Disability Education
Reference Group
Tuesday 30 October 2012
11 am – 1 pm
Hedley Beare Centre for Teaching and Learning, Stirling
Meeting Room 10
Attendance / Ms Kerrie Heath / Manager Disability Education
Ms Irene Lind / Education & Training Directorate
Ms Ros Hayes / Therapy ACT
Ms Carey Doyle / ACT Council of P & C Associations Inc
Ms Cathy Smith / Australian Education Union
Ms Sue Healy / National Disability Services
Ms Robyn Bloomfield / Autism Asperger ACT
Mr Rex O’Rourke / Disability ACT
Dr Chris Kilham / Australian Association Of Special Education
Ms Karin Wetselaar / Principals’ Association
Ms Marnie Murphy / Education & Training Directorate
Ms Natalie Bennett / Education & Training Directorate
Ms Miriana Hart / Education and Training Directorate (secretariat)
Apologies
Ms Gay von Ess / Autism Asperger ACT
Ms Rhonda Faragher / Down Syndrome Association
Jean Walker / Education & Training Directorate
RECORD OF MEETING
1 / Acknowledgement to Country, Welcome & Apologies (Ms Beth Mitchell)Introductions were made and apologies noted.
2 / Minutes of previous meeting
Ms Ros Hayes corrected that she is with Therapy ACT, not Disability ACT as stated in previous minutes.
3 / Items for future meetings
Nil noted.
4 / Taskforce on Students with Learning Difficulties (Ms Irene Lind)
Ms Lind, the Chairperson for the Taskforce, distributed a handout to the group (Attachment A) detailing the Terms of Reference, membership and contact information. Ms Lind also gave a report on the first meeting of the Taskforce, which was held on 29 October 2012;
- Much of the discussion centered around definitions
- To be evidence-based oriented
- Taskforce to focus on public schools
- International perspective will be sought
- Supporting teachers will be a priority
- Meetings to be held monthly. Minutes of the meetings will be provided to the DERG members, in addition to a report in person by the Chairperson.
- Interim recommendations might include trials and pilots
- Possible recommendations might include further research
5 / Work experience (Ms Carey Doyle)
Ms Doyle brought up a discussion the P & C had regarding gaps in work experience for students with a disability, in particular students from specialist schools.
Ms Mitchell told of her meeting with Koomarri regarding the Frontier Program. Ms Mitchell and Ms Heath will arrange to put schools in touch with Koomarri and promote the Program.
6 / Therapy Assistant Pilot Project (Ms Ros Hayes)
- The Pilot Project has been extremely successful. 80% of students with a Therapy Assistant met their goals
- Completed Evaluation Report currently with the CSD Board
- Funding has been secured for a further two years for Phase 2 of the Project
- Negotiations have begun with principals to choose mainstream schools for 2013. Will continue in the same two specialist schools
7 / The National Agenda for Disability Education (Ms Kerrie Heath)
A handout (Attachment B) was distributed.
- Joint working Group for Reform has been established
- Review of funding underway
- Nationally Consistent Collection of Data for Students with a Disability - 260 randomly selected schools are involved in the second trial. Only two schools from the ACT have been selected, 1 Public and 1 Catholic
- Review of Disability Standards for Education – 4 levels of adjustment are being explored
- Further updates will be provided at forthcoming meetings
- Online training packages – there will be 8 sets of modules targeting different sectors of learning; early childhood, early primary, later primary, high school, college, principal/school leader, school support staff and families. Roll out to commence late January 2013
8 / More Support for Students with Disability National Partnership (Ms Marnie Murphy)
Ms Murphy gave an update on MSSD:
- There is now a Disability Education Coordinator (DECO) in every school
- DECOs have attended 5 information sessions at HBCTL, and have been provided with resources to help support processes
- Schools are working in collaboration across networks, sharing PD and ideas with each other
- Large number of schools have put forward proposals to share funding
- Feedback regarding information sessions has been extremely positive, with many DECOs stating that this has been the best PD they have ever attended
9 / Network Student Engagement Teams (NSET) Update (Ms Kerrie Heath)
- 4 Network Student Engagement Teams (Belconnen, North/Gungahlin, South/Weston and Tugggeranong), comprising of a senior counselor, a behavior support specialist, a family support officer and a disability education officer, are now operating.
- The Teams have all attended DECO information sessions
10 / Disability Education Funding Model(Ms Kerrie Heath)
- A funding model review was undertaken by an external consultant in 2011
- Work on the model reignited as progress at national level not expected anytime soon
- Consultation framework to commence by end of the year
- A more detailed progress report to be provided at the next DERG meeting
11 / Complex Health Care Agreement Update(Ms Natalie Bennett)
- Currently investigating with the Health Directorate a model from South Australia where LSAs have a dual role and undertake some health care responsibilities along with their education duties
- Advertisements for consultation forums (information sharing sessions) to be placed in newspapers Monday 5 November – Thursday 8 November 2013.
- Maribyrnong PS will pilot the model
12 / Everyone Everyday Teaching Resource
Held over for the next DERG meeting
13 / Communicating with families.. ideas and feedback (Ms Kerrie Heath)
Ms Heath asked the group to think about ways of improving communication methods with families, and forward suggestions to either Ms Hart or Ms Heath.
14 / Any other business
None raised.
Meeting Dates for 2013 – 19 February, 14 May, 6 August and 29 October