Kerre Woodham: I hope to see investment in our children's futures in the Budget

In light of ongoing discussions about New Zealand's educational standards and the falling educational standards, and in light of the conversation about school lunches and the provision of school lunches for those schools that have families that are most impacted by the cost of living, I was reading a review of a memoir from Trinity College lecturer Dr. Katrina O'Sullivan.  

She is a lecturer at Trinity in psychology and addiction.  She has just written her memoir, and it's called ‘Poor.’  It's not your usual misery memoir.

According to The Guardian book reviewer, it is one of the best books she has ever read about the complexity of poverty and drug addiction.

For Katrina O'Sullivan, who was born to heroin addicted, alcoholic parents with a number of children, to get out of poverty she needed all the elements in place, like the combinations on a lock being turned to free her, says the reviewer.

Teachers who had time to help her. Youth workers who had money to support troubled teenagers, education grants, an access programme that encouraged her (that was how she got into university) and state funded child care and counselling.  

All of these things, she says, either no longer exist in Britain or are not sufficiently funded.

The reviewer says she puts her motivation way down the list. Yes, she was motivated. She did not want to live the life of her parents.

When she herself became a mother at 15 and started to get on the drugs as a way of escaping the misery of her existence, she thought I'm going the same way as my parents, the very thing I did not want to be - my child deserves more.

So yes, there was motivation to get out of there. She was naturally bright as well, something the teachers saw.

But she says it's a myth that if you just work hard enough, you can achieve anything.

Because, she says, unless the system is in place to support you, it will work against you. The reviewer said I think she underestimates her awesome resilience and will.

The individual, says Dr Katrina O'Sullivan, is small in the decisions of their life, and we don't like that because it suggests we're powerless.

Choice, though, is a myth perpetuated by the middle classes. Only a few people really can choose.

I think most of us can see that choice is a luxury, and that's what we work towards. If we're able to. Having choice to either work or have free time. The choice of employment, not having to take whatever we can get. And one of the things that I come back to from that review is teachers who had time to help her.

That is so important.  

There's always been argy bargy about the best way to teach children, but from what I understand, the best teachers just incorporate what works for the child.

And this is something that Auckland University Professor Rebecca Jesson, a trustee of the Marie Clay Literacy Trust, says the best teaching is noticing what is going on for the child, rather than fitting the child into a package.

And that comes back to the story of Katrina O'Sullivan. Instead of being an addicted teen mum, she lectures in psychology and addiction at Trinity College.

She matters, she means something, she’s contributing, she's inspiring others.

And that's where our future lies. We have to invest in our teachers. We have to invest in our education system and we absolutely have to invest in all of our children. And that's what I hope we see from the budget.

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