Australian Government Senate Inquiry on students with disability in the school system

Today Gaenor Dixon (President of Speech Pathology Australia) and I were invited to give evidence to the Australian Government Senate  Standing Committee on Education and Employment  addressing Current levels of access and attainment for students with disability in the school system, and the impact on students and families associated with inadequate levels of support. The terms of reference of the Senate  Standing Committee on Education and Employment are here

Gaenor Dixon (SPA President) and Sharynne McLeod presenting at the Senate Inquiry

As part of the submission Linda Harrison, Cen (Audrey) Wang and I were commissioned by Speech Pathology Australia to undertake research into the NAPLAN outcomes for children with communication impairment.

• Speech Pathology Australia's submission is here 
• Speech Pathology Australia's news release is here
• Charles Sturt University's news release is here

Australia's media covered our presentation in most of the major newspapers (164 Australian newspapers on 25th September):

• The Australian
• Sydney Morning Herald
• The Age
• The Courier Mail
• The Mercury

 Here is an excerpt from Speech Pathology Australia's submission

NAPLAN results were analysed for 4,332 children within the K cohort of LSAC whose parents responded to questions about children’s speech and language when children were 4-5 years and 6-7 years and who had linked data to NAPLAN... For this research, the Kindergarten (K) cohort’s NAPLAN results for years 3, 5 and 7 were analysed" (p. 22)

"Analysis showed significant differences in the NAPLAN outcomes for children with speech/language problems compared to children without these problems. This was even after controlling for sex, SEP [socio-economic position], LBOTE [language background other than English], disability and hearing problems. Children with speech/language problems had poorer NAPLAN outcomes for every NAPLAN test at every year of testing. Importantly, the results indicate that both groups of students’ NAPLAN outcomes did improve over time – however the children with speech/language problems had consistently lower scores and did not ‘close the gap’ in their NAPLAN outcomes over time" (p. 24)

 

Dr Ronelle Hutchinson (SPA policy), Senator Sue Lines (Chair),
Gaenor Dixon (SPA President) and Sharynne McLeod (CSU)