Education (in care)

Education is critical to the wellbeing and development of children and young people, and a supportive learning environment sets them up to succeed.  
 
Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Education have overlapping responsibilities to meeting the education needs of children and young people in care or youth justice. Both agencies need to prioritise addressing to the specific needs of children in care or youth justice to help them achieve their aspirations and create more equitable outcomes. 

Children and young people, whānau caregivers and kaimahi have told us what children and young people in care need to have better educational experiences and outcomes. Agencies heard that: 

• children and young people in care or youth justice need stable, supportive learning environments that support them through transitions
• the stigma experienced by children and young people in care or youth justice means that they are not always supported or enabled to recognise their achievements 
• both the care and education systems are not always culturally responsive for tamariki and rangatahi Māori and Pacific children and young people in care or youth justice
• there is not enough support for the additional learning needs of children and young people in care or youth justice 
• Oranga Tamariki caregivers need additional support to ensure that the education needs of children and young people in their care are met.  

In response to the assessment, the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki will continue to work together to:  

• ensure that children and young people in care or youth justice are supported to be included in the education system through agencies better working together. For example, through the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki improving information sharing practices
• support whānau, and iwi, and Māori organisations to support children, young people in care or youth justice, and their whānau on their education journeys. For example, through the Ministry of Education applying the lessons of social sector commissioning and models of Whānau Ora to the way that they contract with providers in the education system
• support children and young people in care or youth justice and their whānau who need additional support to actively participate in education. For example, through Oranga Tamariki reviewing the adequacy of financial support for whānau caregivers to meet the reasonable education-related needs of children
• support children and young people and their whānau through transitional phases of their care, youth justice and education journeys. For example, through the Ministry of Education undertaking a gap analysis and review of existing guidance, including that related to enrolment.