Disability Royal Commission split over future of ‘special’ schools

Special schools which only educate people with disability should be abolished within 30 years because they entrench a ‘lifetime’ of inequality, three of the Disability Royal Commissioners find, sparking division.

The Disability Royal Commission ceremonial closing sitting in Sydney. A woman is visibly upset by a video played at the event. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

Special schools which only educate people with disability should be abolished in Australia within 30 years because they entrench a “lifetime” of inequality in employment and housing, three of the disability royal commissioners say.

But chair Ronald Sackville and Commissioners John Ryan and Andrea Mason disagree and believe a fair education system could involve separating people with disability from the mainstream in some instances, as long as they are empowered to make an informed choice.

“Non-mainstream schools (as we prefer to describe them) primarily enrolling students with complex support needs should not and need not operate in a manner that isolates those students from their peers,” they said.

“It is fundamental in a free society that parents and guardians should be entitled to make decisions in good faith about the education setting that best suits the interests and needs of their children.”

Despite the split, all commissioners endorsed a recommendation made in the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with disability that all states and territories should amend education Acts to create a legal entitlement for students with disability to enrol in a local mainstream school.

Another key recommendation says as much as possible, state educational authorities should facilitate students enrolled in non-mainstream schools to participate in educational, cultural and sporting activities with their peers in the mainstream.

As well, they should create partnerships between non-mainstream and mainstream to encourage regular interaction between students.

Commissioners Barbara Bennett, Rhonda Galbally and Alastair McEwin rejected the idea a separate system should exist.

“We three Commissioners hold the view that segregating people with disability for study, work, living and recreation should be systematically phased out entirely,” the report noted.

“In our view, segregated education stems from, and contributes to, the devaluing of people with disability, which is a root cause of the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation people with disability experience in education and beyond.”

They further pointed out that separating disabled children is the “first step to a lifetime of segregation in employment, housing and community participation.

Laying out a timeline, Commissioners Bennett, Galbally and McEwin said special schools should be phased out in 28 years. They said no new separate schools should be built from 2025, nor should separate classes or units within mainstream schools be included from the same year.

Special schools should stop taking enrolments of children with disability from 2032, placements in special schools should cease altogether by 2041 and the separate system should be entirely abolished by 2052.

Despite the split in views on the continuation of special schools, all of the commissioners agreed students with disability who receive “inadequate” funding do not receive inclusive education.

They said some schools report a lack of appropriate funding can mean students who need it won’t receive necessary adjustments, and it is used as a reason to deny enrolment of students with disability or reasonable adjustments.

Disability funding, including the estimate needed per student and an additional loading for schools, should be reviewed every five years to ensure students and institutions get the correct amount of support.

All commissioners decried “gatekeeping practices”, which occurs when schools deny students with disability access to school or informally discourage them from attending. They urged state and territory governments to create a legal entitlement for students with disability to enrol in mainstream school.

Among other key recommendations were that state and territory governments should create or expand independent complaint offices, and that the federal government should develop a “national road map to inclusive education”.

All commissioners agreed inclusive education will involve boosting specialist expertise and in some cases making physical changes to classrooms and extra-curricular practices.