Children's Voices Centre Submission to the Review of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act

Thank you to A/Prof Kathy Cologon for leading the Children's Voices Centre Submission to the Review of the Australian Disability Discrimination Act titled "Children’s Perspectives on the Disability
Discrimination Act: Barriers, Fairness and Belonging". Kathy coordinated an insightful group of children to advise on the submission.

Here is an excerpt: 

Children’s Core Message and Key Principles
"The children who contributed to this submission shared a strong, consistent message that disability is not the problem, barriers are. Across ages, communication styles, and lived experiences, the children described a world that often excludes people through its design, attitudes, rules and expectations. They also described the world they want to live in as one that is fair, kind, accessible and welcoming to everyone. The children’s messages reflect a clear understanding of rights, inclusion and justice. They highlight the need for a Disability Discrimination Act that not only responds when discrimination occurs but proactively prevents it by requiring society to be designed for all people."

DESE National Reference Group for disability funding in Australian schools

Over the past two weeks I have continued tasks and meetings in my role on the National Reference Group to consider the disability loading review for education in Australia. The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) has engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting Australia to conduct a review of the loading. The project draws on the expertise of a National Reference Group, convened by DESE and made up of representatives from each jurisdiction department of education, National Catholic Education Commission and the Independent Schools Association. The project uses four methods to determine the costs of making adjustments for students with disability. To date 255 schools have been surveyed,  18,819 students with disability have been costed, and 40 case studies were created.

I was invited to review five of the 40 case studies, then the National Reference Group had a 4 hour meeting to discuss discrepancies between reviews undertaken.

 

Here is some of the background information for the case study review. 

"You have been nominated to participate in the Professional Judgement Approach based on your expertise in inclusive education. Please use the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data for Student with Disability (NCCD's) definition of a reasonable adjustment when you are reviewing each case study... 

"In Australia, public funding for schools is provided by the Commonwealth and State and Territory governments. Recurrent schools funding is based on the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) and includes six needs-based funding loadings for priority student cohorts and disadvantaged schools, one of which is a loading for students with disability (the loading). Since 2018, the students with disability loading has been informed by the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) which collects information about the number of students with disability in schools and the adjustments they receive to ensure they can access and participate in school education on the same basis as other students. The current loadings are based on the median costs of providing adjustments at the supplementary, substantial and extensive levels of the NCCD... 

"The definition of reasonable adjustment under the NCCD: A reasonable adjustment: 

• supports a student with disability to participate in education on the same basis as other students 
• takes into account the student’s learning needs 
• balances the interests, including safety, of all parties, such as the student with disability, staff members and other students..."