Introduction

Children achieve the best educational outcomes when they receive inspired teaching, are embraced by their schools and fellow students, and have the support of engaged families and friends.

We are committed to building a more inclusive education system, one where all students feel welcomed and are learning to their fullest capability.

The Department of Education is committed to providing children and young people with disability, their families and the broader community with an education system that meets their needs.

Teachers across New South Wales, in mainstream schools and specialist settings, are working with students with disability to achieve remarkable outcomes. However, rising demand, as well as an increasing shortage of staff with specialist training mean our system is facing unprecedented pressures.

Our research tells us that service provision differs from school to school across the state and that family experiences are inconsistent. Our efforts to address these issues received further focus during the Parliamentary Inquiry, Students with a disability or special needs in New South Wales schools, which found that there was room for improvement across a range of areas.

We accepted the findings and are acting on the recommendations of the Inquiry. Since this report, we have been working closely with our partners across the disability and education sectors to build our shared commitment to improve the education outcomes of children and young people with disability. We are committed to building a more inclusive education system, one where all students feel welcomed and are learning to their fullest capability. This strategy is evidence of that commitment. Together with educators, disability experts and families, we have put together a plan for an education system that does better by children and young people with disability, and enhances support for those providing that education - our teachers and school staff.

Over the following sections, we share our vision, consider what success looks like, detail the case for change and set out our plan of action.

Alternative formats

Our strategy is available as an accessible document:

• Disability Strategy - online (PDF 2536.68KB) (bold and best on a large screen)

You can also access it in multiple formats, including print-at-home, text-only, easy read, audio and braille:

• Disability Strategy - print at home (PDF 825.11KB) (single pages, less ink)
• Disability Strategy - text only (PDF 177.58KB)
• Disability Strategy - easy read (PDF 2738.89KB) (simplified text)
• Disability Strategy - audio (SoundCloud file)

Our vision

Building a better system

We aspire to build an education system in which children with disability thrive academically, develop good physical, mental and emotional health, and gain the skills to live a fulfilling, independent life post-school.

Our vision is to be Australia's best education system and one of the finest in the world for all children and young people.

We are committed to continuously improving the education experiences and outcomes of all students in NSW. We envisage an education system where all schools and classrooms have the support they need to educate and include the range of children and young people in their local community.

People with disability have the same human rights as everyone else, including the right to participate in and contribute to social and economic life. Education has a fundamental role to play in supporting these rights.

Specifically, we want to ensure that all children and young people attending NSW schools are known, valued and cared for and that they:

• Are welcomed and included in their local school community
• Enjoy a wide range of experiences
• Learn to their fullest capability, achieving demonstrable learning, wellbeing and independence outcomes, in a safe, supportive and healthy environment
• Receive an excellent education, with expertise available to support access to the full curriculum in a way that is relevant to them
• Build friendships, interact with other students, and feel a sense of belonging

What we mean by inclusive education

Inclusive education means that all students, regardless of disability, ethnicity, socio-economic status, nationality, language, gender, sexual orientation or faith, can access and fully participate in learning, alongside their similar aged peers, supported by reasonable adjustments and teaching strategies tailored to meet their individual needs.

Inclusion is embedded in all aspects of school life, and is supported by culture, policies and everyday practices.

What success looks like

In consultation with educators, disability experts and families, carers and many others, we have sought to identify what success looks like. A more inclusive education system is one where:

• Students with disability are learning to their fullest capability.
• Parents and carers are treated like partners in their child's education.
• Teachers possess the necessary skills to effectively educate children with disability, and feel confident doing so.
• School leaders wholeheartedly support and enable inclusive education practices.
• Specialists work alongside teachers, providing support and guidance.

Children and young people with disability are the main focus of our strategy, yet they are not the only ones who stand to benefit from our proposals.

In moving to a more inclusive system with support that better reflects the changing needs of children we will improve the experience of teachers, families and other students.

Students will

• Feel welcomed into their local school community
• Experience more responsiveness to changes in their needs
• Have more involvement in decisions about their education
• Experience smoother transitions between schools and settings
• Receive a clearer demonstration of learning outcomes from teachers

Families will

• Be treated as partners and recognised as experts of their child
• Receive earlier identification and support for their children
• Find it easier to connect with other families with similar needs
• Have better and easier experiences with our system (including complaints)
• Be provided with more consistent information from schools, NDIS providers and health services

Schools will

• Have more resources, and those resources will be more flexible
• Find it easier to find and use evidence-based professional learning and tools
• Be able to access specialist teachers and other experts
• Experience more celebration and sharing of what schools are doing well
• Be supported by facilities that are progressively designed and built to cater better to all students needs

The case for change

We want to ensure that every child and young person in our school system is realising their full potential.

This means that we need to address a range of factors that are affecting the education outcomes of children and young people with disability.

From rising demand to increasingly complex student needs, these factors have contributed to a wide variation in experiences.

In short, there has been a gap between the promise of inclusive education and the 'lived reality' that some children and their families experience in NSW schools.

During the 2016 Parliamentary Inquiry, some families spoke of low expectations, social exclusion and inadequate education outcomes.

Conversely, other families reported amazing experiences and noted that their children were flourishing, academically and socially, in mainstream and specialist settings alike. We want to replicate these positive experiences in all our schools.

To deliver optimal outcomes for children and young people with disability we must address a number of challenges now facing our system.

During the course of extensive consultation with teachers, other education experts, families, carers, and other stakeholders, a number of challenges standing between us and a more inclusive education system were identified.

Demand is growing

Demand for disability support is growing at four times the rate of enrolment growth.

Compared to 1%¹ overall annual enrolment growth in NSW public schools, we're seeing 4%² growth in students receiving targeted individual support.³

Students accessing specialist support.⁷

Between 2013 and 2017:

• Places in schools for specific purposes - up 2%
• Places in support classes in mainstream schools - up 4%
• Students in mainstream classes accessing only integration funding support - up 5%

We need the skills of our workforce to keep pace

The evidence is clear. Quality teaching is the single most important determinant of a good education.

Currently, only 9%⁴ of NSW teachers are approved to teach special education, and the number of new special education graduates each year is going down, not up. With 61%⁵ of supporting teachers now over the age of 50 (compared to 43%⁶ of all teachers), the need to invest more in developing a strong pipeline of teachers with relevant skills is undeniable.

9% or 6,000⁸ teachers are approved to teach special education. They:

• Support mainstream classroom teachers and other school staff
• Teach specialised support classes

Age of itinerant teachers, learning and support teachers and assistant principals, and transition teachers⁹

• 21-30 years 2%
• 31-40 years 13%
• 41-50 years 23%
• 51-60 years 35%
• 61-70 years 25%
• 71-80 years 1%

61% are over the age of 50.

A changed landscape

The last few years have seen a profound shift in public awareness when it comes to disability. Legislative measures, such as the NSW Disability Inclusion Act (2014) and the service changes in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, have helped foster increased understanding and expectations, leading to people with disability being more widely recognised for their contributions to society.

At the same time, the prevalence of disability in our schools has been changing. From 2013-17, enrolments of students with autism increased by ~14.5%¹⁰ per year while enrolments of students with mental health needs grew by 5.4%¹¹ per year.

Over the same period, enrolments of children with intellectual disability decreased by 1.5%¹², yet students with intellectual disability still accounted for 40%¹³ of total enrolment of students with disability in 2017.

Students supported by funded programs distributed by disability type 2017¹⁶

• Behaviour 2%
• Sensory 2%
• Physical 6%
• Autism 33%
• Mental health 17%
• Intellectual 40%

Average annual growth by disability type based on 2013-2017 funded programs¹⁷

• Physical -0.3%
• Sensory -1.7%
• Behaviour -5.2%
• Intellectual -1.5%
• Mental health 5.4%
• Autism 14.5%

A question of confidence, not will

Despite significant uptake of existing specialised professional development opportunities, many NSW teachers report a lack of confidence in teaching children and young people with disability.

In a 2015 Australian Education Union survey, 61%¹⁴ of NSW respondents said that their training and professional development did not give them the skills and expertise to teach the full range of children and young people. In 2016¹⁵, The NSW Auditor-General reported that teachers felt they lacked expertise and wanted greater support to help manage student behaviour, and to better support students with autism and mental health needs. It is a signal that we need to further expand our range of high-quality professional development opportunities - particularly with respect to those students.

We're short on evidence

One of the biggest challenges we face in reforming the education system to enable children and young people with disability to achieve consistently good outcomes is building an adequate evidence base.

Currently, there is little consensus on how to measure learning outcomes for students with disability.

As a result, there is very little research that robustly compares the results of children with similar needs across settings and practice. This makes it difficult to confidently identify and scale the approaches that work best for children and young people.

Our plan

The opportunities

The department, in consultation with teachers, families, carers, other education experts and stakeholders, identified four areas crucial to reform. If we make the most of these opportunities, we will be well on our way to improving outcomes and experiences for students with disability in NSW.

1. Strengthen support: Investing in teachers and other support staff.
2. Increase resources & flexibility: Enabling schools to operate with more flexibility.
3. Improve the family experience: Making experiences better and easier.
4. Track outcomes: Building an evidence base to measure progress.

1. Strengthen support

We need to invest in teachers and other support staff.

That means more teachers and dedicated support staff with expertise in supporting students with disability. It means better ongoing training of the teachers we already have - both those trained specifically to support children with disability, and those who are not. We will achieve this through improved induction, improved professional development, and by providing opportunities for collaboration, mentoring and coaching. Taken together, these measures will vastly improve the capacity of mainstream schools to meet the needs of children and young people with disability.

We will redesign learning spaces so that they meet the needs of the full range of students, by strengthening the early involvement of disability education specialists in our designs, builds and refurbishment work.

Work is already underway to strengthen support for students and teachers.

This work includes quality assurance of all disability-related professional development programs. We are supporting schools with the roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). We are also improving the process for identifying and responding to students with additional needs, and looking at ways to strengthen access to specialist allied health and therapy services.

2. Increase resources & flexibility

One-size-fits-all models don’t work.

In order to deliver the best outcomes for children and young people with disability, our schools need to operate with more flexibility.

That’s why we’re proposing more resources as well as a resourcing model that allows individual student needs to be met, whatever their learning environment.

We’ll share success stories within the system, improve connections between schools and families of children with similar needs, and allocate resources more flexibly to better support them at key transition points.

3. Improve the family experience

The families of children with disability are often faced with incredible pressures.

We are committed to ensuring that the experience of those families is supportive, transparent and straightforward.

We are currently working to ensure our systems help us act on concerns or complaints more quickly.

Over time, families and schools will receive more consistent support at the times that children are moving into school, between schools and graduating. We will improve the coordination between Education, Health, NDIS, external providers and advocacy groups for families. And we will work to improve the understanding of disability across the Department and communities.

4. Track outcomes

We’re serious about success, which is why we’re committed to building an evidence base against which we will evaluate our progress.

We will improve measures and track outcomes around all students’ learning growth, wellbeing (physical, emotional and mental) and independence at regular intervals.

We will invest in research to understand shifts in disability types and identify what practices support the best outcomes.

And we will use the School Excellence Framework to further improve school effectiveness.

These measures will provide the department, teachers and families with a good understanding of how students are progressing, and allow us to make any changes as necessary.

Our outcomes framework

• Learning growth: Students demonstrate progress in learning against the curriculum. Families and children report high expectations for achievement of meaningful learning goals.
• Wellbeing: Children and young people have demonstrable physical, emotional and mental health outcomes.
• Independence: Young people have the skills and capacity to live a post-school life as independently as possible and to thrive in their community.

Immediate focus areas

Join us as we improve education for all

The department would like to acknowledge every teacher, principal, parent, carer, student, education or disability expert, and every other stakeholder who has contributed to the formulation of our strategy.

The strategy is the product of many months of collaboration, debate and revision, and could not have been produced without the enthusiastic contributions of many people.

We are keen to keep building on the successes we're having today in the hope of realising a more inclusive system tomorrow. To that end, we will continue conversations with stakeholders as we implement the strategy.

For more information

If you have any questions about this strategy, email: disability.strategy@det.nsw.edu.au and you can also sign up for updates to the strategy and its implementation.

References

1. Source: NSW Department of Education Full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolments in NSW government schools (1970-2017). Notes: Average annual growth rate of number of students enrolled between 2013 and 2017.
2. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Average annual growth rate of number of students receiving targeted individual support between 2013 and 2017.
3. Targeted individual support is funding or other types of support provided to students who have particular learning needs, such as students with disability who require moderate to high levels of adjustments in their learning.
4. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Percentage of the number of teachers approved to teach special education as at May 2018 over total number of teachers as at 30 June 2018.
5. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: 61% of the total number of itinerant teachers, learning and support teachers and assistant principals, and transition teachers as at May 2018.
6. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: 43% of total number of all teachers as at May 2018.
7. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Number of students accessing specialist support between 2013 and 2017 and average annual growth rate of number of students accessing each type of specialist support.
8. NSW Department of Education. Notes: Percentage of the number of teachers approved to teach special education as at May 2018 over the total number of teachers as at 30 June 2018.
9. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Percentages as at May 2018.
10. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Average annual growth rate of number of students enrolled with autism as their primary disability between 2013 - 2017.
11. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Average annual growth rate of number of students enrolled with mental health needs as their primary disability between 2013 - 2017.
12. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Average annual growth rate of number of students enrolled with intellectual disability as their primary disability between 2013 - 2017.
13. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Percentage of students enrolled with intellectual disability as the primary disability over the total number of students receiving targeted individual support in 2017.
14. Source: Australian Education Union, State of our Schools Survey 2015.
15. Source: New South Wales Auditor-General's Report 2016, Performance Audit, Supporting students with disability in NSW public schools.
16. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Percentage of students enrolled with the respective primary disability over total numbers of students supported by funded programs in 2017.
17. Source: NSW Department of Education. Notes: Average annual growth rate of students enrolled with the respective primary disability between 2013-2017. Behaviour needs are captured in the program data, however, students do not require a disability diagnosis or confirmation to access specialist education services.