Untangling inclusive education in Australia

Inclusive education has become a hot topic over the last 12 months. As the proportion of children needing learning adjustments increases, the conversation about how best to support these students is becoming increasingly urgent.

Between the findings of the Disability Royal Commission, NDIS Review and multiple media reports, a picture is emerging of education and disability support systems that are floundering. The NDIS Review said they were ‘shocked to hear’ about the extent that kids with disability can’t go to school, have low attendance or need home schooling.

In this article, we’ll dive into Australia’s complex inclusive education system. Including a look at disability loading funding, the role of the NDIS and the recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission and NDIS Review.

Disability funding in schools: A story of why we can’t have nice things

Disability funding in schools is so complex, it manages to make the NDIS look simple.

The federal and state and territory governments both provide funding to support students with disability.

The federal government uses the School Resourcing Standard (SRS) to calculate the dollar amount schools need per student. There are six additional loadings that can be added to the SRS, including a disability loading.

The Student with Disability loading is calculated based on data from the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). In NCCD reporting, schools provide information on the number of students they have with a disability, and the level of adjustment each student needs to participate in the classroom. NCCD levels are based on the professional judgement of teachers, and do not require a formal diagnosis.

NCCD defines four levels of adjustments: extensive, substantial, supplementary and quality differentiated teaching practices. There are 300,000 students in ‘quality differentiated teaching practices’, but it does not attract any funding. In the other three categories, funding ranges from on average of $5,694 to $42,249 per student.

How schools receive disability funding (and how much) depends on the type of school and which jurisdiction it is in:

Independent schools: the federal government provides at least 80% of the SRS funding directly to independent schools. They also provide 80% of any additional loadings. The rest of the school’s funding comes from state and territory governments and private contributions.
Catholic schools: The federal government provides the same level of funding to Catholic schools, but it goes through a middleman. The funding is provided to Catholic bodies - either a Catholic education authority or a diocesan depending on the state. These bodies have their own criteria for distributing the funding between schools.
Public schools: the federal government provides some of the funding for public schools to state-based education departments. The amount is calculated as roughly 20% of the SRS, and 20% of any additional loadings, for each student in public schools in that jurisdiction. The rest of public school funding comes from state and territory governments, with a very small amount coming from private contributions. Every state and territory have their own criteria for deciding how much disability funding schools receive. Some states and territories use a system aligned with NCCD, but in others it is based on a student’s diagnosis.

The system as it currently stands, disadvantages public schools in numerous ways:

State and territories are the major funders of public schools, but on average they provide less disability funding. In 2021, the Australian government contributed approx. $3.4b in disability funding for schools, and states and territories provided approx. $1.8b.
As Rick Morton documents in the Saturday Paper, in 2017, the federal government cut its contributions to public schools from 25% of SRS to 20%. However, states and territories were not required to increase their contributions. Consequently, most public schools receive less than 100% of SRS. This has implications for the disability loading, which is calculated as a percentage on top of the SRS amount a school receives.
Getting the best funding outcomes for students with disability requires a lot of admin - just ask any teacher or school administrator! Private schools have more resources to dedicate to the task.
The federal government, who provides more funding for private schools than the states and territories, uses NCCD data to calculate disability funding. However, the criteria that states and territories use doesn’t always capture as many students. The Guardian reports that in NSW, 148,000 public school students are in the top three NCCD categories, but only 17,800 students received individualised funding.

When the funding reaches the school, it can be used at the discretion of principals. Consequently, there is very little oversight of the spending.

Mainstream and special schools

There are over 800,000 students with a disability in Australian mainstream schools. Schools have an obligation to support these students under the Disability Education Standard (2005) and the Disability Discrimination Act (1992).

Some mainstream schools also have special units or classrooms that are only for students with disability.

There are also 46,700 students in special schools that cater only to children with disability. Each state and territory has its own enrolment criteria for special schools, but they are generally for children with high support needs. Between 2010-2022, there was a 26% growth in the number of special schools in Australia.

The role of the NDIS

The division of responsibility between the NDIS and the education system is - like every NDIS interface - complicated and contested.

According to the Applied Principles and Tables of Services (APTOS), the education system is responsible for making adjustments to personalise a student’s learning. This can include:

Learning assistance and inclusion support.
Reasonable campus modifications, assistive technology (AT) for educational purposes and AT that is fixed to the school.
Transport to school activities.
General training, resources and support for school staff.
Therapy for education purposes.
Case coordination, if a significant proportion relates to education.

Meanwhile, according to APTOS and the transitional Rules to the define an NDIS support, the NDIS funds disability supports that are not primarily for the purpose of learning. This can include:

Personal support needed regardless of whether the student is at school (i.e. Support with feeding, ventilation, etc.).
Aids and equipment that are not reasonable adjustments for schools (i.e. Wheelchairs, hearing aids, etc.).
Specialist transport to and from school.
Specialised training for teachers and school staff (i.e. Behaviour support training).
Therapy to build a student’s functional capacity.
Specialised support for life transitions.
Coordination between the NDIS and other supports.

There are some blurry lines here that can lead to a responsibility tug-of-war between NDIS and education. For example, general training for teachers is an education responsibility, but specialised training for teachers is funded by the NDIS. Clear as day, right?

What did the Disability Royal Commission (DRC) recommend?

The DRC had a lot to say on inclusive education.

One of the most controversial topics was the future of special schools. In fact, as you probably know, it was so controversial the Commissioners themselves couldn’t reach an agreement. Commissioners Bennett, Galbally and McEwin recommended phrasing out special education, so that by 2051 there were no students in special schools or special classrooms. But Chair Sackville and Commissioners Mason and Ryan had other ideas. They recommended that, wherever feasible, special schools be relocated close to mainstream schools, and greater partnerships be fostered between the schools.

When the Australian and state and territory governments responded to the Disability Royal Commission recommendations on July 31^st, 2024, they didn’t take a position on the special school debate. Instead, they ‘noted’ both sets of recommendations. Making it clear that they very much do not want to get involved.

All governments accepted several other recommendations related to education ‘in principle’. It’s hard to know whether these recommendations will ever be actioned. The government says it agrees with the policy intent behind the recommendations but is still working out the implementation details. Nevertheless, the response stops short of a firm commitment.

Recommendations accepted in principle include:

Preventing inappropriate discipline practices, like excluding children from the classroom.
Creating better guidelines for schools on reasonable adjustments and disability funding.
Improving the relationships and communication between schools and parents and students.
Improving the capabilities of the education workforce.
Improving data collection, including collecting data on student experience and outcomes.
Creating a complaints management system independent of schools.
Creating a roadmap towards inclusive education.
To improve disability funding by reviewing NCCD levels every 5 years, all jurisdictions aligning their distribution criteria with NCCD rather than based on diagnosis, and improving transparency around funding and how it is spent.

What did the NDIS Review recommend?

The NDIS Review also acknowledged that the current education system is not always meeting the needs of children with disability. Their second recommendation was to improve the inclusivity of mainstream services and resolve NDIS interface issues. Under this recommendation, there were two supporting actions specific to education.

Firstly, they recommended the NDIA, Department of Education and states and territories all sit down and come up with a plan for how the education system and NDIS can work together better.

Secondly, like the DRC, the NDIS Review also recommended all governments take steps to improve inclusive education. This would include strengthening legislative instruments, monitoring school compliance, greater training for education staff, and ensuring disability loadings are set at the right levels.

The government has not yet responded to the NDIS Review recommendations.

The proportion of kids who need learning adjustments in Australian schools is increasing. The DRC reported that between 2017 to 2022, the number of students with a disability grew by 4.7% a year. In coming years, there’s going to be a reckoning about how well the education system is supporting these children, and what role the NDIS should play.

We all know that a good education can change a person’s entire life. Australia was one of the first places in the world to make education compulsory. Our challenge now is to make sure children with disability are included in that vision.