July 01, 2021
Oranga Tamariki fails schooling test
The Education Review Office has added its voice to criticism Oranga Tamariki, saying the education for children and young people living in residential care facilities is not good enough.
Chief review officer Nicholas Pole says education is critical for students in residential care, because they are among the most at risk of poor outcomes later in life, which education can change.
He says 80 percent of the students are Māori and while there is a commitment to improving outcomes for Māori, over half the sites were not performing well on culturally responsive practice.
ERO has consistently found the education these vulnerable students receive is too variable as it is dependent on which residence they are placed in and a quarter of sites are not providing students with quality education.
Across all the residences, students are too often studying subjects with limited pathways.
Many can’t continue to study the same subjects when they move out of residences back to their local school.
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