Family Advocacy believes in people with disability having access to the good things in all areas of life, that the majority of people would expect. This includes regular education with peers. An Inclusive classroom is one that incorporates alternative teaching methods to accommodate for the variety of learners in the room. Moving from traditional teaching methods to more inclusive ones benefits all students.

Family Advocacy released a new position statement on inclusive education, which will inform our systemic advocacy on this issue over the next year and beyond. It is both a resource for parents to inform policy makers, and a clear outline of the reasons. The document is the result of research, of families articulating their experiences, and of Family Advocacy’s values. “Family Advocacy knows all children belong together in the classroom with their peers. However, in Australia, children with disability are often placed in special schools or support units.”

Family Advocacy recommend that all future policy approaches in Australia and NSW pursue full inclusion and move toward ending segregation of children with disability as part of a progressive realisation of the right to inclusive education in line with the UNCRPD and General Comment on the right to Inclusive Education. This means policy makers must recognise the evidence that shows full inclusion is producing better social and academic outcomes for students with disability, and implement evidence-based programs and provide funding accordingly.

Recently through Facebook, Family Advocacy launched it’s very first Inclusive Education Discussion Series. This discussion series builds on evidence based research and commences with information provided in a recent presentation by Bruce Uditsky and Anne Hughson of Inclusion Alberta. Bruce Uditsky and Anne Hughson comment on the value of IQ assessments to determine support needs and the dangerous assumptions associated with this, raising the questions, What are the risks of IQ testing? What should the purpose be when assessing a students supports needs in the regular class?

The release of the UN General Comment calls on all States including Australia to move towards full inclusion as a basic human right. Family Advocacy has written to the Australian Human Rights Commission seeking to further the realisation of this right in Australia.

Know your Rights 

There is a range of International, National and State legislation and conventions that relate to people with disability and their right to equal access to education. Education providers and authorities are obliged under these laws and conventions to make necessary adjustments to enable students with disability to get the same schooling experience at regular schools that other Australian children enjoy.

Despite this, children with disability still face many barriers when it comes to enrolling and participating in their regular class at school. It’s important that parents understand the rights of their child to education so that they can better assess and dismantle barriers that may be impacting on their child’s ability to participate in the regular class. Read an informative article by Kathy Cologon; Preventing Inclusion? Inclusive Early Childhood Education and the Option to Exclude. This article explores some of the exclusionary structures and practices that form considerable barriers to the realisation of the commitment to inclusive education.

While we recommend being informed on the rights your child has to education, families have shared with us instances where discussing rights in meetings with schools has created hostility. For this reason we recommend that families think very carefully about whether a ‘rights’ based argument is the best approach.

Disability Standards for Education: A Practical Guide for Individuals, Families and Communities
This resource aims to increase awareness and understanding of the Disability Standards for Education among individuals, families and communities throughout Australia. It was developed by the University of Canberra. We would note that it is not always helpful to talk to potential schools in terms of rights, but it is helpful to have an understanding of your rights. 

International

• United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) 2007
  The stated purpose of the UNCRP is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity. Article 24 focuses on Education. Australia signed the convention in March, 2007.
• The Australian Human Rights Commission provides more information including the steps Australia is taking to implement the UNCRPD.

National

• Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1992
  The Federal Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) provides protection for everyone in Australia against discrimination based on disability. The DDA makes it against the law for an educational authority to discriminate against someone because that person has a disability. Education can be found in Section 22 of the DDA.
• The Australian Human Rights Commission provides comprehensive information about the DDA in relation to education.
• Disability Standards for Education 2005 The Disability Standards are intended to give students with disability the same rights as other students. This includes the right to comparable access, services and facilities, and the right to participate in education and training without discrimination. Education providers have a positive obligation to make changes to reasonably accommodate the needs of a student with disability.

State – NSW Education Act 1990

Among its principles, this Act states that:

(a) every child has the right to receive an education,
(b) the education of a child is primarily the responsibility of the child’s parents,
(c) it is the duty of the State to ensure that every child receives an education of the highest quality.

Read the the full Education Act. 

Here are some more resources: 

• In this short clip, Bruce Uditsky and Anne Hughson share the importance of a positive, trusting and collaborative relationship between families and their school.
• In this short clip Jan Kruger, proud parent and Director of Imagine More, shares what inclusion means to her family and what this looks like in school for her son Jack.
• This resource on alternative teaching methods provides examples on what this can look like, including the comparison between traditional teaching and inclusive teaching and what the research shows.
• Gina Wilson-Burns, author of the blog Inky Ed, shares a powerful example of how inclusion is everyone’s responsibility and that all means all.
• Is your school inclusive? Dr. Paula Kluth discusses the theory and practice of inclusion as well as the characteristics of an inclusive school, from committed leadership to democratic classrooms.Dr. Kluth is a consultant, author, advocate, and independent scholar who works with teachers and families to provide inclusive opportunities for students with disabilities to create more responsive and engaging schooling experiences for all learners.
• For further information on disability rights in education you can visit the Australian Human Rights Commission Education page.
• There is also support available to assist students with disability in assessment and examinations. Life Skills is a curriculum option that students with intellectual disability may consider. However it is important to know that life skills can be accessed for specific subjects and it is not necessary to choose Life Skills for a students whole course. For more information on this please view this webpage. 

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The Australian Coalition for Inclusive Education (ACIE), of which Family Advocacy is a core member, has released ‘Driving change: A roadmap for achieving inclusive education in Australia’:

“Our Roadmap is underpinned by six key pillars to help realise inclusive education in Australia and prevent the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of students with disability.  These pillars are drawn from the evidence base and embed the rights of students as set out in the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).”

The Roadmap for achieving inclusive education in Australia has two key sections:

1.  the outcomes that need to occur, stepped out over the next 10 years; and
2. the key levers for change needed to realise these outcomes.

Download the Roadmap here.

ACIE is an initiative bringing together organisations that share a commitment to advance inclusive education in Australia and across state and territory education systems, including government and non-government schools.

The ‘Driving change: A roadmap for achieving inclusive education in Australia’ has also been endorsed by the following organisations:

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Support for Recommendations for mainstream reforms and an inclusive education roadmap.

Family Advocacy has actively participated in the work of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation (Disability Royal Commission) through submissions, public hearings, and various consultations. We are part of the Australian Coalition for Inclusive Education (ACIE), a coalition comprising national, state, and territory organisations committed to advancing inclusive education in Australia, encompassing both government and non-government schools.

Regarding Inclusive Education, Family Advocacy, in principle, welcomes the Disability Royal Commission’s Final Report, particularly Recommendation 7.13. This recommendation calls on all Australian governments to establish a national inclusive education roadmap with specific timebound targets, measures, and milestones for implementing inclusive education reforms. We are pleased to note that many of the recommendations aimed at improving the mainstream education system align with the “pillars” outlined in the Roadmap for Inclusive Education developed by ACIE, of which Family Advocacy is a part of.

The distinguishing feature of the Roadmap is its clear objectives and milestones, designed not only to implement inclusive education but also to eradicate segregation based on disability in public education. Inclusive education can only be achieved through ongoing enhancement of mainstream practices alongside a phased and responsible transition away from segregated approaches. This transition involves moving away from “special” schools, co-located education support units within mainstream school premises, and “special” classes where students are segregated based on their disability.

Until we merge the parallel tracks of mainstream and segregated education into a single inclusive pathway to education, regular schools will not undergo the necessary transformation to provide equal and non-discriminatory education to all children, regardless of disability. This alignment is fundamental to realising an inclusive education system where all children attend school, play, grow, and learn together, fostering authentic and reciprocal connections and relationships that promote respect for their diverse differences and contribute to a more inclusive society.

Support for Recommendations to phase out and end segregated education

For these reasons, Family Advocacy strongly endorses Recommendation 7.14 proposed by Commissioners Dr. Rhonda Galbally AC, Dr. Alastair McEwin AM, and Barbara Bennett PSM, which advocates for the gradual phasing out of segregated education. However, the suggested timeframe of ending segregation by 2051 is unduly conservative and risks leaving two more generations of children behind. We strongly recommend that the government tightens this timeframe so less children are impacted negatively by continued segregation.

The struggle against the segregation of people with disabilities has been a central theme throughout the Disability Royal Commission. During the ceremonial closing hearing on September 15, 2023, Commissioners Dr. Galbally, Dr. McEwin, and Commissioner Bennett, who live with disabilities, delivered powerful messages about segregation, challenging all Australians to reconsider how we coexist with people with disabilities. They emphasised that continuing to segregate people with disabilities in separate settings devalues them and creates conditions conducive to violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

Family Advocacy fully supports Recommendation 7.14 from these Commissioners, which includes:

1. Phasing out segregated education as a critical component of ensuring inclusive education
2. Explicitly incorporating the phasing out of segregated education into the national inclusive education plan such as roadmap, plan or strategy, with specific deliverables to cease segregated education settings in all jurisdictions, including agreed-upon dates for discontinuing new enrolments and placements in segregated settings, along with a moratorium on establishing new segregated education settings
3. Utilising the National School Reform Agreement and its mechanisms to monitor and drive inclusive education reform and the phasing out of segregated education.

We urge the government to adopt and fully implement. Recommendation 7-14, in addition to Recommendations 7.1-7.13, and allocate the necessary resources to achieve these objectives.

We are particularly disappointed with the purported justification of segregated education based on “choice,” as asserted by some Commissioners. Commissioners Galbally, McEwin, and Bennett rightfully disagree with this perspective. It is clear, as emphasised during the Disability Royal Commission, that often, “choice” is not a genuine option but a last resort. Children and young people with disabilities, like their parents, deserve better.

During the ceremonial closing, Commissioner McEwin stated, “I never had a parent tell me that they wanted their child to attend a special school. They repeatedly shared their efforts to collaborate with their local mainstream schools to include their disabled child in the classroom and school community.”

Unfortunately, the notion of “choice” has hindered much-needed progress and continues to fuel a divisive debate. People with disabilities view their continued segregation as a form of discrimination and a human rights violation, while some parents of children with disabilities support segregation because regular schools fail to provide the necessary services and support, which are instead offered by segregated “special” schools and other settings. Both groups agree that the current education system is inadequate for students with disabilities.

A more potent approach, in line with the recommendations of the UN CRPD Committee, is to gradually shift the resources currently allocated to special schools and segregated programs into mainstream settings, creating inclusive and welcoming environments for all children and young people.

Recommendation 7.14, put forward by Commissioners with disabilities and Commissioner Bennett, acknowledges the legitimacy of both disabled people’s perspectives and the concerns of some parents. It aligns with Australia’s international human rights obligations under the CRPD and other human rights treaties1, aiming to progressively establish a fully inclusive education system. This recommendation proposes a phased and responsible transition, complete with practical, time-bound targets and budgets, to eliminate discrimination through segregation and create a universally accessible, high-quality, and inclusive education system. While we acknowledge that the longer timeframe proposed by Commissioners Galbally, McEwin, and Bennett is intended to ensure sufficient time for implementing reforms in mainstream education, ACIE’s Roadmap aims for a transition within ten years, and we still aspire to achieve the end goal within a more ambitious timeframe.

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Whilst there are certainly some positive initiatives to come from the NDIS Review to ensure the NDIS and broader system supports deliver equitable access and participation for people with disability, we have received a number of calls and emails from Family Advocacy members who have expressed their concerns around the need for current unregistered providers to become registered, and the threat this brings to self-management and the omission around the necessary components to safeguard self-management. This is also concerning for people living in rural, remote, and regional areas where services are often quite hard to find. We will be working with the government to ensure that self-management remains fit for purpose and that the necessary components to safeguarding self-management are incorporated in any reform.

Another area of concern is around housing and living. Many people are expressing their nervousness concerning being forced into group homes with the recommendation that funding for participants requiring 24/7 living support should typically be based on an average shared support ratio of 1:3. We will certainly be advocating to ensure the many and emerging individual arrangements are not lost, as well as the continuation of people using creative ways through the Independent Living Options.

It may be helpful to keep in mind that these are recommendations, nothing is changing overnight, and we are at the beginning of a very long journey of reform instigated by the Disability Royal Commission and the NDIS review. Strongly articulated through the review findings is the need to consult with the disability sector and if this approach is adopted well by the government there will be opportunities for you to have your say and input to influence possible changes.

If you want to hear more, we attach a link to Reasonable & Necessary Podcast – Your Guide to the NDIS Review: Experts Have Their Say, hosted by Dr. George Taleporos, which brings together Australia’s leading disability advocates to unpack the NDIS Review. Dr. George, along with El Gibbs, Nick Avery, Jarrod Sandell-Hay, and Sam Paior will guide you through all the big changes that are proposed, and what they might mean for you.

We hope you have the opportunity to utilise the holiday period doing all the things that bring you joy and recharge your batteries, so you can join us in giving voice to safeguarding the many things that are essential for this funding scheme to be viable for supporting genuine community inclusion.

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