“All Australian students are entitled to a high quality education that meets their particular needs,” said Independent Education Union of Australia Federal Secretary Chris Watt.
“To date, the needs of students with disabilities have not been adequately met and schools have struggled to meet the resource needs,” he said.
To ensure that schools have the capacity to meet the educational needs of all students, the IEUA has argued for the development of a framework of teaching and learning resource standards for high quality teaching and learning conditions for students with disabilities with regard to:
the appropriate levels of specialist teaching and support staff
class sizes which allow optimum teaching and learning for integrated classes
time release for curriculum and program modification and planning, and liaising with parents and external agencies and
access to appropriate and relevant professional development for teachers and support staff
“The IEUA notes that ‘disability’ is defined differently across all states and territories for the purposes of determining access to funding. The consequence of this is that in some states, students with learning disabilities do not fall within the eligibility criteria for funding,” said Mr Watt.
“Unfairly, students miss out on reasonable entitlements and teachers struggle to provide the best learning opportunities they can in very difficult circumstances.”
“This is important work and in conjunction with the school funding review, the IEUA hopes that the inadequacy of resources and funds for students with disabilities in the non-government school sector is addressed.”
Contact:
Chris Watt
Federal Secretary Independent Education Union
Ph (02) 6273 3107 0419 259 143