NZEI Te Riu Roa is urging that proposed staffing cuts to Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLBs) be paused immediately, warning that reducing specialist support will harm the most vulnerable learners.
In a letter to the Minister of Education, NZEI Te Riu Roa President Ripeka Lessels and National Secretary Stephanie Mills called for an urgent moratorium on plans to slash 10.5 Full-Time Teacher Equivalent (FTTE) positions for the 2027 school year.
The education union warns these cuts could disrupt support across more than 15 RTLB clusters – over a third of total clusters nationwide – at a time when the number of learners with complex needs continues to grow.
NZEI Te Riu Roa is urging the government to maintain RTLB staffing for next year at 2026 levels and work with the sector toward a funding formula that reflects the true level of need.
The move has sparked criticism from educators, who see the planned reduction as counterproductive.
“With a growing number of tamariki requiring specialised support, removing frontline expertise will adversely impact our classrooms and teachers,” says Tute Mila, Arakura School Principal and NZEI Te Riu Roa Principals’ Council member.
“Every day, our teachers rely on RTLBs to help tailor the support for students with complex learning and behaviour needs. Our teachers are already at capacity; removing this support will push them past their limits and leave our most vulnerable tamariki without the specialist support they need.”
Central Auckland RTLB teacher Ned Phillips said their cluster of 35 teachers was blindsided two weeks ago by news of the planned cuts.
“We’ve been told five positions will be slashed from our cluster and that we all have to re-apply for the remaining roles,” Ms Phillips said.
“Losing these roles will reduce learning support across the 70 schools in our cluster. These cuts are short-sighted and ridiculous when need is increasing and current caseloads sit at 13 to 15 requests per teacher.
“With the cost-of-living crisis and high unemployment, it’s very unsettling. I feel for colleagues who are single parents or single-income households with no safety net to fall back on,” Ms Phillips said.
RTLBs are trained specialist teachers who help schools and kura meet a broad range of learning, wellbeing, and behaviour-related needs. They work with individual students and their whānau, groups of students, teachers, early intervention specialists, learning support coordinators, special education needs coordinators, or groups of schools.