Ella Wevill’s concerns about recommendation to close specialist schools

A heartbroken mum is concerned closing specialist schools will be a ‘rough transition’ after seeing her child’s ‘light diminished’ in mainstream schooling.

One mum’s heartbreak after watching her daughter’s ‘light diminished’ in mainstream schooling has forced her to quit her job and take her child’s education into her own hands.

Parent Ella Wevill said many mainstream teachers were ill-equipped to support her daughter Rhylee Westwood’s specialised needs during school, often leaving her child unable to access her favourite classes.

Ms Wevill’s concerns come after the Disability Royal Commission’s controversial recommendation that specialist schools be closed over the next three decades.

Ella Wevill – pictured with daughter Rhylee Westwood – opens up about how recommendations from the Disability Royal Commission would affect the Territory’s specialist schools and students. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Ms Wevill said her daughter had autism and ADHD and did not meet the eligibility criteria for a specialist school but wasn’t receiving the care she needed in mainstream classrooms either.

“It had just gotten so challenging and heartbreaking to see our child’s light diminished that we were left with no choice but to remove her,” she said.

“A classroom can be very overstimulating for many children, let alone neurodiverse children – there’s so many sensory factors that can be triggering.

“(She) would have big emotional outbursts that would often result in her being sent home, and we found that instead of exploring or investigating what these triggers were to try and prevent it or build strategies to support her, it was very focused on the behaviour that had occurred.”

Having worked as a teacher for 18 years before resigning to homeschool Rhylee, Ms Wevill said the disability-inclusive training and support systems for teachers in mainstream schools were not enough.

She suggested schools consider mandatory training for disability education and for universities to look into a review of the quality and quantity of specialist education units they deliver during standard teaching qualifications.

“There are teachers in mainstream schools that are willing to upskill themselves and are wanting to learn more to be able to support neurodiverse children within their classroom, but I think a majority of teachers within mainstream education schooling are not willing to do that.

“There’s probably a little bit of a view of ‘If I wanted to work with children with additional needs, I would have gone into that area of education’.”

Ms Wevill said she believed in inclusion and equality – two of the core reasons behind the royal commission’s recommendation – but was concerned about the transition period for students.

“I know that there are schools like Forrest Parade who have a lot of success in integrating their specialist units into their mainstream schooling, but that was done (with) a lot of training, a lot of preparation,” she said.

“Unless the government is really willing to tunnel a lot of funding towards the mainstream schools to equip their environment and their educators, I think it’s going to be a very rough transition.”

Charles Darwin University arts and society faculty pro vice-chancellor Professor Ruth Wallace.

Charles Darwin University arts and society faculty pro vice-chancellor Ruth Wallace said disability education was a core subject in all teacher education programs at the university.

“Mandatory content dedicated to disability education requires preservice teachers to demonstrate their knowledge of legislation, regulations, policies and teaching strategies that support the participation and learning needs of students with a disability,” Prof Wallace said.

“In all curriculum units, pre-service teachers learn how to differentiate, which involves knowing how to modify the classroom environment and adjust content in response to the specific needs of students.”

Prof Wallace said truly preparing teachers for disability-inclusive education would require the support of allied health professionals and schools.

She said most schools followed an “integration, not inclusion” model where students with diverse needs are required to meet the “behavioural and educational norms” of mainstream schooling.

“We need a fundamental paradigm shift from our current system to one that takes individual students where they are and focuses on growth,” Prof Wallace said.

“This is not about accepting under achievement but accepting the whole student.”

But Prof Wallace said a critical barrier to inclusive education was funding and resourcing.

“Adequate human resourcing, specialist equipment and accommodations to school property often benefit the whole school community not just the child and children it was designed and implemented for,” she said.

Education Minister Mark Monaghan. Picture: Sierra Haigh

Education Minister Mark Monaghan said supporting students with disabilities was one of his top priorities.

Mr Monaghan said the NT and federal governments were working to “consider” the Disability Royal Commission’s recommendations.

“We will continue to work with NT government departments, disability stakeholders, federal government and parents to ensure if any changes are implemented, people with a disability have access to the support they need at all times,” he said.

“Across both specialist schools and non-specialist schools, NT Education has a team of qualified specialist educators who deliver high quality education to those with a disability.”

Originally published as Ella Wevill’s concerns about recommendation to close specialist schools