Dear Chris,
The Press article: "Teachers wanted: must take pay cut" refers:
Lee Kenny, Education reporter quoted a letter of your's: "Seabrook [School] did not 'offer an education that differs from the education students would get at an ordinary state school.'"
You are wrong Chris! Ordinary state schools have ordinary teachers with little or no knowledge of children with SLD, Specific Learning Difficulties / Disabilities (both terms acceptable), nor do ordinary teachers know how to teach SLD students in crowded classrooms. (Dyslexic, dyspraxic, ADHD students, as mentioned in The Press article). Few NZ organizations remediate dyslexia regarding psychology assessments, one-on-one tuition & teacher training. One such organization is SPELD, another is Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St, Christchurch, where my wife Leah worked on low pay. Chris, for many years those private organizations were doing dyslexic remediation teaching which your Ministry of Education should have been doing.
The making of an SLD Teacher / Resource Teacher Literacy:
My wife Leah is our family breadwinner due to my profound deafness. Leah has been associated with Seabrook McKenzie Centre for 25 years as a self-employed tutor, full-time teacher & a teacher trainer.
2005. Leah was an inaugural teacher of children with Specific Learning Difficulties / Disabilities (SLD) at Jean Seabrook Memorial School, London St, Christchurch. The school is a private school, insufficiently trust funded, especially teacher salaries. Leah & teacher colleagues & support staff (teacher aides, psychologists, speech & language & occupational therapy staff) continued specialist remediation through Christchurch's 2010-2011 quake times (parents & staff dug away tons of liquefaction mud from school grounds after 2 big quakes) & beyond during demolition & rebuild times, enduring years of London St excavations by SCIRT & demolition ructions for years across the road at Richmond Working Mens Club, now rebuilt Richmond Club.
During the 9 years that Leah taught full-time at Jean Seabrook Memorial School it had small classes with a favourable teacher / student, 1:6 ratio, allowing close individual attention for SLD students from 2 teachers per class (2 classes) & 1 teacher aide per class. That low teacher / student ratio does not happen for SLD students in crowded state school classrooms, so SLD students lose out in state schools. Apart from Seabrook Memorial School, at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, in the same building, self-employed teachers, trained in SLD teaching, give private tuition to SLD students in separate offices, (or elsewhere e.g. state schools, like Leah did) specialist tuition paid for by parents. Overseen by Seabrook McKenzie Centre, prior to any SLD teaching, (Seabrook Memorial School or private individual tuition) all students are assessed by a battery of standardized tests done by psychology staff. Confidential psychology reports are then supplied to paying parents & specialist teaching staff for teacher interpretation & student SLD remediation during specialist teaching.
Leah worked with & mentored at least 3 teachers on-the-job. Once those low paid teachers had gained full-time, SLD teaching experience & professional guidance from Leah they left for higher salaries elsewhere. Leah was a gifted teacher, interpreting assessments & developing teaching methods to remediate dyslexic difficulties not found in text books. She willingly passed on her remediation knowledge to other teachers, parents & interested persons. At Jean Seabrook Memorial School, Leah's salary was never enough to support our family & for years we had to apply to WINZ for state financial support (dole) for our Burnside, 3 bedroom house rental. Whenever anyone asked me why Leah continued to teach at Seabrook I replied, "She's a dedicated, experienced teacher, but is not paid what she's worth."
For years Leah was / is part of the teacher training team at Seabrook & regularly ran / runs teacher training sessions during weekends & school holidays for teachers & others (parents, teacher aides...) wanting to know more about SLD teaching. She also mentors / mentored teachers studying for Seabrook diplomas. (NZQA approved diplomas). That teacher mentoring & teacher training may cease due to lack of funds. To my knowledge, no other NZ school provides those services & NZQA approved diplomas for the public & teachers interested in helping SLD children. Over the years, Leah had spent many days preparing SLD lectures / seminars & lecturing SLD interested teachers & public.
1997-2004. Leah was a self-employed tutor, teaching SLD students referred to her by Seabrook McKenzie Centre. She taught in our home office, state schools' offices & in Seabrook McKenzie centre hired offices. Her tutoring was one-on-one to remediate SLD, her hourly wage paid by parents. She was also volunteer librarian at Seabrook McKenzie Centre.
2005-2013: Leah taught primary school, SLD children, full-time, at Jean Seabrook Memorial School. For 17 years, While Leah worked for Seabrook McKenzie Centre / Jean Seabrook Memorial School, we were on wage / salary assisted dole. We had no savings & it would be impossible to ever buy a NZ house, unless we won the lotto. Our adult sons were in the same boat.
Only when Leah & I left Christchurch for S Canterbury did our finances improve, enabling us to get off the Working Poor dole.
From 2014, Leah taught for 3 years at Lake Tekapo School, an ordinary state school, after a Mt Gerald Station farmer / parent had head-hunted Leah & arranged for her to teach his dyslexic son & other children at Lake Tekapo School. The farmer / parent privately paid Leah's salary, more than what Leah had earned at Jean Seabrook Memorial School. 2016. During 1 winter school term, we lived at Mt Gerald Station, as the farmer wanted Leah to give home-schooling to his 3 children before they left for Christchurch schooling in 2017.
2017 to the present: For the last 5 years, using her hard won SLD training & expertise, Leah has been Resource Teacher Literacy, South Canterbury, based at a Timaru state school. We live at Pleasant Point near Timaru. Leah travels daily to various South Canterbury, state schools to teach primary school SLD children on a one-on-one basis, mentor teachers & advise parents, teachers & other staff about SLD challenges. Using her own car: Some S Canterbury towns / villages she visits (or could visit) as part of her itinerant, SLD teaching work at state schools: Timaru, Pleasant Point, Albury, Fairlie, Lake Tekapo, Twizel, Mt Cook, Geraldine, Mt Peel, Winchester, Temuka, St Andrews, Makikihi, Waituna, Waimate, Waihao Downs... involving a lot of driving in S Canterbury. (She was paid petrol expenses by her Timaru home school). Her beat involved intermittent teaching / advising / mentoring in 40 South Canterbury state schools, the biggest RT Lit beat in NZ.
While itinerant teaching in S Canterbury state schools, Leah did not lose contact with Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St, Christchurch. Using her own car: Part-time, during weekends & holidays, Leah continued as part of the SLD teacher training team, for teachers reading NZQA approved, SLD teaching diplomas. She also continued her lectures / seminars / mentoring / advising for SLD interested teachers & public. She also trained SLD teachers at Ashburton: at a state school, a church hall, a Community Centre. Busy travel years involving great driving mileage in Canterbury. (She was not paid petrol expenses by Seabrook McKenzie Centre).
Leah's Work Background & experience which enabled her NZ Resource Teacher Literacy expertise:
SA & UK.
1975-77. Edgewood College of Education, Pinetown, SA: 3 year, pre-primary teacher diploma. (NZQA equivalent).
1978-84. Durban, SA: Several years' teaching at pre-primary, state schools, incl a Northdene acting principal position & beginning an experimental class where pre-primary children were accommodated in a Montclair primary school, Durban. Other Durban districts where Leah taught pre-primary children: Woodlands, Durban CBD.
1981. Our OE: Relief primary school teacher, various Haringey, London schools.
1984-85. Year 1 teacher at Kleinzee, Cape: A De Beers mine, private school.
Thereafter Leah was stay-at-home mother for our 2 sons.
1995. Our family emigrated to Christchurch, NZ.
1996-2004. Christchurch. Teacher aide (1996). Self-employed, SLD teacher while reading 2 NZQA approved, SLD diplomas at Seabrook McKenzie Centre. Private, one-on-one tuition for SLD students at our home office, state school offices & at Seabrook McKenzie Centre hired offices. Private, one-on-one tuition for SLD students at ordinary Christchurch schools, like Oaklands Primary, Halswell Primary, Elmwood Primary, McKenzie Residential School... The hourly pay rate was always low, pay rate set by Seabrook McKenzie Centre, enbling poor families to get SLD tuition. I did Leah's book-keeping & tax returns. For one year after our arrival in NZ we had to survive financially on our SA settling-in funds. Thereafter we could apply for NZ dole. In a low wage economy, as "Working Poor" we often applied for the dole to make ends meet! We had to inform dole personnel Leah's weekly earnings, so dole payments could be adjusted weekly.
The 17 years Leah taught at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, as a self-employed tutor, on the dole, then as a full-time, classroom teacher at Jean Seabrook Memorial School, on the dole, honed her expertise as a respected & sought after teacher for SLD children. BUT, for years, Seabrook McKenzie Centre was doing Ministry of Education work for free, by training dedicated SLD teachers & paying them peanuts while the Ministry of Education sat on its hands doing nothing for SLD students!
During the last 5 years as Resource Teacher Literacy, S Canterbury, Leah read a 3 year, correspondence, post-grad, Literacy Diploma, (with distinction) at University of Canterbury. Leah was the pioneering student for that post-grad diploma (NZQA, Hons degree equivalence). Now several other teachers have done that post-grad diploma at UC. Leah was expected to read the post-grad diploma at Victoria University, Wellington, N Island, a crazy idea as we lived at Pleasant Point, S Island. (During one semester, Leah had to attend weekly lectures at UC, lots of Pleasant Point - Christchurch travel involved). Leah had liaised with UC Education Faculty to start that post-grad diploma at UC.
Chris, there you have it, the making of a Resource Teacher Literacy, a vague designation, hiding the failure of SLD remediation by the Ministry of Education for many years. I doubt NZ state primary schools have speech & language therapists & occupational therapists doing SLD remediation & psychologists doing standardized tests for SLD students & confidential reports for parents & SLD teachers, which Seabrook McKenzie Centre did. Neither would ordinary state schools have a low 1:6 teacher / student ratio as extraordinary Jean Seabrook Memorial School had for SLD students.
Just pay Jean Seabrook Memorial School teachers a decent salary Chris!
Yours faithfully,
Mark JS Esslemont.
PS. I had a 22 year, primary & high school teaching career in SA, while going deaf, general science & biology specialist, teaching in Durban, Kleinzee, QwaQwa, East London, before our arrival in NZ.
Coda:
21.01.23. After PM Jacinda Ardern's resignation Chris Hipkins became the new Labour leader. 22.01.23. Chris Hipkins became NZ Prime Minister. 2024. Christ Hipkins became leader of the opposition after ousting by Chris Luxon, new PM, National Party.
Jan 2023. After completing her last teacher training course for teachers at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, Leah stopped teacher training for good. Over the years she was never paid for all the teacher training, planning meetings she attended at Christchurch, or Ashburton, or Methven. Nor was she paid petrol expenses. She was paid a pittance by Seabrook McKenzie Centre for the teacher training courses she led during weekends & school holidays. As for our overnight accommodation costs at Christchurch when Leah lectured at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, Leah paid for motel accommodation, or we stayed at a friend's Riccarton flat, when available. The flat was owned by the family of a retired director of Seabrook McKenzie Centre. Our motel expenses were never paid by Seabrook McKenzie Centre. After 6 years return commuting, Pleasant Point / Christchurch, after the flat became unavailable Leah stopped teacher training, as our expenses were a huge loss. I did most of the driving, chauffering Leah to / from her teacher training meetings & teacher training sessions in Canterbury.
Mar 2023. National teacher strike for more pay & support. That goes to show what nonsense ex minister of education & current PM Chris Hipkins talked. Leah is a Literacy support teacher for 40 South Cantebury schools, an impossible number of schools for one Literacy teacher to support adequately. Go figure.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
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