20 Oct 2015

Education Ministry receives record number of complaints

2:25 pm on 20 October 2015

The Education Ministry shut down one early childhood service and put 10 others on notice after receiving a record 360 complaints last year.

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The Education Ministry shut down one early childhood service last year. Photo: 123rf

The ministry says it upheld 106 of the complaints, most of which were about health and safety, or governance and management.

The 360 complaints are up from 246 in 2013.

The ministry said the figure was up because it had encouraged families to use its complaints process, and it was getting more accurate information from its regional offices.

Common areas of complaint include fees, health and safety, behaviour management, and management and administration.

The ministry said 205 complaints required further investigation.

Its most common interventions were to make services review their policies, or require teachers to have further training.

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