Figures from the 2016 Nationally Consistent Collection of Data confirm there is a crisis in disability education in Australia, said AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe in a media release on Saturday.
“This annual census shows 469,000 students have a disability or learning difficulty but schools are only receiving funding to support 200,000 students with disability,” Ms Haythorpe said.
“That is over a quarter of a million children with disability that schools are not funded to support. The question now is what action will Education Minister Simon Birmingham take to deal with this chronic underfunding?
“The Coalition promised to fund schools to support all students with disability from 2015 and it hasn’t happened. Now with a $3 billion cut to Gonski funding kids across the country are going to continue to miss out.
“The lack of action on disability is a national shame. Every year that we delay is another cohort of students with disability who don’t get the support at school they need to equip them for work and life,” said Ms Haythorpe.
Read the full media release here.
This data comes as the NSW Government is holding an inquiry into the provision of education for students with disability in NSW. You can read more about this inquiry, and Federation’s response, here and here.