Education Summit

Recently Children with Disability Australia (CDA) hosted a Summit of leaders in the education and disability sectors to discuss the progress of education reform and to identify the key priority areas for action.

Following the passing of the Australian Education Act 2013, a new funding model will be rolled out in participating States at the beginning of the 2014 school year, with a core amount per student, and additional funding loadings for disadvantaged students. The loading for students with disability is yet to be developed, and is scheduled to be introduced in 2015. Existing funding programs will remain largely the same for the 2014 school year. A national data collection program regarding students with disability will start in October this year.

There was clear agreement at the Summit that it is vital the one year delay in implementing the disability loading does not lead to students with disability being left behind yet again. Both the education and disability sectors need to be vigilant to ensure that the Government's commitment to implementation of the disability component of the funding model in 2015 is upheld, and that there is no further delay.

The loading is a key part of the funding model and will lead to more resources in schools for students with disability. It is acknowledged that a per-student funding amount in isolation will not fix all the barriers faced by students with disability. Issues such as school culture, bullying and vilification, training for teachers in inclusive education, accessibility and technology will need to be addressed in other ways.

So, while getting the loading in place is a key short term objective, CDA is of the view that a longer term strategy is needed to deal with these broader issues which focusses on the reform and cultural change needed.

At the summit CDA proposed developing a National Plan for Students with Disability. Such a plan would provide a blueprint for acting on these big reform issues across the country, and would set out clear roles for governments as well as education and disability organisations. A similar national education plan exists for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and it tackles a range of long term issues. All attendees at the leaders summit support this initiative at the Summit and CDA will begin the work needed to bring it together.

CDA will continue to work with the education sector and broader community to impress on all governments the importance of getting this reform right. This means that the loading for students with disability must be developed comprehensively and on time in 2015, and that a National Plan for Students with Disability needs to direct the long term change that is needed.

Please feel free to contact CDA if you would like to discuss further our work regarding education.
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> Stephanie Gotlib
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