Full funding will boost opportunities for students with disability

16 May 2024

Every classroom in every school has students with complex needs. They are taught by dedicated teachers and support staff who, for more than a decade, have not been backed with the resources they need to do their jobs well.

That has left public schools struggling to find the resources they needed for their students and has caused far-reaching consequences for schools, teachers and students.

Public schools, which educate the largest proportion of students with disability, have been forced to allocate funds from other areas of their budgets to make sure their students receive the support they need.

Fewer than one-in-five principals say they receive enough funding to meet the needs of students with disability, according to the AEU’s 2023 State of our Schools survey. Almost 90 per cent say they are taking money from other areas of the school budget to compensate. The survey found an average of more than $120,000 was redirected each year.

But the number of students with disability and other special needs is steadily rising. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) reports that in 2023, 24.2 per cent of all students received disability support funding. That was up from 22.5 per cent in 2022 and 18 per cent in 2015.

The increase in students with complex needs is adding further to the workloads of already stretched teachers and affecting teacher wellbeing.

An AEU submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability acknowledges the extraordinary contribution made by teachers and education support staff to educate students with disability “in an under-resourced system where workload pressures are immense”.

“A well-resourced public education system that values diversity, understands social and cognitive development, engages all learners through inclusive processes and is responsive to fundamental human needs, has the potential to develop actively engaged, resilient and connected individuals who lead lives as productive members of the wider community,” the AEU submission says.

FUNDING GAP

Students with disability who do not receive extra funding support are assessed at a level known as Quality Differentiated Teaching Practice. Their needs are expected to be met through active monitoring and low-level adjustment to teaching strategies. No government support is provided at this level.

Worse, some students with varying levels of disability may not have received But the number of students with disability and other special needs is steadily rising. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) reports that in 2023, 24.2 per cent of all students received disability support funding. That was up from 22.5 per cent in 2022 and 18 per cent in 2015.

The increase in students with complex needs is adding further to the workloads of already stretched teachers and affecting teacher wellbeing.

FUNDING GAP

Worse, some students with varying levels of disability may not have received a formal diagnosis at all because of a lack of access to health services in remote areas or the stigma surrounding disability, says one Northern Territory public school principal, who asked not to be named.

“Although we’re writing the same observational reports and making teaching adjustments, without a medical diagnosis it is often insufficient for the lowest level of funding,” the principal says.

Demonstrating the funding gap, an ACARA 2021 report found that, of 592,000 students with disability in public schools, 186,000 were left without any disability loading.

The consensus among teachers is that the amount of evidence they must provide for even a lower level of funding is bureaucratic and onerous, often taking up to 10 hours per student.

“It is often self-evident. For example, if there is a hearing-impaired student in the classroom, adjustments are being made to facilitate their learning. To have to continually write observational reports, often with the same information, seems redundant,” the NT principal says.

In a landmark deal, the commonwealth and the NT government have committed to full funding of public schools over the next four years.

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says the NT is currently receiving the lowest proportion of Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) funding despite having the highest levels of need.

“The Albanese government’s commitment to provide 40 per cent of the SRS funding for the NT is a just recognition of its superior revenue raising capacity and its responsibility to ensure every child across the nation gets the support they need to succeed,” she says.

“For a system that has been starved of resources, the new funding deal will be life changing for students and teachers alike. Given the high level of compound disadvantage experienced in the NT, students with disability are set to receive a significant injection of funding for their learning needs.”

The SRS is the minimum funding benchmark amount per student, supplemented by additional needs-based loadings to address disadvantage. It was designed by the 2011 Gonski Review to give every child the opportunity to achieve their potential. But in 2017, the Morrison government capped the commonwealth government’s contribution to public schools at just 20 per cent of the SRS. In contrast, the commonwealth funds 80 per cent of the SRS for private schools. Only 1.3 per cent of public schools in Australia are fully funded, based on the SRS.

The AEU is calling on the federal government to go a step further and remove a loophole in its funding agreements with states and territories that effectively reduces school funding by four per cent using tricky accounting.

Haythorpe says it is vitally important that schools can provide the learning support and additional help that students need, particularly for students with disability who may present with complex needs.

“Some students have health and wellbeing needs, and others may experience trauma and anxiety or behavioural concerns. If systems do not provide the funding for these students, then that impacts not only on their teachers in terms of unsustainable workloads, but also the students and their access to a full and inclusive education,” says Haythorpe.

“Full funding of public schools is the only way to ensure every child gets every opportunity to succeed.”

In their December report, Improving Outcomes for All, an independent expert panel of the Review to Inform a Better and Fair Education System recommended full funding of every school under the SRS as a priority, and as soon as possible.

PROVIDING FULL SERVICES

A WA teacher, who asked not to be named, says most of their lesson preparation time is spent advocating for students to receive the therapies they need.

“Students are not going to miss out while I am their teacher, but it is tiring. Students are not going to be able to learn anything until their basic needs are met, and I’m not going to be able to teach. Without funding, teacher and aid time is spent doing all the individual behaviour management plans and escalation profiles,” the teacher says.

“I understand it’s not my job to sit in on NDIS meetings and meet with allied health professionals, but parents are overwhelmed."

Both the NDIS Review and the Improving Outcomes for All report mentioned the importance of wrap-around services and its independent, expert education panel recommends governments support schools to better connect students to a wide range of community and health services.

“The panel has seen the success of ‘full-service school’ models in connecting students to services and believes that such models must be more widely implemented to better meet the needs of students experiencing disadvantage,” the report says.

Early health screening and assessments by clinicians will assist in building the capacity of the student, helping them stay engaged and reach their potential, say teachers and principals.

“The expansion of public schools to operate as community hubs incorporating a broader suite of not only disability, but also allied and mental health services, should be fully investigated to understand what the staffing, capital and recurrent funding requirements would be,” the WA teacher says.

More funding creates an equal playing field for how students are supported. Teachers are doing their best with limited resources, but the workload is unsustainable. “At the moment, the kids who can manage their own behaviour are left behind because we don’t have adequate staffing. More funding would mean all students with disabilities are seen and heard, and become participating, independent members of society, as they deserve,” they say.

In the same way that every dollar invested in the NDIS sees $2.25 go back into the economy, a 2023 report by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work estimated that for every dollar invested in public schools, there would be a $2 to $4 return to the economy. Additionally, reducing the unemployment and labour force participation gap between people with and without disability by just one third would result in a cumulative increase of $43 billion in Australia, according to Deloitte Access Economics research.

The AEU’s For Every Child campaign is advocating for full funding for public schools to provide specialised training for existing staff, more teachers and improved access to professional development. The campaign also supports time for teachers to meet with students and their supports to make learning plans and classroom adjustments, and to meet with other staff members and allied health professionals.

By Nicole Smith

This article was origionally published in the Australian Educator, Autumn 2024