of helping them overcome any barriers to learning that students from lower socio-economic communities might face. School deciles indicate the extent to which the school draws their students from low socio-economic communities; and the lower the school’s decile, the more funding it receives. ‘Decile 1’ schools are the 10% of schools with the highest proportion of students from communities with low socio-economic living conditions and participation in education, and ‘Decile 10’ schools are the 10% of schools with the highest proportion.
Part of the reason for this disparity in identification and support in might be laid at the door of the cost of official diagnosis. Funding is available, says Pope-Mayell, but more often than not, the cost is falling to parents and caregivers- and with between $650 and $1000 ($450 - $695 USD; £340 - £525) costs for a routine dyslexia screening and assessment in New Zealand, it can be problematic for low-income families. “That is a barrier for people struggling financially, and it is an advantage to people who have the ability to pay that,” he comments.
The issue of access to diagnosis and specialised support is also being raised in the highest chambers. In October 2021, the Associate Minister for Education, Hon. Jan Tinetti announced the second engagement phase of the Highest Needs Review, a governmental factfinding and re-evidencing process that is designed to ensure that children and young people with the highest needs for learning support achieve their full potential through positive education outcomes. Tinetti has spoken at length about the project since its inception, and said that she wanted to see “all children and young people have equitable access to education in Aotearoa,” (the Māori-language name for New Zealand).
"All our tamariki (Māori: 'children') should be receiving the best education possible," Tinetti comments on The New Zealand Government's Beehive. "As a teacher I saw first-hand the importance of supporting kids with high needs. Good support ensures our kids can fulfil their potential, which is the goal of education. The purpose of the review is to ensure that children and young people with the highest needs for learning supports, receive the right support when they need it, and for as long as they need it. The Government is committed to barrier-free access to education that includes all students. I look forward to seeing a range of options for improvements to supporting our tamariki next year.”
“Get it right for dyslexics, get it right for all, Pope-Mayell tells Stuff. “If you do assume that every child is dyslexic, it will not only benefit dyslexic children, it will benefit everyone.”