The Phoenix Centre in Forth St, which worked with disruptive pupils who needed help readjusting their behaviour, closed more than a year ago following an independent evaluation of the service which found it was not meeting the Ministry of Education's required outcomes.
Ministry of Education Service Delivery group manager Jill Bond said since the closure of the centre, the ministry had been working with Dunedin schools through the Dunedin Secondary Partnership, to bolster existing support for schools which have pupils with behavioural needs, and to explore what additional initiatives could be set up.
"The ministry is working with schools to ensure they have the support they need to assist them to successfully manage students with behavioural needs.
"That support includes working together on evidence-based programmes [those that are known to work], such as the School Wide initiative through the Positive Behaviour for Learning portfolio of programmes - a programme targeted and well-suited to working in the secondary school environment."
Ms Bond said a Dunedin secondary school was already involved in the School Wide programme, with additional schools set to begin later this year. In addition, two schools had accessed a ministry-supported programme (He Kakano) which works with secondary school leadership teams to raise Maori learners' achievement alongside secondary and area schools professional development.
Other actions agreed with the Partnership schools included the introduction of a behaviour specialist to support schools to better manage pupils with behavioural needs in school; a teacher mentoring/buddy system which has been successfully employed in other parts of NZ; and contracting a non-government agency to deliver social services to assist pupils with school engagement. This could also provide support to families and communities if required, she said.
"An opportunity now exists to support larger numbers of students with behavioural needs within their school environment and to tailor programmes to schools and students who need it most," she said.
However, Kaikorai Valley College principal and partnership member Philip Craigie was not convinced. He said the initiatives seemed to be getting bogged down, and were coming to fruition very slowly.
"It's been over a year. Something's got to happen soon.
"All of these proposals are still in the pipeline, and there's a lot of pipeline to go before these proposals come out the other end.
"Like other schools, we've found that we're struggling a little under the current regime. It's definitely not getting easier."
Mr Craigie believed one of the greatest pros of the Phoenix Centre was that it provided an immediate solution for schools with pupils who had behavioural issues, and was superior to anything else that had been proposed.
"Taking students with behaviour issues away from the school was part of the solution.
"It gave them a chance to reset their attitudes without the distractions around them."
Dunedin Secondary Partnership chairman and Otago Boys' High School rector Clive Rennie was unavailable for comment yesterday.
