“Should Educators Have The Right To Decide Who Gets To Go To School?”
It is a sad indictment of our society, when 70 % of students with disabilities do not feel welcomed within Australian mainstream Schools.
Many students with disabilities have experienced discrimination bullying and exclusion within our schools. Furthermore, parents are not fully informed of their options, when it comes to their rights regarding the education of their child with a disability.
Most frequently, parents are actively encouraged to send their child to a special school . Sometimes a “special school”, is the only option presented to parents, with parents not necessarily knowing that sending their child to a mainstream school is an option.
Although some schools may not actively exclude children with disabilities from their schools, there are other subtle ways in which exclusion occurs -not being allowed to attend school camps or excursions, or children with disabilities being excluded at break times throughout the day.
Another issue is the fact that some teachers are loathe to include parents in their child’s education. They think that parents should consider them the “experts” when it comes to education and should never question them, when it comes to what happens in the classroom .
This has sometimes led to the blatant abuse of students with disabilities in schools, demonstrated by the litany of stories of abuse in the final report of the Disability Royal Commission. Students are inappropriately restrained and excluded, harassed and intimidated by teachers, bullied by other students- as well as school staff, are automatically blamed for the inadequacy of school resources and are subjected to the whims of teachers and school administrators.
Sometimes parents are also subjected to bullying, intimidation and harassment- sometimes to the point where they have no choice but for their child to change schools. Due to the lack of options in the choice of schools and having been rejected by many schools, there are times in which parents are forced to enrol their child in a special school.
These problems can not be ignored by the National School Reform Agreement . The National School Reform Agreement is made about once every five years in Australia. This is the main way the federal government can steer changes in how Australian schools are run.
The current reform agreement ends in December 2024, and the new one is starting to be developed. One of the early priorities is to improve outcomes for all students, “particularly those most at risk of falling behind”. An expert panel will deliver a report to all education ministers by the end of October to inform negotiations.
Earlier this month, Bruce Bonyhady, the chair of the independent review, said state governments need to build “foundational supports ” in schools to reduce the strain on the NDIS. This follows our recent research that showed huge issues with the way students with disability are included in school life. For example, 70% of surveyed students with a disability report being excluded from events or activities at school.
Negotiations around the next school reform agreement alongside the NDIS Review provide a real opportunity to better educate and support students with disability.
The National School Reform Agreement is a joint agreement between the federal and state governments that aims to improve student outcomes across schools. It also deals with funding arrangements. Each state or territory makes its own agreement with the federal government.
The Albanese government extended the current agreement by a year, with the new one due to begin in January 2025.
领英推荐
Within the bilateral agreements are activities that support particular student cohorts. But the current setup is not working adequately for students with disability.
In January this year, a Productivity Commission review noted many of the bilateral agreements either did not include specific reform actions for students with disabilities, or did not include details of how this would happen. It also noted there is no NAPLAN data collected on students with disabilities – so it is very difficult to measure academic progress.
The commission suggested linking NDIS data to school reporting. While this would be welcome, it won’t capture students with disabilities who are not part of the NDIS. And it won’t capture the issues people face at the boundaries of the NDIS and education where there is debate over who should provide funding and support.
The NDIS was never intended to replace existing mainstream services such as education and health. But ambiguities about responsibilities for funding often lead to service gaps. Our research has consistently shown students with similar characteristics can receive inconsistent support, depending on:
The next reform agreement needs to commit specific funding for the support of students with disability in their school, and the development and training of their educators.
We also need a commitment to report properly on students’ progress. This means progress is measured also at the individual level (involving individual learning plans), rather than simply against a developmental continuum.
Well-funded inclusive education is a human right and is crucial in setting up all young Australians for their future.