Some educators fear New Zealand may never catch up with demand for learning support, as thousands of children wait months for specialist services.
Ministry of Education data released under the Official Information Act shows 4551 children were waiting for specialist services in schools and early childhood centres in September.
That’s down from 5134 at the same time last year.
Children are waiting an average of 86 days for communication services and 79 days for early intervention, which supports children with developmental delays, disabilities or emerging mental health challenges.
The average wait for behaviour support is 61 days.
Children with the highest learning needs, who qualify for the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme, wait an average of 26 days.
The longest individual wait recorded was 448 days for communication support in Hawke’s Bay.
The figures come in the first year of the Government’s $750 million learning support package, announced in last year’s Budget.
Education Minister Erica Stanford described it as the biggest boost to learning support in a generation.
But Montessori NZ chief executive Cathy Wilson said the funding had yet to make a noticeable difference for many early childhood services.
More children appeared to be arriving with additional needs, with some centres and families taking action themselves.
“Some of our services are actually funding additional support for children themselves, or in some cases, there are parents who are actually paying for additional support.”
Wilson said delays could disrupt children’s learning and had a significant impact on teachers.
“I’ve got one service that has got 16 children waiting for support of some description, which is pretty huge because it could be for speech and language, it could be behavioural, it could be that they’re exhibiting signs of autism.”
She questioned whether the system would ever catch up with growing demand.
“Because there are just an increased number of challenges coming through.”
Better teacher training could help, but teachers could not replace specialist services.
“I don’t know whether it needs to be more staff training that comes in some description, but then teachers aren’t trained to be speech therapists.”
Mark Potter, principal of Berhampore School in Wellington, said he and his colleagues had seen little change in waiting times over the past year.
Some families were waiting just to get on to a waiting list.
“It’s going to take quite a long time to make a difference, because even if we’re going to put this money towards reducing those waitlists, you’re still going to need specialists, and that’s the biggest hold-up.”
Ministry data shows 92% of Government specialist support roles are filled, but staffing levels vary significantly by region.
Otago/Southland has the highest occupancy rate, with 99% of roles filled and just one vacancy.
Wellington has the highest vacancy rate, with 14.4% of positions, or 29 roles, unfilled.
Potter said the consequences could be serious for children without support.
“And that’s when school starts to reach for more severe responses, which isn’t ideal for anyone.”
He welcomed the Government’s investment, but said New Zealand still needed a much bigger commitment to learning support.
“I think the OECD average is 14% of children funded [with learning support], and in New Zealand, we are somewhere between 3.5% and 4%.
“So there’s going to have to be a significant shift in what this country is prepared to invest in its children and the people who help the most vulnerable.”
The ministry said historical waiting lists and backlogs would take time to address, but there are signs of progress.
The proportion of children waiting more than 150 days for early intervention services fell from 30% of the waiting list in December 2025 to 12.1% in August this year.
“Additional workforce and provider capacity is continuing to come online and is expected to further improve access to services over time.”
Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education and general news. She joined Newstalk ZB in 2023 after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.