11. Question No. 11—EducationHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Associate Minister of EducationQuestion No. 11—Education11. Hon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) to the Associate Minister of Education: How many of the 600 learning support coordinators she promised does she estimate will be working in schools by the beginning of term 1 of the 2020 school year?Hon TRACEY MARTIN (Associate Minister of Education): I expect to announce the allocation of the first tranche of approximately 600 full-time learning support coordinator roles to schools and kura by August in time for those schools to include the new role in their staffing orders. Schools and kura receiving a learning support coordinator through the first tranche can then begin recruitment processes as coordinators will be employed by schools. Our goal is to have as many as possible of the 600 full-time teaching equivalent learning support coordinator roles in place by term 1 of the 2020 school year.Hon Nikki Kaye: Will she absolutely guarantee that there will be 600 new learning support coordinators in schools by term 1 of 2020?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: What I can absolutely guarantee is that the funding is available for 600 and it could actually be over 600 depending on the final pay scale that that role will be at. So that funding will be available for those people to be employed by the first term of 2020. It will be up to the boards of trustees of the schools that receive the allocation to go about employing those people.Hon Nikki Kaye: When she said in November 2018 Today's announcement is designed to allow schools as much time as possible to prepare for the new role." did she anticipate that eight months later schools would have no final decisions about the role?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Yes actually. Part of the reason to make the announcement when we did was also to make sure that the Learning Support Delivery Model that needed to be intricately part of what is the Learning Support Coordinators to change and deliver learning support as quickly and as close to the ground for our students needed to also be rolled out by the Ministry of Education. That is what has been going on parallel to the development of the job description and the allocation process for schools. We've also had five peak bodies and at least 20 schools have been part of the development of the job description. So the months that the member is talking about have not been sitting idle. We've been working with the sector to make sure we get this right as fast as possible.Hon Chris Hipkins: Can she confirm that one of the biggest constraints to recruiting and employing Learning Support Coordinators is the critical shortage of teachers that this Government inherited when we took office?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Yes I can confirm that that is expected to be one of the restraints. However conversations that I have had with principals and members of the sector and teachers who've actually left the sector—there are those among that workforce who may have left the classroom due to the pressures of the last nine years who are still passionate about working with young people and children with learning needs and this may be one of those roles that bring them back inside our schools to support those young people.Hon Nikki Kaye: How many children with complex needs are helped when she blames National and fails to recognise she's had 18 months with the ministerial warrant?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Obviously nobody is supported when this House decides to bicker over what are the learning support needs that should be delivered for our children. So in the times that I'm not here answering questions from that member I spend it working to make sure we can deliver for children.Rt Hon Winston Peters: So we might know what the resource situation is how long does it take to train a teacher?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Depending on whether it is a primary or a secondary teacher it can take between three to four years.Hon Nikki Kaye: How can she defend the fact that eight months later after promises from the Prime Minister and herself there's no job description there's real concerns about filling the role there's no clarity on what schools—SPEAKER: Order! Question.Hon Nikki Kaye: —will get them?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: I have no problem at all defending it because in the eight months that we have been working on this we have been working with the sector. Probably one of the failings of the previous Government was they decided they knew best and they never spoke to the sector. We have designed the job description with five peak bodies at least 20 schools. We have been running models of the Learning Support Delivery Model across the country to make sure that when we do do something it actually works.Hon Nikki Kaye: I seek leave to table a Ministry of Education document New Learning Support Delivery Model. It's not public.SPEAKER: It's not public?Hon Nikki Kaye: It's been provided to some individual schools but the whole point of this question is a whole lot of schools don't know what's happening with the role.Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Speaking to the point of order.SPEAKER: Well it's not really a—it's a new point of order while I'm considering whether it can be tabled. We'll go that way shall we?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Just for your information Mr Speaker the Learning Support Delivery Model has been a topic of a video that has been up on Facebook explaining to every piece of the sector how it works and to the public of New Zealand. The drawing of the delivery model is also available in many places.Hon Nikki Kaye: Point of order Mr Speaker. SPEAKER: If the member is going to tell me that that is not true and she has a document which is not generally available then I will put the question but in doing so I want to give her a warning that if she is not accurate in that description that will be a serious misleading of the House.Hon Nikki Kaye: I seek leave to table an email from the Ministry of Education that has these documents attached but has additional information which is not in the public domain widely around the ratio of schools that will have access to these roles.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that document being tabled? There appears to be none.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House."