Comments to the Department of Education and Training on the Review of the Disability Standards

Comments to the Department of Education and Training on the review of the Disability Standards for Education 2005

Overview

NDS appreciates the opportunity to comment on this second review of the Standards.

Children and adults with disability are still being denied access to education. A recent survey found that one in four children with disability have been previously refused enrolment; a further 17% are only offered part-time enrolment; and 68% of the parents surveyed believe that their children are not receiving adequate support at school.1

This situation is untenable in a fair society and will not support the economy to thrive. Education is a fundamental building block for participation in social and economic life. NDS’s comments focus on ways to change this situation through ensuring the Standards are comprehensively implemented.

There is some cause for cautious optimism about the future of inclusive education

services. NDS welcomed comments from Minister Pyne in April this year when he said that

“more targeted funding would flow as a result of the first nationally consistent data collection for students with a disability…” This long-awaited data collection will be fully implemented in August 2015 and we understand it will inform the establishment of a schooling resource standard with an adequate loading for children with disability. The next step is to secure needs-based and targeted funding, which is critical to the full implementation of the Standards.

Another critical ingredient is closer monitoring and compliance enforcement. It is not good enough for schools or training organisations to use the ‘unjustified burden’ exemption over the long term and continue to turn away people with disability. All education providers should be required to have disability action plans that over time remove all barriers in their infrastructure, schedules and systems, so that they are fully inclusive before 2025.

The time is right to accelerate implementation of the Standards. The commitment from governments to implement the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) creates an opportunity for the education sector to do things better. The NDIS will provide early intervention and transition support for many people who do not currently have adequate support. This will increase both opportunities and demand for participation in inclusive education services. Combined with full implementation of the Standards, Australia will

have a real chance to significantly improve education outcomes for people with disability.

1 Children with Disability Australia, 2015. National Survey: The Direct Education Experiences of Students with Disability. www.cda.org.au. A total of 1025 people responded to this online survey.

National Disability Services: Submission on the review of the Disability Education Standards 2005

Ramp up compliance with the Standards

The Standards provide for fundamental rights – they are not optional

The Standards provide a robust framework for ensuring equitable access to education for people with disability. This is a fundamental right, and the Standards outline the related obligations for education providers. The challenge facing governments is to ensure and enable full compliance. NDS recognises the investment and progress in raising awareness of the Standards and improving attitudes and expectations. This investment is necessary but not sufficient. It must be complemented by more effective monitoring alongside increased and appropriately targeted funding.

Link compliance with the Standards with access to funding

Government funding for education and training should only go to organisations that can demonstrate their commitment to the Standards. In the case of schools this should be facilitated by making adherence with the Standards a mandatory part of the school registration process.

All education and training providers should demonstrate their readiness to accept students with disability, including by providing public access to their disability action plans for improving education outcomes. Where exemptions to the Standards are used on the basis of unjustified hardship, the action plan should show how the organisation will remove the related barriers where possible. For example, if there are barriers in the built infrastructure of a training organisation, the long-term maintenance plan should include upgrades that

remove all physical barriers for people with disability.

NDS would like to see evidence from all education and training providers of action plans that will make education fully accessible by 2025. Progress on this goal should be monitored by governments with annual reporting requirements linked to funding.

Link the Standards with monitoring of the National Disability Strategy

Comprehensive implementation of the Standards is required to realise the broader ambitions of the National Disability Strategy which, similar to the Standards, is the responsibility of all governments. There needs to be a substantive re-commitment across all governments to the social and economic imperatives that underpin the National Disability Strategy and are also relevant to the Standards. Reducing the gap between students with disability and other students is essential to improve the social and economic

well-being of people with disability, their families, carers and the wider community.

Progress on the National Disability Strategy and the Standards should be assisted with annual progress reports to parliaments that promote accountability across government.

Make good use of evaluation and monitoring data on the Standards

Use data to make informed funding decisions that support the Standards

The new national data collection will provide schools, parents and education authorities with reliable data on the number of students with disability in schools, where they are located and the adjustments they receive. This data will be a valuable reinforcement of the obligations that schools have under the Standards and can be used to acknowledge

National Disability Services: Submission on the review of the Disability Education Standards 2005

improvements in support for students with disability and to identify gaps. It must be used, as intended, to increase and improve the targeting of funding for students with disability.

The 'Review of Funding for Schooling’ report gave significant attention to children with disability as a disadvantaged group with a clear need for more equitable funding. The findings in this report are still relevant and NDS urges governments to provide the

necessary additional funding in time for the next school year.

NDS looks forward to seeing further announcements soon on how all jurisdictions will collectively institute a disability loading which covers all students with disability, based on the new nationally consistent data.

There will also be useful new information available from the evaluation of $300M spent in

2012-14 on improving support for students with disability, and also the separate funding for the higher education disability support program. This information should inform deliberations about how best to provide non-individualised funding support for schools and other education or training organisations to develop staff, provide accessible infrastructure and raise disability awareness in the broader education community, consistent with the Standards. For example, governments need to consider how best to fund implementation

of schools and training organisation disability action plans.

Recent evaluation findings should inform funding decisions by all governments on a stream of non-individualised funding to complement individualised allocations so that all education and training organisations can be ready and willing to accept students with disability.

Benchmark what inclusive education looks like

Newly collected data and reporting information can help provide benchmarks on inclusive and accessible education provision. These should be used to further develop the ‘evidence

bank’ on how to implement the Standards as well as to promote and publicise progress.

The ‘my school’ website should publish progress on all schools’ disability action plans against agreed benchmarks.

Build on opportunities to promote and implement the Standards

The NDIS will enhance the education ambitions of people with disability

It is important to recognise that the NDIS does not provide individualised funding for all people with disability and is not responsible for providing universal education services. Indeed the sustainability and effectiveness of the NDIS rely on education services to do their part to achieve improved life outcomes. Implementation of the Standards is core to this.

It is also important to recognise that the NDIS will increase demand for accessible education services. For the first time, many children and adults with disability will have access to much-needed individual and early intervention support, including access to aids and equipment. This will enable them to work towards much more ambitious life goals. With basic support needs met, families and individuals will have higher expectations of the education system. NDS is confident that most of the education system will welcome this

National Disability Services: Submission on the review of the Disability Education Standards 2005

challenge as they will no longer be overwhelmed by the support needs of students and can instead focus on education outcomes.

NDS would also like to draw attention to the opportunity to develop joint planning approaches between schools and the NDIS. This could take advantage of expertise from a range of disciplines, early intervention opportunities and help develop natural and sustainable ongoing support networks. Similarly there will also be new opportunities to

improve planning for transition from school to work through effective collaborations.

NDS urges the education sector to seize the opportunities provided by the NDIS and meet the challenges to provide fully inclusive education services consistent with the Standards. It is timely to dedicate the next decade to fully accessible education.

Build on the improved awareness and knowledge about disability and rights

Work on the Standards over the last decade and the development of the National Disability Strategy and the NDIS have all contributed to improving awareness of disability. This is critical to implementation of the Standards but needs to continue to broaden, with the following areas requiring extra attention:

· Training for all teachers at undergraduate and postgraduate levels should cover skills in disability and inclusion.

· Professional development should be widely available for teachers and aides that work with students with disability whether in special schools or mainstream settings. This is important to overcome a culture of low expectations. Teachers should also be able to draw on specialist support and advice from multi-disciplinary teams.

· Specialist advice should be made available in particular demand areas. For example, the positive partnerships program to assist school students with autism (part of the Helping Children with Autism package) has been very successful.

· Improved understanding that certain restrictive interventions must not be used. For example, the use of cages is not consistent with the Standards. There needs to be access to specialist advice on how to promote positive behaviour and reduce challenging behaviour by children and adults with disability in education settings.

· Engage with people with disability and disability service providers to improve disability awareness of the education sector. An NDS workforce initiative called ProjectABLE aims to recruit school students into the disability sector. It involves people with disability and disability service providers meeting with students and teachers. An observed and valuable by-product is improvements in the understanding of disability and inclusive attitudes by the whole school community. It is important to recognise the core role that the disability sector can and should play in raising disability awareness.

National Disability Services: Submission on the review of the Disability Education Standards 2005

May 2015

Contact: Dr Ken Baker

Chief Executive

National Disability Services

Ph: 02 6283 3200

Mob: 0409 606 240

National Disability Services is the peak industry body for non-government disability services. Its purpose is to promote and advance services for people with disability. Its Australia-wide membership includes 1100 non-government organisations, which support people with all forms of disability. Its members collectively provide the full range of disability services—from accommodation support, respite and therapy to community access and employment. NDS provides information and networking opportunities to its members and policy advice to State, Territory and Federal governments.