Outcome 1 - Education

Our learning pathway supports us to develop friendships and social skills, as well as resilience, determination and confidence. It gives us a sense of belonging, builds our identity and language skills and prepares us for life beyond compulsory education.

All local schools and education services (including early childhood, primary secondary, tertiary, kohanga reo and kura kaupapa Māori) are welcoming and provide a great inclusive education for us. We have trained teachers and educators who support and believe in our progress and achievement, and value our contribution to the learning environment.

Education is provided in a way that supports our personal, academic and social development, both in and out of the formal schooling system. This includes making sure that those of us who use different languages (in particular New Zealand Sign Language), and other modes or means of communication, have ready access to them to achieve and progress. Information will be made available at the right time to those who support us, both when we are young or for those of us who need on-going support. This will help us succeed – whatever our individual education pathway may look like.

We are treated with respect and dignity by those around us in the education system, including our peers and those who teach and support us. The love and expertise of our families and whānau and their wish to see us succeed in education will be honoured without question. As we move on to tertiary and life-long learning, the transition periods are smooth, with the right information and supports available at the right time – particularly when our needs or situation changes.

What this means:

• Disabled people are consulted on and actively involved in the development and implementation of legislation and policies concerning education, including early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary education.
• Access to mainstream education is inclusive (including policy, practice and pedagogy).
• Services that are specific to disabled people are high quality, available and accessible.
• Inclusive education is a core competency for all teachers and educators.
• Decision-making on issues regarding education of disabled people is informed by robust data and evidence.

The Disability Action Plan will be the primary vehicle for implementing the New Zealand Disability Strategy. 

The Plan will be updated in early 2017 to ensure the actions help achieve the Strategy. There will be public consultation so that the priorities for actions are informed by what disabled people and the community says is most important to them.

At this stage, there are no actions under the current Plan that contribute towards this outcome.

Inequality

Key outcome areas identified by disabled people include:

1.1 Disabled people and their whānau are welcomed at the education setting of their choice. Current available data indicates:

• 8% of disabled children had 3+ non-structural school moves, compared to 2% of non-disabled children (Merging MOE's admin data & 2013 Disability Survey using IDI, 2020).
• 8% of parents and whānau of a child with a disability or who needs learning support disagreed that they feel welcome at their child's school compared to 1% of other parents and whānau (The New Zealand Council of Educational Research, 2019)

1.2 Disabled people participate and are included in the entire education system and extra-curricular activities.

• Only 3% of disabled people were enrolled in non-compulsory education, in comparison to 12% of non-disabled people (Household Labour force Survey, 2019).
• School attendance rates among 12-19 year olds was at 82% for disabled youth, compared to 86% for non-disabled youth (Youth 2000 surveys, 2019/20)

1.3 Disabled people have positive experiences in education.

• Only 65% of Māori/Pasifika youth felt like a part of school, compared to 89% of non-disabled youth (Youth 2000 surveys, 2019/20).
• 46% of disabled people held a high level of trust for the education system, compared to 35% of non-disabled people (General Social Survey, 2018).

1.4 Disabled people achieve and progress in education.

• Inequality persists with 21% of non-disabled people having a post-graduate qualification or higher as the highest level of qualification, in comparison to 7% of disabled people in 2021. Nevertheless, there is progress with the proportion of disabled people that have had their highest qualification status as being school qualification having decreased slightly since 2016 from 46% to 44% in 2021, whereas post-graduate qualification has increased slightly from 6% to 7% (Household Labour force Survey, 2016-2021)

Other resources

• Explorable data about education outcomes is available at this link. 
• Download a PDF of graphs about Education Inequality

Progress

No suitable data on progress is currently available for the following key outcome areas identified by disabled people:

1.1 Disabled people and their whānau are welcomed at the education setting of their choice.

1.2 Disabled people participate and are included in the entire education system and extra-curricular activities.

1.3 Disabled people have positive experiences in education.

However, the Household Labourforce Surveys (2016-2021), does provide data on the following:

1.4 Disabled people achieve and progress in education.

• The proportion of disabled people that have had their highest qualification status as being school qualification having decreased slightly since 2016 from 24% to 44% in 2021, whereas post-graduate qualification has increased from 6% to 7%. There does seem to be an impact from COVID-19, with the proportion of disabled people having no qualification, increasing from 67% to 71% in 2020.
• The proportion of disabled people not in education or employment, although increased in 2020 (from 35% to 49%), it dropped again to 29% in 2021, indicating progress.
• The main activity for those not in education and employment being study or training, has remained stable for disabled people, whereas it has declined for non-disabled people.