Schools that treat: The New Zealand Experience

How are the children taught in New Zealand hospitals? One of the most remote countries in the world can boast not only its unique nature but also its original education system. All children from 6 to 16 years must get a diploma. And it does not matter – whether they study at school or, for example, in the hospital. Small Heart with Art have decided to learn how children in New Zealand learn to spend more time in bed than at a desk because of their diagnoses.

Please welcome – Health School!

Whole New Zealand is divided into three major areas: North and South Zealand and the islands. Each of these territories has its own Regional Health School – a special form of school where children are taught on quarantine, treatment or rehabilitation. You can find these schools in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Health School is not just a building or classroom in a hospital. It is an organization that has no limits and borders and provides the right to education for all children. Thus, you can study either in an equipped classroom or at home.

Everything begins with a teacher

To teach in such a special school, students receive teacher qualifications at universities. To teach in high school, you must choose two subjects that the teacher will read in school. For example, these could be English and History, Math or Science. In addition, future child tutors are learning the theory of teaching and learning – this is the only way to get qualification.

If students choose to work in elementary grades, they study all subjects without going into the specialization.

It is not easy to become a teacher in New Zealand. To get a job and certification, you need to register and complete two years of training at a supervised school. It will then show your level of knowledge. It is similar to the Ukrainian medical internship. Successful graduation allows you to get a free admission to work with children independently.

Small formalities

There is an education law in New Zealand that clearly states that all children between the ages of 6 and 16 must attend school. It does not matter what the social status of these children is, whether they can go to school on their own and how often they should go to the hospital.

To get to Health School and study without interruption, you must provide a medical certificate and complete a formal admission procedure. No step can be done without rules and order.

How does Health School look like inside?

Of course, everything starts with the school directorate, represented by the headmaster and his deputy. If you talk about the administration of each Health School, there you can find a business manager and 5 specialists who are responsible for individual processes – employment, finances, recording and leaving children from school, administrative issues.

However, separately there is a post of the teachers’ association director – he or she takes into account all features of lessons, a condition of children, their needs and finds appropriate teachers for pupils. Often, toddlers are not able to attend classes, and educators take classes right at home near the bed.

There are also assistants. Teachers who are not yet specialists are involved in Health School work. They do a tremendous amount of work – taking care of class status, replenishing office supplies and flavors, helping kids with lessons and creating comfort and coziness.

How does the training happen?

In the first place – they provide each student’s individual training plan. This detailed program is formed by teachers with the help of the student before the beginning of the school year. This approach enables children to continue their education on a continuous basis, even in-patient care. All curricula are stored in an electronic database, so you can access the knowledge online and practice remotely and at a convenient pace.

Typically, such an individual plan contains:

• the purpose of the training and the detailed program;
• a level of achievement that a child must meet the general requirements of New Zealand education;
• expected date of return to mainstream school;
• the likely date of revision of the plan, if conditions require, such as changes in child’s health.

How to decode it in practice? The fact is that an individual plan is prepared not only by the teacher and the student, but also by doctors and psychologists who monitor the child’s health. To return to normal school painlessly, 15 weeks of preparation are laid. And every time after new medical examinations or findings, the training plan is adjusted.

What is the program that children study according to? In New Zealand, it is called the NCEA – National Certificate of Educational Achievement. Each subject and discipline meet their standards, so students’ success can be gauged by the results of internal tests, and by exam results. All students attending Health School can get their qualification and take exams at the hospital.

The Health School schedule is exactly the same as a regular school schedule – it does not take weekends, and public holidays and vacations become days of legal rest and entertainment. Sometimes teachers can take a day off before class to form an individual program for each student.

Does learning at home differ from learning at the hospital?

How to become a Health School student? Get your diagnosis from doctors. It does not matter whether the baby is treated at home or at the hospital – he or she is automatically placed under the care of a special school and is selected individually.

Today, in New Zealand, the government is actively promoting education in hospitals and supports home care teachers. In Ukraine, such schools are currently operating only in Lviv and Kyiv. Yet, the School of Superheroes has been operating on the base of the NSCH “OHMATDYT” for two years. Its founder Yevgenia Smirnova presented the first social franchise for the creation of such schools in early 2019, and the next one will open soon in Zhytomyr.

About the Superheroes’ School

The Superheroes’ Schools Network project was created and implemented by the public organization Small Heart with Art to secure the constitutional right to the education of children in hospital in Ukraine. Every year, more than 15,000 children in hospitals wait for their teachers.

Natalia Moseychuk, the TV presenter, curator of the Right to Education project, “You Are Not Alone” 1 + 1 Media Charity Foundation, also curates the Superheroes School.

The Superheroes School is ensuring the right to education for children in hospitals throughout Ukraine. For children, the lack of a curriculum means a forced exit from the educational process and social life, which negatively affects their psychological state, speed of recovery. Such students face psychological pressure from their peers, teachers, lag behind the level of knowledge from their peers, are  bullied at schools. Unprocessed topics can cause repetition of the same class, lack of time to attend optional classes and complete the rest, which can lead to relapse due to the need to catch up with the school curriculum.

We strive to have a school in every children’s hospital. That’s why social franchise “The Superheroes School: The Guide to Implementation” contains a complete guide of opening the Superheroes School in hospital – brand book, teacher instructions, teaching methods, medical rules and regulations, features of the motivation system, and all the legal and regulatory issues that give children the opportunity to receive quality education at any medical institution in the country.