The RTLB service
The national RTLB service works together with teachers and schools to support the achievement of students in Years 1-10 who have learning and/or behaviour difficulties.
Support may go beyond the individual student and also benefit the teacher, the whole class, groups of students, or the whole school.
RTLB have a particular focus on supporting Māori students, Pacific students and children, and young people moving into State care.
Forty RTLB clusters are in New Zealand, from the Far North to Southland.
Each cluster has a lead school, lead school principal, and a cluster manager, as well as a team of RTLB, specialist itinerant kaiako/teachers.
RTLB Lead Kura/School and host school
To help ensure a cohesive and consistent approach to service provision, each of the 40 clusters has a lead kura/school.
A lead kura/school is the fund holder; its Board of Trustees (BoT) is the sole employer for cluster managers, practice leaders, and RTLB in a cluster.
Although all RTLB in one cluster will be employed by the lead kura/school's BoT, they may be located at other schools in the cluster area.
The schools where RTLB are located, but not employed, are host schools.
Governance and Management
Section on this site for RTLB lead school boards of trustees and for RTLB management teams
At a Glance: Information about the National RTLB service
Information sheet for Principals about the RTLB service
Principals Information about the National RTLB service (PDF, 449 KB)
RTLB Cluster Organisation
RTLB are specialist itinerant kaiako/teachers who provide learning and behaviour support to a cluster of kura/schools.
RTLB Timeline
Read about the RTLB Timeline from 1989.
Special Education Online
Special Education Online (SEonline)
A site for school and early childhood educators of children or young people with special education needs
Educator tools
Strategies, tips and tools relating to a range of different special education needs, included Autism Spectrum Disorder, Much More than Words, and the Junior Oral Language Screening Tool
Programmes and Initiatives
Connect with important programmes and initiatives that the Ministry of Education is delivering to support children with special education needs, and their educators, parents, and whānau