Parents’ Alliance welcomes Labour’s teacher aide promise: but it’s a band-aid not a cure

MEDIA RELEASE

22 October 2026

Parents’ Alliance welcomes Labour’s teacher aide promise: but it’s a band-aid not a cure

The Parents' Alliance welcomes Labour's promise to fund an extra 1,000 teacher aides, at a cost of $80 million over four years.

"Any parent whose child needs extra help in class will welcome this. Schools have been dipping into their own budgets and fundraising to pay for teacher aides for too long," said Parents' Alliance Chair Cameron Bagrie.

"If Labour forms the next government, this will build on National’s investment in learning support. Whoever forms a government must protect and increase that investment.”

"Eighty million dollars sounds a lot, but it is spread over four years, about $20 million a year. Shared across 1,000 aides, that is $20,000 each: about 606 hours a year at the mid-point of the teacher aide pay scale (around $33 an hour), or roughly 15 hours a week over a 40-week school year, before on-costs. We like the step, but a lot more is required."

"But let's be honest: while it's welcome, a thousand teacher aides is a band-aid. Demand for learning support hugely outstrips supply. Parents want a system that finds children's needs early and puts well-trained teachers in front of them."

"The signs that a child needs help, with speech, language, attention or behaviour show up in early learning centres, years before they start school. That is where intervention pays off most, yet it is where support is thinnest. We need more diagnoses and learning support in early learning centres too."

"Teacher aides are no substitute for teachers trained to manage their classrooms and to teach neurodivergent children. But ERO found 60% of principals think their new teachers are unprepared, and 35% of new teachers do not feel able to manage challenging behaviour."

The Parents’ Alliance is calling for a national core for teacher training that every new teacher is taught and independently tested on before they are registered.  This should include classroom management, adapting teaching for disabled and neurodivergent learners, and spotting learning difficulties such as dyslexia early.

"Get teacher training right and classrooms become calmer and more inclusive, and teacher aides become more effective." Mr Bagrie said.

ENDS

Media contact: Cameron Bagrie, Chair and Spokesperson, The Parents' Alliance 027 290 9844

About the Parents' Alliance: The Parents' Alliance Te Kotahitanga o ngā Mātua, Le Lotogatasi o Mātua, 家长联盟, पारिवारिक मंच is a national group building a collective voice for parents, grandparents and whānau in education.

More information: https://parentsalliance.nz/