By Kayla Olaya
The NSW government must create a system across the public, independent and Catholic sectors to ensure more students with a disability can access mainstream schools and teachers are better equipped to meet the learning needs of all students, a parliamentary inquiry has found.
The findings of the inquiry into disability education also called for an increase in funding for distance education as data shows demand for places in the public system for children with disabilities has been steadily growing over the past decade.
Valentina Borbone and her daughter Angelique, who attends the support unit at Moss Vale High.Credit: James Brickwood
Accreditation of initial teacher education courses should also be expanded to ensure educators are better equipped to meet the learning needs of students with disability, particularly students with autism spectrum disorder, the inquiry found.
NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd, who chaired the inquiry, said that disability education is a “false choice” for parents who must choose between an unfit mainstream setting, or a “segregated” setting.
“It is clear that the current education system in NSW is not working for people with disability ... Every child has the right to quality accessible education,” she said.
“Students with disability are increasingly being channelled into segregated schools and classes because our mainstream education system is not equipped to provide the necessary supports and resources that children with disability need.”
Demand for places in schools for children with special needs has risen more than 20 per cent over the past decade as the NSW Department of Education continues to add more classes and teachers despite some members of the disability royal commission recommending they be phased out.
Enrolments in SSPs have risen by 51.4 per cent in the past 20 years and, since 2005, the NSW Department of Education has hired more than 350 teachers to the SSPs and committed to opening 12 more classrooms this year.
The schools provide higher level support for students with intellectual disabilities, mental health, physical disabilities and behavioural issues. Some classes are also held at juvenile detention centres and children’s hospitals.
There are 206,000 students with disabilities in NSW public schools, and a majority of these students learn in a mainstream class environment.
Institute of Special Educators researcher Jennifer Stephenson said the sector was facing a lack of qualified teachers.
“The main issue is the lack of qualified teachers and the lack of interest by education systems to insist that those working in special education and support roles in both mainstream and special schools either have qualifications or must be enrolled in a special education course in order to work in such a role,” she said.
This year, the department increased the number of support classes by 243 across NSW to a total of 4500 – a 5.7 per cent increase – and is to accommodate a further 1500 students with a disability.
One of those students is Angelique, the daughter of Valentina Borbone, who has attributed her daughter’s success to her support class in the mainstream Moss Vale High School.
“I think inclusion is absolutely essential,” Borbone said. “I think keeping the right frameworks in place, there’s very different needs in disability and the scale is enormous. You need the right people with the right education and training to be able to support the right kids, and each end of those scales.
“Angelica is in a beautiful placement. She’s in the best place for her, and that’s at Moss Vale High School. There is an excellent support unit there, and it’s exactly the right place she needs to be,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “All students with disability have the right to access and fully participate in learning in a NSW public school.
“However, there is no one-size-fits-all model for improving outcomes and experiences for students with disability and their families.”
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correction
An earlier version of the story said the increase of support classes across NSW to a total of 4500 was about 10 per cent. This has been corrected to 5.7 per cent.