Currently, the quality of education for students with disabilities is generally the same across Australia, being exceedingly poor, unprofessional and often accompanied by violence against students. See the attached 2016 Senate Inquiry Report on the education of students with disabilities. There is little evidence much has changed since that time. Education and Employment References Committee Report.
While the Victorian government in 2024 held a review into state education which only touched on education for children with disabilities, some of the issues raised are issues that have been raised for over 10 years (for example violence against students with disabilities in schools). The report can be found here. https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/get-involved/inquiries/stateeducationinquiry/reports/
Many parents do not have a real choice about where to enrol their child as many mainstream schools dissuade them from enrolling, do not have the funding to support them and associate students with disabilities as a burden due to associated costs. The gatekeeping by mainstream schools against students with disabilities is a problem that has been going on for years, without being addressed by the DoE. Funnelling children into segregated schools saves the DoE money, due to the pooling of student funding, and therapies not provided individually, which the may in a mainstream school.
In the face of this attitude and lack of support, it is natural that many parents feel that segregated schools are the only option. However there are serious problems in those schools including:
- a tendency towards using violent practices against students to deal with behaviours of concern;
- low/no expectations of academic achievement;
- lack of personalised therapeutic assistance;
- use of unqualified aides;
- use of teachers with no special education qualifications (although this can be a double-edged sword linked with low expectations of students with disabilities);
- closed culture.
However, from an evidence-based perspective, the research indicates that an inclusive education (mainstream schooling) is superior socially and academically for students with disabilities when schools are resourced and teachers are trained . Therefore, the current inability/disinterest of mainstream schools to educate students with disabilities could be seen to be a good reason to enrol your child in a segregated school. However there is certainly little evidence that most segregated schools are interested in actually educating students with disabilities either, rather the evidence is that they are resigned to looking after them.
Individual Education Plans from many segregated schools indicate a lack of SMART goals, include goals that are incomprehensible, strategies that are the same for every child in the class regardless of disability, and not only can the goals be meaningless, but the same goal lasts the entire year.
Most segregated schools do not hold Student Support Group meetings that comply with the DoE’s guidelines, and are more akin to 15-20 minute parent teacher interviews.
Occupational Therapy, physiotherapy or speech therapy is provided via a “train the trainer” model to save money. This is despite a lack of interest by the DoE in measuring whether this approach in its schools is effective.
Formal communication plans are extremely rare and must be requested. Even then, they may not be provided. Segregated schools often allocate methods of communication to reflect their own policy, rather than what is most suited to the child. This is for the convenience of staff. There is no minimum requirement to have a child reach any level of communication by the time they leave school. There is no policy right to functional communication, and no policy right to an Auslan interpreter. There is no policy right to a qualified behavioural expert, but strong regulatory protection for violence against students by staff.
A lack in the belief in a student’s capacity is common, with many teachers prioritising convincing parents not to expect too much.
While parents continue to enrol their children in segregated settings, mainstream schools continue to provide substandard services. Given segregated schools also provide substandard services, (but are compelled to accept enrolments of students with disabilities having IQs under 70), the status quo must change.
In line with its general failure to adopt best practice education methods, Australia is one of the few countries in the world still building special schools, Victoria is the most backward in this regard in the country. An innovative example of best practice in inclusion found is Italy, which has legislated against segregated education.
Parents would benefit from reading about models of inclusive education in different countries, for example the SWiFT model.
See the attached reports on inclusion:
Inclusion or segregation for children with an intellectual impairment
Inclusive Education Research and Practice
International Disability Alliance’s Position on Inclusion
Bullying Perpetration and Victimisation in Special Education
Parallels between Apartheid and Intellectual Disability Policies
Many valuable resources can be found at www.include.com.au/resources