Royal Commission: Inclusive Education
Volume 7: Inclusive education, employment and housing hosts one of the most talked about recommendations: the push to end segregated education. The commissioners and chair were evenly split on this issue, the two commissioners with lived experience of disability voted in favour of phasing out special schools.
There are 14 recommendations from the royal commission in just Part A: Inclusive Education, leaving employment and housing for us to tackle in the coming blog posts. We’ve pulled key information from the report, and inserted submissions from the disability royal commission along the way. If you’d like to check out the original document, you can find links to Volume 9 PDF and read more submissions from people with disabilities and their families under Narratives.
We also recommend this article on the ABC Why closing special schools is such a complex topic important to so many families, which speaks to students with disabilities, their families and education providers in both segregated and mainstream settings.
Unless otherwise stated, these recommendations from the commission are made to the state and territory governments.
Recommendations:
Equal access to mainstream education and enrolment
Legal rights:
Amend education laws to ensure students with disabilities hold a legal right to attend a local school. State and territory governments to distribute clear materials on their rights to students with disabilities and their families or caregivers.
Record refusals:
Schools should maintain a central record when denying a student's enrolment, reporting trends each year to education ministers, including measures to overcome any issues and a review process for parents and caregivers to challenge decisions.
Brigitte and Richie’s Submission: Brigitte is mum to nine-year-old Richie who is autistic, has Down syndrome, ADHD and PTSD. Richie’s principal at their local state school Richie was the first child with an intellectual disability he had ever come across. Not long after, he decided Richie should only come to school once a fortnight because of his disabilities.
Brigitte discovered the principal would lock Richie in a room for most of the time he was at school. When Brigitte pointed out this was contrary to school policy, he changed the policy.
Rather then using de-escalation strategies, Richie’s teachers and principle punished him for his behaviours. No-one formally reported the incidents or told Brigitte when it happened. After six months, the principal withdrew Richie’s enrolment, saying he didn’t meet new school-readiness indicators.
2. Prevent the inappropriate use of exclusionary discipline
Review current practices:
A review of all rules, regulations and procedures relating to discipline in schools. Ensure exclusionary discipline is only used as a last resort for students with disability to advertise the risk of serious harm to themselves or others.
Consider individuals’ needs:
Before using exclusionary discipline, teachers should think about the student's disability, age, and what the consequences might be of engaging in such discipline. They should also consult the student's behaviour plan and talk to their supports before engaging in exclusionary discipline.
Carmella and Rachael’s Submission: Carmella has cerebral palsy, vision impairment and ADHD. When Carmella started kindergarten, the school said it ‘had never had a child with that level of disability before’, but was willing ‘to do whatever's needed’. Carmella wasn’t provided with an accessible reader until halfway through the year, Rachael told the commission:
She was segregated from her peers at recess and lunch, she was kept locked inside a classroom. She missed out on all of that socialisation which is so critical, particularly for a child with communication difficulties.
When Rachael met with the principle. he said, ‘She's not the only child with a disability we keep inside all lunch.’
The commission heard one incident where teachers “physically restrained” Carmella in her chair during recess.
‘She was trapped up against the table. They'd left her for 10 minutes screaming, with the timer on.
‘This is a child who uses a wheelchair or a walking frame for mobility, has limited speech, requires so much support in so many areas of her life. And they were sending her to the principal's office and berating her.’
3. Improve policies and procedures on how recommendations are provided
Support guidelines:
Create clear guidelines for education providers explaining their legal duty to make adjustments for students with disabilities and their duty of care. Describe processes to implement adjustments and how to allocate funding for students with disabilities.
Individual learning plans:
Develop a clear process for developing personalised learning plans for each student with a disability. These plans should be available to parents, caregivers, and their relevant supports. They should also make sure that all students, including those with disabilities, have access to sexuality education.
You can read our blog post on why sexuality education is especially important for people with disabilities here.
4. Participation in school communities
Adequate provisions:
A common case the Commission heard was inadequate provisions for students with disability to participate in wider school activities and communities, like excursions, sporting events, camps and celebratory peer activities. The commission recommends to “facilitate, to the maximum extent feasible” participation by these students, internal or external, in these activities in mainstream schools.
Interaction between special and mainstream schools:
Where possible, new special schools should be built near mainstream schools. Over time, existing special schools should also be moved closer to regular schools, to encourage regular exchange between students in each setting.
Kris’s Submission: Kris is a teenager and has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, making him prone to joint dislocation, injury and infection. He also uses a wheelchair. Kris told the commission:
‘I have experienced hundreds of micro traumas over five years or so in my primary school years that left me extremely depressed, anxious, isolated and considering self-harm,
‘A lot of the time they’d … do activities down on the oval. I couldn’t do that because the oval was uneven and all that other stuff. They never consulted with the support team because mum would go and ask the support team, “Hey, were you consulted about this?” and they’d just be like, “No, we were never told.”
‘They would quickly come up with something for me to do as I was forgotten 10 times out of 10. I became increasingly depressed and lonely.
‘The school was really stuck on the idea that because a location was marked as “wheelchair-friendly” it was deemed to be inclusive and that was all they needed to worry about. There was no thought given to other factors.’
5. Careers guidance and transition support services
Career planning:
People with disabilities face significant barriers to employment. Transition support and career guidance for students with disabilities needs to be implemented, this planning and support should begin in year 9 in collaboration with students and their supports. This should include accessible information and resources on future education options and work experience, whilst taking into account the diversity of students with disability, including support needs and cultural safety.
6. Parental communication and relationships
Involvement in decision-making:
Students and their support network should play an active role in making decisions, especially regarding adjustments and their education program. Important decisions, like behaviour management, should be made in agreement between the school, the student and their family.
Clear policies:
Rights of students with disabilities and how schools are obligated to accommodate should be outlined, including that students and their supports should expect to be involved in the decision making process, adjustment and complaints handling.
Adam’s Submission: The father of then 12-year-old Adam, who has autism, told the commission his son’s mainstream school refused to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate his disability. When Adam had issues at school they would call his dad to pick him up, and would repeatedly suspend Adam up to a dozen times per year (more than allowed under legislation). If he failed to pick him up, the school called the police.
Adam had just turned 13 when he was arrested by the police at school. No-one had told his parents he had been arrested.
He was charged with “threatening life” and officers formally interviewed Adam without representation or parental support. The charges were dropped, with Adam’s defence lawyer saying it was the weakest and most inappropriate case he had ever seen. Adam’s dad said ‘My son left the public education system. We now pay $8,000 a year in private schooling.’
7. Inclusive education units and First Nations expertise
Establish inclusive education units:
Help schools and educational organisations on funding priorities, provide resources and advice on implementing inclusive education. These units should include people who understand the needs of First Nations students and ensure they get access to inclusive and culturally safe education.
8. Workforce capabilities, expertise and development
Amend standards:
Education Ministers should review and amend the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) to embed a human rights-based approach for students with disability. Ensure education providers continue their professional development in inclusive education.
Hire experts:
Hire more lead practitioners specialising in inclusive teaching, behavioural support and deaf education. Set employment targets for people with disability in government schools and school sectors within their jurisdiction.
9. Data, evidence and building best practice
Data collection:
Education Ministers should engage in a national project to develop methods for collecting data on the experience and outcomes of students with disability in the education system.
This consistent and comparable data should cover three main areas: the students' experiences, their school results, and the progress in making education more inclusive.
Homeschooling outcomes:
Require parents to register homeschooled children with disability with the state or territory school regulator, and to submit information about their child’s educational, social and behavioural progress and support needs.
10. Complaint management
Complaint management offices:
The relevant governing bodies should create or expand existing complaint management offices operating within educational authorities, to be “at arm’s length from schools.”
Their main objective is to help resolve complaints about schools, specifically complaints concerning how students with disabilities are treated. They should:
Inform students and their supports with of their rights and options
Connect them with advocacy services when needed
Provide an opportunity for both parties to talk about the complaint
Formally investigate serious complaints, especially ones indicative of systemic issues
Help elevate the complaint to next authority if it’s not resolved
Collaborate with schools to analyse complaints, report regularly on how to prevent future complaints
Assist principals to ensure policies are student-centric, easy to understand, efficient, safe, trauma-informed and culturally appropriate
Vicki and Eliel’s Submission: almost a teenager, Eliel is from a culturally and linguistically diverse background. He is autistic and non-verbal, and has intellectual disability and sensory processing difficulties.
Not long into his first year at a special school Eliel “took off” out of the school grounds, then in year 3, he started to come home with unexplained bruising. When Vicki gave him his uniform or handed him his school bag he would put them back in the cupboard.
An occupational therapist who assessed Eliel at school one morning told Vicki ‘you need to get him out of there.’ The final straw for Vicki was witnessing the new swim instructor push Eliel against the wall and talk to him as if he was verbal.
Vicki made official complaints but said the school and the education department dismissed them.
Eliel is “like a new child” at is new school a two hour drive away, they have a mix of verbal and non-verbal students.
11. Stronger oversight and enforcement of school duties.
Strengthen inclusive education enforcement:
Create clear procedures on how to ensure school staff understand their obligations and are supported to access inclusive education training. This includes procedures to collect, analyse and report on; complaints, the use of restrictive practices and exclusionary discipline and the use of funding for students with disability.
Monitor compliance:
State and territory school registration authorities should ensure schools meet these requirements through regular reviews.
12. Improving funding
Refine data:
The government and Education Ministers should refine the NCCD on it’s annual collection of data on Australian students with disability to include “levels of adjustments and associated funding for students with disability in response to the findings of the Student with disability loading settings review.”
Transparency in funding:
There should be regular funding reviews on how the governments provide funding for students with disabilities and release reports to the public no how they are spending the allocated funding.
13. National Roadmap to Inclusive Education
The Education Ministers should publicly release a “National Roadmap to Inclusive Education” for students with disability. The roadmap should detail the outcome measures, targets, actions and barriers with public transparency for delivering the Royal Commission’s recommendations for inclusive education.
14. Phasing out and ending special/segregated education
Commissioners Bennett, Galbally and McEwin recommend:
Both the federal, state and territory governments should acknowledge inclusive education, as required by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, cannot coexist with special or segregated education in the long term.
Phase out special schools:
These commissioners recommend the education ministers should agree, as part of the National School Reform Agreement from 2025 to 2029, to gradually eliminate special or segregated education.
This means no new special schools or classes after 2025 and a clear plan to work toward this goal.
They propose this to be done by:
Set milestones to end special education, with financial penalties if they are not met
Update Inclusive Education Plan to include milestones
Set up a ‘Transition Fund’ for schools needing extra support in the transition
Avoid stigmatisation and segregation:
Implement various recommendations, such as preventing gatekeeping measures, ensuring career guidance and transition support for students with disabilities is on par with guidance for students without disabilities, and making clear rules against referring students with disabilities to certain types of work experience or employment.
15. An alternative approach
Whilst Commissioners may disagree on the phasing out of special schools in Australia, all Commissioners agree that mainstream schools need major reforms to overcome the barriers to safe, equal and inclusive education.
The Chair and Commissioners Mason and Ryan recommend:
Location:
Whenever possible, new schools for children with complex support needs should be located near or inside mainstream schools. Existing special schools should also be moved close to mainstream schools.
Partnerships:
Encourage students from both settings to join in regular class time, and activities like sports, cultural events and celebrations together whenever possible. The Commissioners noted some students should be able to attend both schools, with special schools acting like a transition for some students.
Increase understanding:
Assist schools to gain insight into the capabilities and talents of students with disabilities as they prepare for life beyond school, including assistance in planning and preparing for further study and training.
Comprehensive review:
The National Disability Commission should review progress towards providing inclusive education for children and young people with complex support needs, including the matters we have identified.