educator_autumn2021

Australian

Left behind

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// Federal funding fails students with disability

Teacher training

// Are new educators set up for success?

Finding connection How strong relationships are paving the way to inclusive education

Inclusive by design // Building for students with diverse needs

AUTUMN 2021 // ISSUE 109 $9.95

Support network // Three ESPs share their stories

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Contents ON THE COVER Students at Waratah Specialist Developmental School in Melbourne with principal Jenny Wallace.

PHOTOGRAPHY Dean Golja

A summary of the AEU financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2020 are available at aeufederal.org.au

10 06 NEWS IN BRIEF • Global youth talent search • Gap between Australian schools among widest in the world • New book on education during COVID • Hopeful signs for climate action

08 FEDERAL FUNDING FAIL The government's revised funding benchmarks have left schools struggling to fund to critical resources and support for students with disability.

10

LINKS TO LEARNING Why strong relationships are integral to the success of strategies for inclusive education.

26 19

HEART OF THE WORKLOAD Is teacher training doing enough to prepare new educators for the rising number of students with additional needs?

22 DOUBLE THE DISADVANTAGE It's time for the government to step up support for students with disability in regional, rural and remote communities and the people who educate them.

26

30 34 A TIME TO LEAD Mapping a route to stronger teacher leadership in a post-pandemic world will require global unity.

36 FOLLOWING THE EVIDENCE Twenty-nine proven strategies to help teachers tackle the challenges of inclusive education.

REGULARS 04 From the president 05 Know your union 38 Recess

INCLUSIVITY BY DESIGN Why building to accommodate students’ diverse needs benefits the whole school community.

16

30

CULTURAL CONNECTIONS

SUPPORT NETWORK

Educators look close to home to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students build a framework for success.

We spoke to three Education Support Personnel ensuring students with disability recieve a quality education.

www.aeufederal.org.au

AUTUM N 2 0 2 1 // 3

From the president

Education to meet the needs of every child Some of the most startling statistics to come out of last year’s AEU State of our Schools survey centred on teaching students with disabilities.

A staggering 90 per cent of primary school teachers and principals say they need more funding to meet the needs of students with disabilities and one in three teachers told us they feel unprepared by their university education to teach students with significant needs.

In the comments, members told us they were “stretched” and find this work “very challenging”, saying lack of funding compounded by unwieldy and timeconsuming assessment procedures, means that when funding finally does come through, it is not enough and doesn’t always reflect the real needs of the child.

It’s clear that Australia is falling far short of delivering on the fundamental right of all children to access education that is responsive to their needs.

As a result of the survey findings, the AEU has been working hard to update policy on students with disability and I’ve been visiting schools and experiencing the classroom challenges first-hand.

It isn’t possible to summarise all the amazing and diverse work that goes on across all public school settings in just one article, so we decided to devote this issue to educating students with disability – and we still had to leave so much out.

Many of these stories are heart-warming, but they also make me frustrated that the federal government relies on the goodwill of staff to continue to provide high-quality education in the face of shrinking federal disability funding. This shifts the responsibility of finding funds onto individual schools.

Yet, as schools battle with critical funding cuts, improved medical diagnoses and a better

Australian Educator

(ISSN: 0728-8387) is published for the Australian Education Union by Hardie Grant Media.

The magazine is circulated to members of the AEU nationally.

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Hardie Grant Media

Ground Level, Building 1 658 Church St, Richmond 3121 Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Fax: (03) 8520 6422 Email: educator@hardiegrant.com

A strong and fully resourced public education system, backed with clear policy settings to guide practice, is the only guarantee that all students will be able to access the inclusive, quality education they deserve.

AEU and subscription enquiries Australian Education Union Federal Office, PO Box 1158 South Melbourne Victoria 3205 Tel: (03) 9693 1800 Fax: (03) 9693 1805 Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au facebook.com/AEUfederal @AEUfederal

Editor Susan Hopgood Publisher Fiona Hardie Account manager Hannah Louey Managing editor Jo Davy Commissioning editor Tracey Evans Subeditor Leanne Tolra Art director Dallas Budde Design Natalie Lachina

understanding of different conditions mean more students are presenting at their local schools with different, unfamiliar and in some instances, less visible educational needs.

It’s clear that nothing short of systemic change is needed. A strong and fully resourced public education system, backed with clear policy settings to guide practice, is the only guarantee that all students will be able to access the inclusive, quality education they deserve.

Proper resourcing would allow teachers to better support one another, but also – as one of the key threads of all these stories shows – it would give educators the time to build solid relationships with students, parents and carers, and acknowledge their preferences.

But funding is not enough. Without adequate training significant workplace, health and safety risks can arise, particularly when managing challenging behaviour. It’s important that the rights of every child are always balanced with the right of teachers for a safe workplace.

I’m encouraged to see that the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability has recognised this, selecting education funding and pre- and post-qualification training as some of the key areas for further inquiry.

We know the transformative change needed to make the education system more inclusive is possible.

The NDIS has proven that addressing inequity and underfunding can be done. It is probably one of the most significant social policy reforms in our recent history and it just took the will of the government. It may not be perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.

As educators we have high expectations for all of our students. We also have high expectations that the government should step up and provide the resources and policy to play its part in making these expectations a reality. Until they do, the AEU remains committed to calling out government for reversing funding cuts and not properly addressing the needs of students and teachers at every opportunity.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

Advertising manager Kerri Spillane Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Email: kerrispillane@ hardiegrant.com

Audited circulation: 132,128 (1 October 2019 _ 30 September 2020)

Printer Ovato 42 Boorea Street Lidcombe NSW 2141

Copyright rests with the writers, the AEU and Hardie Grant Media. No part of this pub­lication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the copyright holders. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily the official policy of the AEU.

Know your union With a federal office and branches or associated bodies in every state and territory, the AEU represents more than 188,000 members industrially and professionally.

AEU FEDERAL 120 Clarendon St, Southbank, VIC, 3006 Phone: +61 3 9693 1800 Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au Web: aeufederal.org.au

Federal president Correna Haythorpe Federal secretary Susan Hopgood

AEU ACT BRANCH Branch president Angela Burroughs Branch secretary Glenn Fowler 40 Brisbane Avenue Barton 2600 Phone: 02 6272 7900 Email: aeuact@aeuact.org.au Web: aeuact.org.au

AEU NT BRANCH Branch president Jarvis Ryan Branch secretary Adam Lampe 3/8 Totem Road Coconut Grove 0811 Phone: 08 8948 5399 Email: admin@aeunt.org.au Web: aeunt.org.au

AEU SA BRANCH Branch president Lara Golding Branch secretary Leah York 163 Greenhill Road Parkside 5063 Phone: 08 8172 6300 Email: aeusa@aeusa.asn.au Web: aeusa.asn.au

AEU TAS BRANCH Branch president Helen Richardson Branch state manager Brian Wightman 1/32 Patrick Street Hobart 7000 Phone: 03 6234 9500 Email: support@aeutas.org.au Web: aeutas.org.au

AEU VIC BRANCH Branch president Meredith Peace Branch secretary Erin Aullich 126 Trenerry Crescent Abbotsford 3067 Phone: 03 9417 2822 Email: melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au Web: aeuvic.asn.au

QUEENSLAND TEACHERS UNION President Cresta Richardson General secretary Kate Ruttiman 21 Graham Street Milton 4064 Phone: 07 3512 9000 Email: qtu@qtu.asn.au Web: qtu.asn.au

NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS FEDERATION President Angelo Gavrielatos General secretary John Dixon 23-33 Mary Street Surry Hills 2010 Phone: 02 9217 2100 Email: mail@nswtf.org.au Web: nswtf.org.au

STATE SCHOOL TEACHERS UNION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA President Pat Byrne General secretary Mary Franklyn 1 West Street West Perth 6005 Phone: 08 9210 6000 Email: contact@sstuwa.org.au Web: sstuwa.org.au

AUTUM N 2 0 2 1 // 5

News

News in brief

Rise and shine

Mind the gap The gap between advantaged and disadvantaged schools in Australia remains among the largest in the world, according to OECD data.

Trevor Cobbold, a former Productivity Commission economist who runs the Save our Schools group says disadvantaged students in Australia face a higher shortage of educators and material resources than advantaged students.

Data from the OECD’s program for student assessment, PISA 2018, published in a supplementary report by the OECD, shows that disadvantaged schools in Australia experience more education staff shortages and a higher level of inadequate material resources.

Advantaged schools are better equipped to provide opportunities to learn. The resource gaps are largely unchanged from PISA 2015, and the extent of the gaps is appalling, says Cobbold.

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The Public Education Foundation is calling on young people aged 15 to 17 who are committed to tackling the world’s most pressing issues, to enter a global challenge.

The Foundation, a not-forprofit organisation that provides scholarships to students and educators in public schools, is the Australian partner of the $1 billion Global Rise Program, backed by US philanthropists, Wendy and Eric Schmidt.

It aims to provide an opportunity for young people who are missed by conventional talent-spotting methods.

For example, those who can’t access the networks of an expensive private school, live in rural or remote communities, or are refugees.

Global Rise winners will attend a summit to develop their leadership skills. They will receive a technology package, access to exclusive learning opportunities and other benefits. risefortheworld.org

Hopeful signs for climate action Climate change action will ramp up in 2021, says Education International president Susan Hopgood.

Widespread mobilisation will make governments accountable for slowing the global disaster and elevate the importance of climate education and civic literacy, Hopgood, who is also AEU federal secretary, wrote in a blog post.

Education International, the global federation of education unions, has long been in the fight. In Australia, the AEU is working with the union movement to push the government to adopt emission targets by working with alliances on policies that ensure workers are not left out of the debate, or the solutions.

The AEU is also one of 25 Australian unions supporting direct student action to highlight the government’s continued negligence.

“As teachers, education support personnel, and unionists, we have more than a responsibility to teach and defend the truth; we have an absolute responsibility now to identify, call out and correct misinformation, disinformation and outright lies,” says Hopgood. tinyurl.com/y2zezo4k

As teachers, education support personnel, and unionists ... we have an absolute responsibility now to identify, call out and correct misinformation, disinformation and outright lies.

Susan Hopgood AEU federal secretary

EVENTS 2021 International Women’s Day

8 March Close the Gap Day

In their own voices Australia has an established literary tradition of writing about disability, according to academic and author Dr Jessica White in The Conversation.

18 March

White lists five books by Australian disabled writers “that reveal insights into their lives and conditions”.

World Autism Awareness Day

1. Alan Marshall’s Hammers over the Anvil (1975) “Where [Marshall’s first book I Can Jump Puddles] is a cheerful and somewhat sanitised account of living with a disability, Hammers Over the Anvil, the fourth and final book in Marshall’s series, is more realistic.”

2 April Education Support Personnel Day

16 May International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

17 May

2. Donna Williams’ Nobody Nowhere: The Extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic Girl (1991) “This book was the first full-length, published account by a person with autism in Australia. It became an international bestseller.”

3. Gayle Kennedy’s Me Antman & Fleabag (2007) “Gayle Kennedy, of the Wongaibon people of south west New South Wales, uses a series of engaging vignettes to describe her life as a First Nations woman who had polio.”

4. Andy Jackson’s Music our Bodies Can’t Hold (2017) “Andy Jackson, who has a condition called Marfan Syndrome … began performing poetry to give himself more control over representations of his body. His … biographical poems of people with Marfan Syndrome [include] historical figures who are thought to have had the condition … Abraham Lincoln, Mary Queen of Scots and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.”

5. Carly Findlay (ed) Growing Up Disabled in Australia (2021) “This collection [edited by Findlay, who has icthyosis] highlights the range of childhoods experienced by people with disability in Australia. www.theconversation.com and www.austlit.edu.au (search for: “Writing disability in Australia”)

National Public Education Day

28 May ILLUSTRATION ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

World Environment Day

5 June World Day Against Child Labour

12 June

Education in the Age of Corona It’s been a year of quick thinking, making do and clever ideas for educators and their students.

UNSW colleagues Kate Carruthers and Dr Rebecca Le Bard know that only too well. Just before COVID-19 hit, they had begun work on a book about technological innovation in education.

It soon became clear they needed to shift

gears. Their book, Education in the Age of Corona: Pandemic pivots and productive portals, looks at pioneering pedagogical theories and practices that have emerged through use of digital technology across K-12, vocational education, organisational learning and higher education.

The book is available through Common Ground Publishing.

AUTUM N 2 0 2 1 // 7

Critical need for federal funding The AEU is calling on the federal government to urgently restore funding for students with disability.

P

ublic schools are being forced to “rob Peter to pay Paul” to properly support students with disability and additional needs.

The federal government cut $31 million in support for students with disability in 2018 when it introduced a new funding system that included revised benchmarks for different levels of support.

The massive cut was a blow to schools struggling to fund appropriate resources and support for students with disability.

Worse, public schools are preparing for a further $19 billion shortfall in general funding over the next four years.

The AEU’s State of our Schools survey found that nine out of 10 public school principals were battling budget issues in their efforts to continue supporting students with disability.

It’s a “damning indictment” of the federal government’s funding policy, says AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe.

The new approach to calculating funding loadings is set by the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students (NCDD) according to the level of educational adjustment required by

// The federal government's funding benchmarks have left schools struggling to fund support for students with disability. // Not-for-profit organisations and state governments are left to pick up the shortfall. // The AEU is calling for an urgent review of insufficient loading levels.

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a student with disability, to participate in school on the same basis as a student without disability.

But the loadings are insufficient, and many students are missing out, says Haythorpe. “Students in the category ‘support within quality differentiated teaching practice’ are recognised as having disability, but no additional resources are provided to support them.”

The AEU wants an urgent review of the categories and loading levels to calculate the real cost of ensuring students with disability receive a quality education.

Mark Zirnsak says he is fortunate his 13-year-old daughter Chloe was able to access Bulleen Heights School in Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs because “we only just made the cutoff”. All Bulleen Heights students must meet the Program for Students with Disabilities requirement for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

“I really feel a lot of empathy for the parents whose child is not rated at a high enough level of need to get this specialist support,” says Zirnsak, who believes the school suits Chloe’s needs.

PHOTOGRAPHY DEAN GOLJA

IN SHORT

Many students at Waratah Specialist Developmental School in Melbourne need individualised support.

Agenda

More funding would be great – a lot of our students need quite individualised support – so the more staff we’ve got, the more support we can provide.

Schools struggle with shortfalls

93+7+D 93%

of public primary school principals and 87% of public secondary school principals use funds from other budget areas to cover funding shortfalls for students with disability.

62+38+D 91+9+D 62%

of public schools do not have enough resources to meet the needs of students with disability.

91%

of public school principals say students with disability would benefit from additional classroom support.

(Source: The AEU 2020 State of our Schools survey)

Jenny Wallace Waratah Specialist Developmental School

“More resources would always be welcome, but I would say that Bulleen Heights is a good example of what wellfunded public schools can achieve. I know that’s not universal, so there is definitely a need across the school system for greater resources, but in Chloe’s case, there are no obvious gaps in the support that she’s given and in meeting her needs,” he says.

It can be a challenge for parents to find support for children with additional learning needs and developmental disorders, says Public Education Foundation executive director David Hetherington.

The Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that provides scholarships to young people in public education, is noticing an increase in applications for early-to-middle years high school students recently diagnosed with conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

“It’s a big strain on the families to navigate not only the school system but the broader health system, and they are usually under financial pressure,” says Hetherington.

Scholarship funds are often used to purchase laptops and specialist software to help a student pursue a particular field or interest. Not-for-profit organisations and state governments are left to pick up the Commonwealth’s shortfall in support and resources for students with disability.

The Victorian government last year announced a $1.6 billion investment to help ensure an inclusive education for students with disability.

Glenallen School, a specialist school in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, is one beneficiary.

Teacher Hanae Honda says part of the school’s $7.9 million allocation will upgrade its 40-year-old pool, which is currently out of action because of a leak.

“Hydrotherapy sessions are so important for kids with physical disabilities. The pool has been out of order since term one last year. We’ve been trying to find the funds to fix it, but it’s a very costly exercise,” says Honda.

“Ironically, our school is located between Wesley College and Caulfield Grammar. It makes me so angry every time I drive past – their grass is always green, and they just updated the front gate and the car park; while we’ve got an old school sign that hasn’t been updated for many years.”

Jenny Wallace, principal of Waratah Specialist Developmental School in Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs, is hoping Victoria’s new funding model for students with additional needs will provide a boost for students with significant behavioural needs.

Waratah also runs a satellite classroom at Brunswick South West Primary School in the inner city.

“More funding would be great – a lot of our students need quite individualised support – so the more staff we’ve got, the more support we can provide.

Wallace says the school has a long list of projects it could take on with extra funds, but one priority is extending its small-scale gardening program to become an urban farm on school land in partnership with a not-for-profit organisation. Students will assist with the planting, harvesting and delivery of produce, which will help to provide them with career pathways, says Wallace.

“The more funding you get, the more you can expand opportunities for students. Whenever we see funding opportunities we always think, what can we apply for?”

AUTUM N 2 0 2 1 // 9

Links to learning Strength of relationships is the common element that binds programs and teaching strategies for students with disability.

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Agenda

... Students’ social and emotional needs need to be met before any sort of academic learning can take place, particularly if students have been through trauma or have different family dynamics.

Amy Bartholomeusz Officer Specialist School, VIC

T

eacher Amy Bartholomeusz believes that building a strong rapport with her students makes all the difference to their progress and interest in learning.

And that adds to her own delight in the job. “Just seeing their faces at the start of the day – they’re so excited – and, when they hit their goals, whether they be big or small, that’s what gets me out of bed in the morning,” she says.

Bartholomeusz works with children in their first years of schooling at Officer Specialist School in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs.

“One thing that’s really stood out for me, is how students’ social and emotional needs need to be met before any sort of academic learning can take place, particularly if students have been through trauma or have different family dynamics,” she says.

The school’s therapy-based programs are also valuable and occupational therapists, speech pathologists and physiotherapists work in the classroom with the teacher.

“They help to develop self-regulation skills for students so they can identify

IN SHORT

PHOTOGRAPHY DEAN GOLJA

// Strong relationships with teachers help students with disability build trust and focus on routines. // Developing communication skills can help to support behaviour and emotional regulation. // Educators are calling for consistency in the way students with additional needs are assessed.

when they’re not feeling OK and we can work together to try and support them,” says Bartholomeusz.

Tevita Ikahihifo, a teacher in a special class at Madison Park School in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, says creating strong relationships with students allows them to trust their teachers and support professionals, and improves focus on routines. His mantra is: “You need to connect before you correct.”

Madison Park, a primary school with about 350 students, has a disability unit onsite with 24 students enrolled in three classes, and two special options classes with 20 students.

Staff include a wellbeing coordinator, two coordinators of learner improvement and one of special education. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Students are supported by an Aboriginal education teacher and an Aboriginal community education officer, and a large team of school service officers provides support across all classes. The school employs a speech pathologist, and a child psychologist visits once a week.

Ikahihifo, who teaches 12 students across Years 3 to 7 in one of the special options classes, says being part of a mainstream school is a bonus for his students. “It builds their social skills. There’s a buddy system and, during recess and lunch, my class plays in the yard with the rest of the students.”

Last year two of his students transitioned into a mainstream STEM class and went on a school camp. “They loved it,” says Ikahihifo.

In Melbourne, students attending a Waratah Special Developmental School satellite unit at Brunswick South West Primary School also benefit from participating in the mainstream school, says principal Jenny Wallace.

“They get to socialise and communicate with their peers and form connections in their local community, while also having access to the unit’s specially trained teachers and multi-disciplinary staff,” Wallace says.

It’s a plus for the primary school and the unit’s staff provide professional learning to mainstream educators.

Wallace says some students have transitioned to mainstream schools, some to a special school and others have returned to Waratah’s main campus.

The education department’s schoolwide positive behaviour support framework has been an effective strategy for the students, says Wallace, along with the “zones of regulation” tool to help students manage their emotions.

“We might say, ‘It looks like you’re getting a little bit excited, you’re in the yellow zone. So, let’s have a look at your toolbox. Would you like to bounce on the ball or use a sensory toy?’ It helps the students to manage when they get overexcited or overwhelmed,” she says.

There’s a big focus on communication to support behaviour and emotional regulation, using different systems including pictures, voice output devices and objects.

“Being able to give students a voice – to be able to communicate what they want, how they’re feeling, to comment – to do all those things we take for granted, is really powerful,” says Wallace.

When Paul* – a non-verbal student with “quite significant” support needs who was prone to aggression and self-harm – was given a way to get his message across, it changed everything.

Waratah staff observed Paul and realised that much of his distress occurred

AUTUM N 20 2 1 // 11

Being able to give students a voice – to be able to communicate what they want, how they’re feeling, to comment – to do all those things we take for granted, is really powerful.

because he couldn’t communicate that he didn’t want to do something.

“So we taught him that if he was asked to do something he didn’t want to do, he should put it in the ‘finish box’ and we’d honour that. It made a huge difference,” says Wallace.

At Glenallen School in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, teacher Hanae Honda uses the Intensive Interaction program to improve communication skills with her students.

Glenallen caters for students with physical and intellectual disabilities, and severe health impairments. Students have complex needs and often multiple disabilities.

“The idea with intensive interaction is to join the students’ ‘conversation’ using their language – whether it’s clapping, humming, vocalising, singing or whatever they happen to be doing, we copy them,” says Honda.

Honda says the program has been one of the highlights of working at Glenallen for her because of the “dramatic” changes in students’ awareness and alertness.

The approach teaches students fundamentals of communication and it takes time and patience. Nimmi* didn’t communicate or acknowledge others when she first arrived at Glenallen but, after five years of senior school, her progress was remarkable, says Honda.

“By the time she graduated, she would know if I was sitting next to her and look in my direction. She’d also let me know if she wasn’t in the mood to chat.”

“That might seem like a small thing, but it was very important progress especially because Nimmi had previously refused to have anyone near her, other than family members. We’re very proud of what our persistent work achieved.”

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PHOTOGRAPHY DEAN GOLJA

Jenny Wallace Waratah Special Developmental School, VIC

Agenda

Students at Waratah Special Developmental School satellite unit at Brunswick South West Primary School also benefit from participating in the mainstream school.

CAMARADERIE COUNTS Nimmi’s experiences illustrate the need for strong relationships, not only between teacher and student, but also with family and other support professionals and specialists.

Corey Gilmore, who teaches at Kangaroo Flat Primary School in the Victorian regional city of Bendigo, values the experience of team teaching and working with education support professionals in the classroom.

“Their work with our additional needs students is absolutely fantastic. Our staff do a really good job of working with the ES staff to provide programs tailored to each student with additional needs,” he says.

The assessments and strategies provided by the school’s speech pathologist are another important part of the mix when designing individual programs, says Gilmore.

“She leads our speech and oral language program and supports the speech-aid classroom staff with their work.”

Eight per cent of the school’s 265 students qualify for state government funding for students with disability, 11 per cent are EAL (English as an Additional Language) students and 12 per cent are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students.

About five per cent of students need extra support but don’t qualify for special funding, so the school draws on its own funds to top up support in the classroom.

Gilmore and his colleagues would like to see more consistency in the way students with additional needs are assessed for funding.

Kangaroo Flat Primary received the Outstanding Inclusive Education Award in the 2020 Victorian Education Excellence Awards. “We do a lot of great things here for inclusive education and the award is something we’re extremely proud of. It’s a great reward for a lot of hard work,” he says.

Collegiality and camaraderie tend to be a feature of working with students with disability, particularly in special school settings, says Matthew Johnson, national president of the Australian Special Education Principals’ Association and principal of Glenvale School in Gosford on the NSW central coast.

Johnson says switching to online learning last year cemented a “real closeness” among staff and with parents.

“Most of our specialist settings and support classes are pretty tight units anyway. You naturally have to be very supportive because it’s a challenging job mentally and physically,” he says.

But it was quite a “different” challenge to work out how to provide an engaging program for students at home.

One of the benefits to emerge was deeper relationships with parents.

Glenvale’s parents were already involved in putting together their children’s individual learning plans. “So, they knew the recipe – they just didn’t know the method,” says Johnson.

Staff were able to work with parents to show how learning was delivered.

Students also coped surprisingly well with technology and teachers had a window on their students’ behaviour at home – a useful way of considering any differences in approach or timing.

“That strengthened the relationship between the school and the parents. It really lifted the level of mutual respect,” says Johnson.

A WHOLISTIC APPROACH Forging strong and trusting connections between students and their families and staff is at the heart of the teaching strategies at Victoria Road Primary School in outer suburban Melbourne, says principal Lisa Branch.

“We have a big focus on capacity building, because we recognise that it’s the relationships that children have with staff members, and our ability to understand and manage what the outcomes are for them here at school, that makes a difference,” she says.

AUTUM N 20 2 1 // 13

Agenda

It’s important to remember that public schools are places that transform lives, and that every child – particularly those with disability – must be given equal access to safe and non-discriminatory opportunities to make sure they can achieve their potential.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

The school promotes independence for its students and takes a wholistic approach to achieving it.

A support package designed for each child includes plans for learning and behaviour support. Short- and long-term goals are discussed with the student and their families every term. The school is flexible, regularly changing elements of the plans as the student’s needs change.

“For example, if a child is living in a traumatic situation, they may have funding for severe behaviour needs. If something’s going on in their life that has made them really find it challenging to be in social situations, then we might say, OK we’re going to have an aide with that child at lunchtime who can help them navigate some social situations.

“But that might only be a short-term intervention. When that’s not required, we might have something else that we want to focus on and we talk with the family about that,” says Branch.

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe has praised the “extraordinary effort” of teachers, school leaders and education support staff in educating students with disability and additional needs, despite significant shortages in resources.

“It’s important to remember that public schools are places that transform lives, and that every child – particularly those with disability – must be given equal access to safe and non-discriminatory opportunities to make sure they can achieve their potential. It’s the responsibility of governments to ensure that teachers and schools have the resources they need to be able to deliver that education,” Haythorpe says. *Real names not used

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English cocker spaniels Hudson and Sadie attend Victoria Road Primary School daily to spend time with students.

Dog day afternoons

in students when a staff member brought Ford, a guide dog in training, to school, says principal Lisa Branch.

School dog Bonnie follows a timetable just like the staff and students at Kangaroo Flat Primary School. Her job is to see as many students as possible during the day.

“For example, children who found it difficult to read to people, would read to the dog. When Ford had to leave after his training had finished, he left a big hole,” she says.

The school received funding in 2019 to participate in the mental health and wellness program Dogs Connect, which places dogs in workplaces and community organisations.

Teacher Corey Gilmore says Bonnie, a groodle, has had a “profound impact” on staff and students. “She helps in a number of ways, including with behaviour. When students come in from the yard, Bonnie helps them to get into a positive working space so they can be at their best to learn,” he says.

“We’ve really enjoyed the experience of having the dog in our school.”

Staff at Victoria Road Primary School in Melbourne noticed positive changes

Branch and her assistant principal each adopted a puppy to become a permanent member of the school.

Hudson and Sadie, English cocker spaniels, attend school daily and spend time with the students.

“When the children are dysregulated or stressed, the dogs go to them and sit on their laps. That defuses things really quickly,” says Branch.

One child, who finds social situations particularly challenging, spends time with the dogs and is then able to attend class. Teachers are planning to suggest she walks with the dogs as a way of encouraging her to get into the playground.

Test your students’ hearing for free Download the App via soundscouts.com.au or call 1300 424 122

Potential consequences of undetected hearing loss: • Speech & language issues • Difficulty reading • Social isolation • Risk of academic failure • Disruptive behaviour • Depression

Recipes for cultural connection Educators look close to home to help students build a framework for success.

BY KATE O ’ H AL LO RAN

IN SHORT // Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are twice as likely as the general population to live with disability. // They require programs that are both culturally inclusive and disability inclusive. // Educators have found success fostering connections to culture to support learning.

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“The program has been really successful in raising rates of literacy and numeracy for those kids. It’s also helped one young fella with anxiety who has had a lot of days off during the year.

After this program started, he didn’t want to miss a day, he kept chasing me up asking if we were doing it this week.”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are twice as likely as the general population to live with disability: 45 per cent of First Nations people live with disability or a long-term health condition.

The First Peoples Disability Network report, Culture is Inclusion, also states that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability attain educational outcomes at half the rate of Indigenous people without disability. Author Scott Avery says this necessitates the provision of “flexible and coordinated programs that are both culturally inclusive and disability inclusive”.

The difficulty of implementing such programs is not lost on Ellis, an Indigenous man from Darwin, who lives in Adelaide and, by his own description, “gets around in a wheelchair”. Ellis was this year recognised with a national Aspire award for Individual Best Achievement in Human Rights, including contributions to education and community.

In 2020, he was responsible for between 60 and 90 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and says around half of them qualified as having an “identified learning disability or difficulty”. This includes a high percentage of students diagnosed as being “on the spectrum”, but it is not the full picture.

“Every student who comes to the door has more concerns than just

Ten years ago, it was never this bad. Mental health problems, family breakdown, all that stuff … the complexities have gone through the roof, but the funding in that time has not changed.

Danny Ellis Woodville Gardens Primary School, SA

PHOTOGRAPHY SUPPLIED

I

t might have been “just” a cooking class but it turned out to be an excellent recipe for improving literacy and numeracy among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at Woodville Gardens Primary School in South Australia.

For three days each week, students were assigned a recipe to cook, such as muffins, and asked to write out the ingredients and the instructions. On the second day, they were asked to calculate the costs of the ingredients and break down how much each item cost to make.

At the end of the three days, the students took their creations home with them.

“It’s pretty simple stuff, but it makes them feel like they’ve achieved something, and they can take something home and say, ‘I did that’,” says Danny Ellis, an Aboriginal community education officer at the school.

Ellis, who developed the cooking program with a colleague, says that taking a literacy and numeracy program “outside” a normal classroom structure provides students with a different perspective.

First nations

Regardless of ability level, connecting to culture is a priority. Just because someone is profoundly disabled does not mean they can’t connect to their culture.

Brooke Briody Melton Specialist School, VIC

showing up at the school to do their learning,” says Ellis. “These kids have a lot to deal with – high levels of trauma, mental health issues or domestic violence – a whole bunch of nasty stuff.”

He says the disability label inadequately describes the challenges that schools and families face. Alongside supporting students and attending meetings on their behalf, Ellis regularly delivers food parcels to families who are struggling and says he is shocked by how much things have worsened since his last school post more than a decade ago.

“Ten years ago, it was never this bad. Mental health problems, family breakdown, all that stuff … the complexities have gone through the roof, but the funding in that time has not changed. You’re trying to do more with a budget that might’ve been OK 10 years ago, but even 10 years ago it was a struggle,” Ellis says.

“I had 90 kids at one stage this year, and I should not have been doing that alone … 90 kids feels like 150 because of the stuff they’re dealing with.”

In Victoria, the principal of Melton Specialist School, Brooke Briody, reports similar challenges and a range of different strategies and initiatives. Her school of approximately 300 includes about 30 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from Prep to Year 12 who have been diagnosed with an intellectual disability (cognitive score below 70), many of whom are autistic.

Providing cultural connections is important to the school. A cultural plan is developed for each Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student with the support of the region’s three Koori Engagement Support Officers (KESOs)

Melton Specialist School uses 'culture groups' to help connect students to country.

whom the school “leans on heavily”, says Briody. These cultural plans sit alongside students’ Individualised Learning Plans and identify their language, community, connection to country, and how they make that connection.

Briody says their teaching plan also asks ‘how do we continue, strengthen and deepen that connection?’

Part of the school’s strategy is a series of “culture groups” for First Nations students with a range of intellectual

AUTUM N 20 2 1 // 17

First nations

abilities, run by learning specialist Jamie Polich. Underpinning the approach to each group is the principle that connection to culture is an integral part of all Indigenous students’ health and wellbeing.

“Regardless of ability level, connecting to culture is a priority. Just because someone is profoundly disabled does not mean they can’t connect to their culture. Traditionally, people have thought they just need to learn to read and that culture was not important. But we are coming at it from a very different perspective,” says Briody.

“It’s pretty easy to connect the kids who are verbal, those who can talk and do a bit of reading. But we can’t ignore the students who are non-verbal because they present in a way that we can’t understand.”

In Polich’s culture groups, this means “immersing” non-verbal students in activities such as barefoot walking. “A lot of it is just connecting to country, getting them out the back with their shoes and socks off, which they love, and just walking around and connecting,” he says.

As Briody explains, connection to country is also at the heart of managing students’ behaviour if they become emotionally dysregulated. She says Melton Specialist uses a system of regulation zones.

“There’s green zone – that’s where everyone wants to be. The yellow zone means ‘I need to sort this out,’ and a red zone, which is reactive and about safety.

A lot of the planning that happens in the yellow zone will be about connection to community.

“We know that doing some version of connecting to culture, whether that’s drawing, listening to music specific to

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We need systemic change, but we can only really start at the local level because that’s where change starts. That’s what the community has told us – start local.

Jamie Polich Melton Specialist School, VIC

their culture, or visiting someone from their community, will help them get back into their green zone.”

AN INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE Briody says the school’s philosophy hinges on embedding an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective in “everything we do”, including asking hard questions such as the level of cultural awareness among staff.

“Our perspective comes from upskilling our staff to acknowledge, celebrate and dignify Indigenous culture and not just “accept” it. It’s about celebrating and identifying an Indigenous perspective as part of the oldest living culture in the world,” she says.

Melton Specialist used the COVID-19 shutdown to participate in the region’s trial Cultural Understanding and Support Training, provided by the Department of Education and Training. Polich also delivered virtual professional development based on the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership standards, which was compulsory for all staff from maintenance and reception through to the leadership team.

“We need to change the culture of the school so we can do something meaningful and relevant for these students, not just the tokenistic things,” says Briody.

Polich says it’s about looking to the future: “We need systemic change, but we can only really start at the local level because that’s where change starts.

That’s what the community has told us – start local.”

Kate O’Halloran is a freelance writer.

Agenda

The heart of the workload New educators are highly likely to have students with additional needs in their classes but is teacher training equipping graduates with the knowledge and skills they need?

Students with disability make up just over 21 per cent of the public school population.

PHOTOGRAPHY DEAN GOLJA

M

ore than 780,000 students receive loadings, or “educational adjustments”, because of disability, according to the latest figures from the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability. Students with disability make up just over 21 per cent of the public school population.

Adding to those numbers are the students who miss out on a loading because they don’t fit the categories for assistance.

Just about every class in every school now has at least one student who has

The more we can help teachers differentiate their practice to meet the needs of all students, the better the outcomes will be for students in all schools, in all settings.

Jenny Wallace Waratah Special Developmental School, VIC

some additional needs – including those who don’t qualify for financial support, says Jenny Wallace, principal of Waratah Special Developmental School in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

“The more we can help teachers differentiate their practice to meet the needs of all students, the better the outcomes will be for students in all schools, in all settings,” she says.

But many teachers do not believe their training prepared them well for the classroom, according to the AEU’s State of our Schools survey.

New educators reported the main areas lacking in their degrees were teaching

AUTUM N 20 2 1 // 19

students whose first language is not English (62 per cent), dealing with difficult behaviour (55 per cent) and teaching students with disability (47 per cent).

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says it’s crucial that every beginning teacher is able to go into the classroom confident they possess best-practice skills for educating students with disability.

“When one in five students are identified with disability, it’s critically important that all initial teacher education providers ensure that graduate teachers are proficient in working with students with disability. There’s no other choice – this goes to the heart of the workload, the resourcing, and the complexity of issues that our members are concerned about,” says Haythorpe.

MORE PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE Lisa Branch, principal of Victoria Road Primary School in Lilydale, in outer suburban Melbourne, says it’s often an “eye opener” for graduates when they arrive at her school “when they understand the lengths we go to, to make things happen”.

Branch admits she’s “not an expert” on course content for teaching degrees but would like pre-service teachers to receive more practical knowledge about teaching students with disability and additional needs.

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It’s quite normal to feel very overwhelmed and under prepared.

Amy Bartholomeusz Officer Specialist School, VIC

“For example, having specialists talk about the reality of an ASD (autism spectrum disorder) diagnosis for a child would be invaluable for pre-service teachers. As would having people who understand and recognise what trauma is and what it looks like.” She says it’s also vital that educators understand and recognise trauma and learn what drives behaviours and why they occur.

At 32 Tevita Ikahihifo is older than most new teachers, but he says neither his life experience nor his degree prepared him for managing behaviour in class.

“That’s the biggest thing I find lacking in teacher education. I think every university is trying to teach you how to differentiate curriculum and how to do a nice lesson

plan, but you don’t really get insight into how you deal with students with complex behaviour,” he says.

Educators who choose to specialise in teaching students with disability often look to post graduate qualifications to learn more about the area.

Casandra Blagdanic decided early in her undergraduate degree to specialise in vision impairment. She volunteered at the South Australian School for Vision Impaired throughout her studies, then completed a graduate certificate in vision impairment.

Blagdanic says her undergraduate degree included a single unit on students with special needs, which was informative but not enough to equip her to work with students with vision impairment. “It was only one course for the whole four-year degree,” she says.

There’s no nationally recognised pathway to qualification for a special education teacher in Australia, says Matthew Johnson, national president of the Australian Special Education Principals’ Association.

“It makes it really difficult for universities to design specialist undergrad courses and there’s no real financial incentive for teachers to do postgrad qualifications to extend knowledge and expertise," says Johnson, the principal of Glenvale School in Gosford in NSW. He says that, by contrast, the United States and United Kingdom have professional standards that detail the essential knowledge and skills for special education teachers.

LEARNING ON THE JOB Amy Bartholomeusz at Officer Specialist School, in Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs, says she is learning on the job.

Bartholomeusz completed a Master

PHOTOGRAPHY DEAN GOLJA

There is no nationally recognised pathway to qualification for a special education teacher in Australia.

Agenda

I think every university is trying to teach you how to differentiate curriculum and how to do a nice lesson plan, but you don’t really get insight into how you deal with students with complex behaviour.

Tevita Ikahihifo Madison Park School, SA

of Early Childhood Education and Primary Teaching four years ago, after some experience working with people with disability.

During her degree she remembers studying just one unit in inclusive education which was aimed at supporting students with additional needs in a mainstream classroom, rather than teaching a whole class of students with disability.

But her view has changed as she’s progressed in her career. “It’s quite normal to feel very overwhelmed and under prepared,” says Bartholomeusz.

“The things you learn at university form a really good foundation, but the most learning comes when you’re on your teaching rounds, then when you become a teacher and you’re in a classroom yourself,” she says.

Associate Professor Christine Johnston at Western Sydney University says initial teacher education should not be expected to cover all bases.

“What are we going to take out or what are we going to add in? It’s not just about equipping teacher education students to work with students with disabilities, it’s about equipping them to work with many different types of students such as those from diverse language and cultural backgrounds and those who’ve had traumatic experiences,” she says.

“Where do we draw the line? Do we cut down on the literacy and the numeracy?

No, we can't do that.”

Johnston, who is associate dean, international, in the university's School of Education teaches primarily in the areas of early childhood intervention and evidence-based practice and says most initial teacher education courses offer only

Knowledge gaps in new educators’ degrees

62% teaching students whose first language is not English

55% dealing with difficult behaviour

47% teaching students with disability (Source: The AEU 2020 State of Our Schools survey)

one unit covering inclusive education.

She says the unit focuses on universal design for learning and differentiation. It looks at how to set up a classroom and learning opportunities so that all students can participate in a meaningful way.

“It’s really about understanding that you’re working with individuals, and whether a student has a disability or not, they have individual needs and individual learning styles. And that’s a very hard thing, given class sizes and all the other pressures that are put on teachers around NAPLAN and reporting, and emphasis on the syllabus and the curriculum,” she says.

POSTGRADUATE OPTIONS Like many universities, Western Sydney also offers a Master of Inclusive Education and, given the teacher shortages in the area, chances of a job at the end are “very, very good”, says Johnston.

The postgraduate inclusive education degree includes units on working with students with challenging behaviour, universal design for learning, effective working relationships, person-centred practice and there’s an emphasis on the impact of the NDIS. The units count towards professional development hours for accreditation.

Johnston says teachers can really pick up the detailed knowledge they need to teach students with disability as part of their professional development.

The main thing, says Johnston, is to give new teachers the confidence to know they can include students with disability in their classrooms and to give them adequate resources and time.

“I think teachers are doing their very, very best. They’ve got enormous amounts of calls upon their time and they need a lot of support,” she says.

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Double the disadvantage It’s time for the federal government to pick up its game when it comes to education and other services for people with disability in regional, rural and remote communities.

BY MARG ARE T PAT O N

T

he latest parliamentary inquiry into the education of students in “remote and complex environments” called on the federal government to ensure that all Australian students could access secondary school education to a nationally-consistent minimum standard, regardless of their geographic location.

The inquiry report, by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, also recommended the government introduce a needs-based school funding model to help overcome the barriers to accessing education in remote and regional areas.

The recommendations, delivered in November, called on the government to reaffirm its commitment to inclusive education and for a greater policy and funding focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, including in early education and care, literacy and language programs.

Labor members of the committee added their own statement to the inquiry report, arguing that the recommendations didn’t go far enough and “lack urgency”.

Students at Bodalla Primary School on the NSW far South Coast with assistant principal, learning and support, Fiona Beasley.

IN SHORT

// Students with disability who live in these areas have limited access to services and specialists. // Special educators in regional or remote schools face lack of funding and isolation.

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PHOTOGRAPHY SUPPLIED

// A federal inquiry has called for a needs-based funding model to improve access to education in regional or remote communities.

Regional communities

Being able to develop relationships with others in the same working environment is important for your working life and your mental wellbeing.

Fiona Beasley Bodalla Primary School, NSW

They said there was no acknowledgement that decisions made by the current government have directly affected educational outcomes in rural and regional areas. The 2014 federal budget cut to school funding was the “wrong decision”, the Labor MPs said, quoting an AEU submission.

CHOICE RESTRICTIONS Living in a rural or regional area is almost always tougher for students with disability.

Lack of services restricts choice and families are often forced to move from their communities for access to specialists and proper care. Students often must travel long distances to school, which can be more difficult for those with disability, and appropriate transport may not be easily available.

Rural and regional schools have difficulty attracting and retaining educators and specialists with knowledge and experience.

Inadequate funding is an ever-present issue and, when resources and staff are stretched, important professional learning can be difficult to arrange.

Students at K-12 Glenvale School on the NSW central coast have complex disabilities and learning needs. Many have dual diagnoses. All students engage with the NSW curriculum and students from Year 7 onwards are able to access the NSW Life Skills curriculum.

Deputy principal Sarah Turnbull says that while the curriculum may appear daunting, it is a matter of modifying it to make it relevant to the learning needs of each student.

“It’s not about one-size-fits-all but making sure we’re taking the best parts of what’s current practice to create the best learning environment for our students,” says Turnbull.

Geographical divide

10.4% Australian children in inner regional areas have disability, compared with...

7% of children who live in major cities.

(Source: The Australian Bureau of Statistics)

“I believe in ‘inclusionism’, that means every child deserves a learning environment that will best suit their needs and sometimes a mainstream environment isn’t the answer for that particular young person,” she says.

Glenvale uses the TEACCH Autism Program, which Turnbull describes as best practice for teaching many students with disabilities and students with autism in particular. Educators use consistent, limited and repetitive words and phrases with students. The program focuses on routines and structures, organising different learning areas of the classroom for specific activities, including a chill-out zone, independent learning, or mealtimes.

There is explicit teaching and learning to master skills, creating a bank of tasks students can do independently to build confidence.

“TEACCH is a strategy – an approach to learning. It’s about how you engineer the environment, provide individualised learning, interact and make connections with students,” says Turnbull.

Since Glenvale introduced TEACCH two and a half years ago, student engagement in learning has improved and challenging behaviour has decreased.

A PRACTICAL APPROACH At Biloela Primary School, two hours’ drive south-west of Rockhampton, Queensland, head of special education services Jennifer McLeod believes a practical style is the best way to teach students with disability.

“You can read a lot of research and try it but sometimes it just doesn’t work in class,” says McLeod, who also supports teachers of students with disability and learning difficulties at five schools in the region.

She says working to achieve a result, then reflecting on the process with

AUTUM N 20 2 1 // 23

It helps if other teachers get to know some strategies and how to deal with challenging behaviours. But you have to be flexible because what works one day, might not work the next.

Jennifer McLeod Biloela Primary School, QLD

students is one successful approach.

“We did that for loud T-shirt day. We made the shirts first, painted them, then worked out how much paint we’d used and the cost of the shirts. The kids ‘got’ it.

It was an enlightening moment.”

Her current work practices are a world away from when she first started at the school. The support unit was in a different building, had separate recess and eating times and a separate play area.

“The school changed their perspective towards students with disabilities. It helps if other teachers get to know

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Jennifer McLeod takes a practical approach to special education at Biloela Primary School in Queensland.

A VOICE FOR TEACHERS Former teacher Pat Byrne, now president of the State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia, says the number of students with disability in public schools has “increased significantly” over recent decades.

“What’s happening in WA wouldn’t be any different to elsewhere. Most students with disability are actually educated in mainstream classes. But, with that rise, there hasn’t been a significant investment in initial teacher education, professional learning, resources or facilities to deal with that. Add to that the increase in students overall with a range of mental health and behavioural issues, and there’s a significant change in the way children present in school compared to 20 years ago,” says Byrne.

Schools are being forced to scrape together the funds they need for staff and

PHOTOGRAPHY SUPPLIED

some strategies and how to deal with challenging behaviours. But you have to be flexible because what works one day, might not work the next,” she says.

For teachers of students with disability there is often a difference between working in regional, rural and remote schools, compared with metropolitan schools.

While technology can help with collegial support “in a regional school you do learn to work with a higher degree of selfsufficiency”, says Glenvale’s Sarah Turnbull.

Fiona Beasley, assistant principal, learning and support at Bodalla Primary School on the NSW far south coast says teaching outside of an urban centre, and as the only special educator in an area, can be “incredibly lonely”.

“Being able to develop relationships with others in the same working environment is important for your working life and your mental wellbeing,” says Beasley.

Regional communities

Regional and remote challenges

6 in 10

public schools do not have enough resources to meet the needs of students with disability.

2/3 More than two-thirds of public school teachers in very remote schools said such needs were not being met

1/2 and more than half of their peers in remote schools agreed.

(Source: The AEU 2020 State of Our Schools survey)

resources from other budget areas, an AEU survey found. More than 90 per cent of principals surveyed reported having to find necessary funds elsewhere to make up for federal government funding shortfalls for students with a disability. The finding was based on more than 12,000 responses from public school principals and teachers for the 2020 State of Our Schools survey.

The survey also found about six in 10 public schools did not have enough resources to meet the needs of students with disability. More than two-thirds of public school teachers in very remote schools said such needs were not being met, and more than half of their peers in remote schools agreed.

Glenvale School offers high support over two campuses, at Narara and North Entrance. While the North Entrance campus wasn’t purpose-built, it has recently had a major upgrade. Despite all its students being on NDIS plans under the federal funding system, students can wait up to 18 months for speech pathologists and occupational therapists.

McLeod in Queensland echoes this, saying her district needs a speech pathologist. As well, Biloela Primary School’s requests for visiting teachers haven’t been swiftly met in the past and there are other funding shortfalls.

“We’ve got all these children with disabilities we need to cater for. Some need a one-on-one teacher aide to keep them safe, others just some support. We have to apply for additional funding through our regional office, and a student may get two hours’ support for a teacher aide a day, but the rest of the time, we have to cover it.”

Lack of funding and the isolation aside, Glenvale’s Turnbull says teaching students

... It’s addictive to teach a student to communicate, then watch them communicate a need or a want for the very first time. Just that tiny step opens a whole new world to them ...

Sarah Turnbull Glenvale School, NSW

with disability is “extremely rewarding” and she wouldn’t choose to be elsewhere.

“Honestly, it’s addictive to teach a student to communicate, then watch them communicate a need or a want for the very first time. Just that tiny step opens a whole new world to them, empowering them to having some control over their lives,” she says.

Margaret Paton is a freelance writer and casual teacher.

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Inclusivity by design Building to accommodate students’ diverse needs, including physical and intellectual disabilities and learning difficulties, benefits the whole school community.

BY C Y ND I T E B B E L

P

ublic schools educate more than 70 per cent of students with disability but the federal government ended capital works funding for the sector in 2017.

States and territories increased capital allocations in 2018, but that’s not enough to manage rising enrolments, which are forecast to reach an additional 650,000 students by 2026. Paradoxically, federal funding for private schools is on the rise, with a budget allocation of $1.9 billion to 2027.

The inconsistency is unjust, says AEU president Correna Haythorpe. “Public schools miss out on federal financial

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Public schools miss out on federal financial support for infrastructure improvements despite experiencing significant enrolment growth.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

support for infrastructure improvements despite experiencing significant enrolment growth,” she says.

With increased numbers of students who have a disability, many schools require updated infrastructure that is fit for purpose to ensure that all students have access to high-quality learning environments. Haythorpe says it is unconscionable that the Commonwealth Government continues to ignore unmet teaching and learning capital funding needs across the country.

Some schools have been luckier than others. Matthew Johnson, the national president of the Australian Special

PHOTOGRAPHY CLARKE HOPKINS CLARKE

Morwell Central Primary School in Victoria was designed as a "safe, welcoming and engaging" space for students.

Capital works

Education Principals’ Association (ASEPA) and principal of Glendale School in New South Wales says new capital builds are “a world away from those I presided over in the 1980s”.

“The new stuff is world class, but the real cost comes in retrofitting aging infrastructure to meet disability standards,” he says. “And it’s frustrating when money being spent on a retrofit could almost fund a new build in a lot of cases.”

DELIVERING VALUE Accessible buildings and modern learning facilities create environments that are not only safe, inclusive and maximise success, but also have the potential to create a more inclusive Australia.

The advocacy group Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA), commissioned a review of 40 years of inclusive education and found that inclusive classrooms in mainstream schools benefit all students, with and without disability, and set them up for a lifetime of inclusion and understanding the richness of human diversity.

“Of course, we have to ensure our buildings are accessible,” says CYDA CEO Mary Sayers . “But strategies for inclusion go across disability types and physical disability is only one element.

It also includes social, curriculum and systems inclusion.

“CYDA would like to see all Australian governments investing in infrastructure in mainstream schools for full inclusion, and not segregating students."

Lisa Branch is principal of Victoria Road Public School in Lilydale, Victoria. It’s a mainstream school with around 10 per cent of students funded for disability and a similar cohort with additional needs.

“Last year we started on a build for

Architecture firm Clarke Hopkins Clarke was guided by the school's vision for students and the community to develop a passion for learning.

a new space using a grant from the Victorian government Inclusive Schools Fund,” says Branch. “We were fortunate to get that, but we get no capital works money through the federal government, which is a shame considering they fund independent school building works.”

She’s excited that her school has been accepted as a pilot school for a company

that will install lighting that can be programmed to meet the sensory needs of individual students.

“We can set the lighting at calming levels of brightness or colours that help the child regulate themselves,” she says.

“It’s all about them learning to regulate themselves so they can one day function in the world outside the classroom.”

Sensory characteristics such as lighting and spatial strategies are key features of inclusive learning settings and, increasingly, the design features that are working well in special needs settings are starting to cross over into the mainstream, with benefits for all.

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Officer Specialist School has tactile surfaces integrated throughout learning spaces for sensory stimulation.

GUIDED BY PEDAGOGY Simon Le Nepveu is an education partner at Clarke Hopkins Clarke, a firm of architects that designs new mainstream and specialist schools. He says the firm starts a project thinking about designing learning environments with the school’s pedagogy in mind, tailoring spaces to support the activities that will happen there.

“Teachers have a tough gig because they’re trying to do lots of different things within the confines of one particular space and the classroom’s trying to be a jack of all trades and master of none,” says Le Nepveu.

“Those challenges are definitely amplified for children with complex learning needs who may need a variety of

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Teachers have a tough gig because they’re trying to do lots of different things within the confines of one particular space and the classroom’s trying to be a jack of all trades and master of none.

Simon Le Nepveu Clarke Hopkins Clarke

ZONES OF INFLUENCE Designers should also ask about a school’s values and beliefs; the educational rationale for the project that underpins improving learning outcomes, he says. Often decision-makers will have visited a few exemplar schools, which is a useful exercise, and created a wish list.

“That can be a bit of a trap, particularly because of the diverse needs of students with disability. Some need good access to calming, quiet passive spaces while others want to be in more stimulating active spaces,” says Le Nepveu.

It’s all about trying to achieve a space where all students can find “their zone” and engage in meaningful learning, while considering the effect of building design on the school community.

A good example is the development of Morwell Central Primary School in Victoria, which was guided by the school’s vision of engaging students and the community to develop a passion for learning.

“They wanted their school to be a safe, welcoming and engaging place for students, which influenced every design decision we made,” he says.

At Officer Specialist School, also in Victoria, a dual-mode special

PHOTOGRAPHY CLARKE HOPKINS CLARKE

spaces within one learning environment, and it’s very hard to accommodate that within the typical classroom of four walls.”

Ideally, schools should consist of what Le Nepveu calls “a suite of purposeful learning environments” that teachers and students can use, depending on what’s being taught. These might be discrete spaces for individual or group activities that don’t require teachers to shift movable walls or rearrange furniture to create different opportunities for learning.

Capital works

Of course, we have to ensure our buildings are accessible. But strategies for inclusion go across disability types and physical disability is only one element.

Mary Sayers Children and Young People with Disability Australia

development school, the focus was to integrate multiple tactile surfaces within learning spaces. It features a breakout area with large padded, rotating poles that are pushed in quite close to a wall clad in synthetic turf.

“Every time we show people that space their natural instinct is to lean up against the wall and rub it with their hand. They’re doing exactly what it’s been designed for,” says Le Nepveu. “For students with special needs, having that sensory stimulation is vital.”

ENABLING INDEPENDENT READING

Le Nepveu says consideration also needs to be given to storage for and access to specialised equipment and space for more support staff.

After a year of school lockdowns and remote learning, he believes the future of education design will focus on how people interact.

“Having gone through a learning process where everything has been done on screens, it will be very interesting to see how we can maximise

the benefits of technology. But the actual physical spaces for learning in schools will still need to focus on the experiential qualities of how people interact and learn with each other, and getting the most value out of that.”

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

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Of one mind Many different professionals support students with disability and their teachers, but they all have the same goals. Australian Educator spoke to three Education Support Personnel about their roles.

BY MARG ARE T PATO N

“My wise owl flew away, so my barking dog was in charge.” That’s how a Year 3 student at Nakara Primary School in Darwin described his behaviour to an assistant principal. He had learned the language to describe what was happening to his prefrontal cortex and amygdala.

The lesson was part of a 10-week “brain program”, devised and provided by education support officer Mel Lovisatti who drew on her understanding of how the brain works in trauma-affected students and from five years’ experience helping them in class. Lovisatti ran the lessons for Year 3 and 4 students for an hour each week.

“The program digs deep into what happens in your body. It covers the three main parts of your brain: what happens when you flip your lid; knowing yourself and your triggers; and what happens in your body. It then provides strategies and tips to deal with the behaviour,” says Lovisatti.

TIPS FOR TRAUMA TRIGGERS Each week she gave students a way to deal with their strong emotions – such as playing a song and “crazy dancing” – and the results were promising. Data from the Year 3 class showed a 41 per cent drop in behavioural issues by the end of the program.

Lovisatti has worked at Nakara Primary since 2015. Although it’s a 10-minute drive from Darwin, the school of 525 students with 41 teaching and 21 non-teaching staff is classed as outer regional.

She mostly works with students who have been diagnosed with disabilities or

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Relationships with students are important, particularly with those who’ve experienced trauma. Let them come to you and know you're a safe person...

MISSING FROM THE PICTURE Lovisatti says Nakara needs more funding for support staff as the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) organisation allocates only $3600 each a year to two of its students who have severe autism and require one-onone support.

“We also need to look after support staff (Education Support Personnel) because we’re often forgotten about despite us knowing the ins and outs and the triggers for students. It’s one of the big injustices that our local members and I have been campaigning against,” she says.

The school council, rather than the school, employs support staff such as Lovisatti, who shares the union representative role at her school with a co-worker.

“ESPs are usually on a lower pay rate and not under the same conditions as a government employee. We’re all advocating for council-employed staff to become permanent government staff.”

Lovisatti will study a graduate certificate in trauma with the Australian Childhood Foundation this year. “I think it will give me more confidence, skills and that stamp to say I understand a lot under the bonnet when it comes to kids’ brains,” she says.

PHOTOGRAPHY SUPPLIED, MARCEL VAN OMMEN

learning needs and says US psychiatry professor Daniel Siegel and neuroscience researcher Dr Bruce Perry are her key influences in learning about the neurobiology of trauma.

“Relationships with students are important, particularly with those who’ve experienced trauma. You can’t force it by asking them all the questions under the sun. Let them come to you and know you’re a safe person, but you have to prove it so they can build that trust,” she says.

MEL LOVISATTI, DARWIN

ESPs

ANN HOLLOWAY, HOBART AMAZING GIFTS Ann Holloway works as part of a team that includes an educational support specialist, colleague teachers and 10 teacher assistants at Montrose Bay High, a mainstream inclusion school in Hobart.

The team supports 70 students with diagnosed disabilities and 94 in literacy programs, plus those with learning plans for other issues. That means differentiated and adjusted programs for “every class, every day” for about a quarter of the school’s 625 students.

It all takes careful planning. “This is particularly important for those with autism spectrum or cognitive disability diagnoses.

For them, small changes can quickly become big problems,” Holloway says.

She has been an educator for 17 years and has worked for students with disability since 2016.

Holloway sees her work as “a way of thinking that allows inroads into the communication beneath the behaviours”.

“You have to get into their headspace. For example, people with autism spectrum disorder understand concrete thinking.

So, we use literal language, we don’t use metaphors. For those people with complex autism, it’s understanding how the world seems and how information is confusing,” she says.

Working in literacy support has allowed her to think about ways students can approach their learning.

“It’s one of the most amazing gifts to witness a student make that move into independent reading. This is precious and central to education. I’ve worked with a

You have to get into their headspace. For example, people with autism spectrum disorder understand concrete thinking. So, we use literal language, we don't use metaphors.

student with autism whose parent was given little hope of him reading. He now reads everything – every sign he sees, every label.”

During the pandemic her team expanded its individualised communication and feedback and kept its pedagogical practice fluid, she says.

JUSTIFYING FUNDING REQUESTS Holloway says Tasmania was in its second year of using the Educational Adjustments Disability Funding model during 2020. The model aims to ensure all students have access to an equitable, high-quality education that maximises their potential. Each year, she must document the intensity and frequency of adjustments for each student with disability.

The adjustments show the teacher has thought about the student’s needs and devised and prepared material before the class starts, or created individual work.

“We do work hard to get the right allocations for the adjustments we have in place to allow our students to shine.

We do so much with current funding, but there are adjustments that our staff cover with extra time, extra diligence and extreme vigilance,” says Holloway.

“We need better funding to help our public education teachers provide for essential inclusive supports.”

AUTUM N 2 0 2 1 // 31

Call for 2021 nominations

Rosemary Richards Scholarship Rosemary Richards was a proud feminist, unionist and educator.

A trailblazing leader, she was committed to advancing gender equality across the AEU. In her memory, the Rosemary Richards Scholarship continues her legacy by building the capacity of women as activists and leaders.

This scholarship is an opportunity for an AEU woman member with an idea for an innovative project, research or study experience that will increase her skills and experience in the union’s work at state/territory, national or international level. By extension, it should also support the AEU’s women members.

The Scholarship is valued at $10,000 and is intended to cover all project expenses including, but not limited to, travel, attendance at conferences, workplace visits, training and developmental opportunities, work-shadowing, research project design and implementation.

All women AEU Branch or Associated Body members are strongly encouraged to apply.

Contact your local Women’s Officer for more information.

Application forms and further information is available on the AEU website: aeufederal.org.au/noticeboard The submission deadline for application forms is Friday, 7 May 2021.

ESPs

Celebrating the work of ESPs The worldwide day to celebrate Education Support Personnel will be held on 16 May 2021. Organised

by Education International and its member unions in each country, its aim is to highlight the crucial role ESPs play in providing quality education.

JAN KELLY, SHEPPARTON NUMBERS GAME Numbers have always been Jan Kelly’s forte. She’s an award-winning numeracy tutor and has worked in public high schools in regional Victoria for 14 years.

Before that Kelly did the bookkeeping for a family photography business, first in Melbourne and then in Shepparton. Her first full-time numeracy tutor role in 2006 paid just $24,000, but she realised the work was her passion.

“I did a lot of homework and professional development to learn the philosophy and practice of teaching maths. I wanted to know what was expected of the children in each year level.

Even though they’re in high school, some still struggle with even Year 3-level maths,” she says.

These days at Greater Shepparton Secondary College’s Wanganui Campus, she sees herself as “not just an ESP”, but as a catalyst to help improve students’ learning outcomes. She works in whichever class she’s needed or runs small group sessions, including for students with disability.

“When I walk in class, the kids will say they hate maths. But I say, ‘you won’t hate it by the end of the year. Give me a chance.’

“In class, when they ask for help, I stay away from too many words, instead drawing pictures to give them an understanding. I’ll show them little tricks like when you multiply by 10, add a zero. They think it’s wonderful because they have this little trick up their sleeve now.”

When I walk in class, the kids will say they hate maths. But I say, ‘you won’t hate it by the end of the year.

Give me a chance.’

SUPPORTING COVID-ERA LEARNERS During the COVID-19 shutdown, when the school was open only to children of essential workers, Kelly and her colleagues delivered work packs to students who couldn’t work online or had no home Wi-Fi. “I supported about half a dozen students, some of whom had a disability.

I’d pick up their homework each time I popped the new pack into their mailbox.”

Kelly also telephoned or contacted individual students online to help them with their remote learning. She honed her technology skills, transforming voice to text and sharing her screen with learners.

FACULTY FOR INCLUSION Kelly is often a mentor to trainees and says she’s been lucky to work at schools where she developed a strong relationship with the maths department.

“They’ve been fantastic and really included me in everything. That’s something a lot of ESPs might not get the chance to do.”

Kelly won the AEU’s 2020 Rep of the Year and took on a new role as an AEU organiser earlier this year. She urges every ESP to become a union member.

“We’re on the bottom rung and we need to be proactive to have a voice and protect our working conditions,” she says.

Margaret Paton is a freelance writer and casual teacher.

AUTUM N 2 0 2 1 // 33

Post-pandemic teacher leadership How to strengthen school systems and chart a new course.

BY C Y ND I T E B B E L

STRATEGIC REALIGNMENT The report has an international focus and presents school systems and teachers with “three waves” of action: The Now, The Dance (part past/part future), and The Transformation.

The Now looks at teacher leadership, identifying ways they can share innovations with colleagues, parents and policy leaders; how to address the

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social-emotional and academic needs of students as they return to school; and the need for governments to improve access to the technology students and their families require to participate fully with educators.

The Dance is a period in which educators can accelerate development of inquiry-driven learning teams, and school systems can measure teacher leadership standards.

It stresses a reallocation of teaching schedules to boost the time allocated to teacher-led inquiry by up to 10 hours a week. And it encourages school systems to use teacher leadership to reinvent

assessment, with the aim of pivoting from current standardised testing to “a more useful, improvement-oriented accountability system”.

The Transformation suggests unifying the entire education system, from preprimary to higher education, with other community-based organisations to integrate physical and social-emotional health supports, after-school programs and workforce development training – as a way to give educators the time to teach as well as lead.

Government recognition of teacher leadership through better compensation and workplace conditions is seen as

ILLUSTRATION MARK AIRS / IKON IMAGES

E

ducators will find recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic complex and prolonged. Its success will require cooperation between disparate, and often opposing, parties.

An independent report commissioned

by Education International offers strategies to guide education systems through this period of rapid change and uncertainty by putting teachers on the frontline of connecting, learning and leading.

Armand Doucet, a world renowned pracademic and award-winning teacher from New Brunswick, Canada, is one of three authors of Teacher Leadership in the Aftermath of a Pandemic: The Now, The Dance, The Transformation.

He says teaching and learning during the pandemic have been sidelined by a necessary shift to health, safety and wellbeing. The swing from classrooms to distance learning has also exposed educators to the complexities of students’ home lives and the mental, emotional and physical strain facing school communities.

The upshot is a renewed emphasis on meeting basic human needs before academic learning can be fully embraced.

“It is Maslow before Bloom,” says Doucet, using a popular phrase in education circles to illustrate the realities of learning during the pandemic.

World view

One thing we don’t highlight enough is the importance of a good strong collaboration between unions and governments. When they work together, they can pivot more quickly...

Armand Doucet Author and educator

central to creating a coherent system of teaching, learning, and caring.

PAUSE AND REFLECT Doucet is optimistic that such a momentous transformation can be achieved. But he is concerned that in a desire to put the pandemic nightmare behind us as quickly as possible, governments will cover the inequity it has exposed with policy band-aids “that are cheap and easy to apply”.

The report encourages educators and governments to pause, reflect and invest in new education systems that address the root causes of inequality.

And Doucet says discussions with stakeholders indicate a willingness to pursue measures that have the potential to close gaps.

“One thing we don’t highlight enough is the importance of a good strong collaboration between unions and governments,” says Doucet. “When they

work together, they can pivot more quickly and make things better for everyone.

“However, looking at the rampage COVID-19 has had on cultures across the world, I’m not sure that’s going to be the case once you get the politics involved.”

The report can be downloaded at tinyurl.com/y258f33w

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

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High honours Rooty Hill Zealand High School’s Yasodai Selvakumaran is Two New academics have scoured oneworld of thetotop 1029 teachers in the world. for the find successful strategies

BY C Y ND I T Estudents BBEL teaching with additional needs.

AND THE DODO BIRD FACTOR

3 6 // SUMME AU T UMN R 22002119

I

ILLUSTRATION ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

EVIDENCEBASED STRATEGIES

n Lewis Carol’s famous 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a character called the Dodo bird judges a running race by declaring, “Everybody has won, and all must have prizes.” Just over 100 years later, this snippet of whimsy lent its name to a controversial claim that, in the field of mental health, all empirically validated psychotherapies produce similar if not identical outcomes.

According to “Dodo bird conjecture”, it doesn’t matter what kind of therapy is used, as long as the patient has the opportunity to talk to a skilled professional with a sympathetic ear and is willing to try to follow directions.

Now New Zealand academics David Mitchell and Dean Sutherland have thrown the Dodo bird conjecture into the ring with their third edition of What Really Works in Special and Inclusive Education: Using Evidence-based Teaching Strategies (Routledge).

The 2008 and 2014 editions were written by Mitchell, now 82 and officially retired, who is an adjunct professor at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. He says they proved popular all over the world, and the fields of research and practice they covered are progressing so rapidly, that he brought in Sutherland, a senior lecturer at the university’s College of Science, to help with the heavily revised and updated third edition.

“The book has been translated into nine languages and I’m delighted that about 20 universities and teacher education institutions in Australia have either prescribed it as a textbook in their programs, or highly recommended it,” Mitchell told Australian Educator.

Toolkit

Teacher education will need to become more oriented towards evidence-based pedagogy – the pedagogy of what happens minute by minute, hour by hour, in classrooms as teachers teach individuals and groups.

David Mitchell University of Christchurch

what happens minute by minute, hour by hour, in classrooms as teachers teach individuals and groups. It has implications for the quality of intakes into teacher education. We need to increase the calibre of our teaching intakes, which is closely related to the degree of respect teaching is afforded as a profession.”

The book’s 29 teaching strategies are organised into four categories: behavioural, social, cognitive and mixed.

They were selected by “following the evidence to what really works”, the authors say.

What Really Works in Special and Inclusive Education: Using Evidence-based Teaching Strategies (Routledge).

SCIENTIFICALLY ORIENTED In the preface, the authors say their primary aim is to help educators (practising and trainee teachers, principals, teaching assistants and paraprofessionals) and the professionals who advise them (school psychologists, special education needs coordinators and advisers) to become more effective in teaching learners with additional education needs, whether that be in special education or inclusive settings.

“The book also has plenty of application for teachers more generally,” says Mitchell.

“I expect, or at least hope, that education is poised to become more scientifically oriented. Teacher education will need to become more oriented towards evidencebased pedagogy – the pedagogy of

PROVOCATIVE REVIEW The Dodo bird conjecture comes as an echo of Scandinavian researchers who recently, in a “provocative review of educational interventions for pupils with intellectual disabilities”, claimed that the positive results obtained by most interventions don’t necessarily reflect the merits of particular strategies, but may be influenced by underlying, hidden factors present in most interventions.

Mitchell and Sutherland say they are confident the strategies they present in their book have a high degree of face-value validity, but can’t dismiss the Dodo bird conjecture entirely.

“We believe there are three contextual factors that are preconditions for more specific strategies to succeed: acceptance, expectation and engagement. Our argument is that these should characterise the relationships educators have with their learners. They are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions that should be supplemented by one or more of the 29 strategies we present in this book.”

The hidden factors Mitchell and Sutherland’s suggested preconditions for specific strategies to succeed: Acceptance For learners to want to learn from others – whether they be teachers, parents or peers – they need to feel accepted for who they are; they need to feel valued, safe and included and they need to feel they are known as a person, not merely as a receptacle of special needs. They have a right to feel respected.

Expectation Those around learners with additional learning needs often underestimate their students’ ability to learn. In many cases, these low expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies. A corollary of this point is that educators need to have high, but realistic, expectations as to the potential of their teaching strategies.

Engagement For the preceding two attitudes to be translated into outcomes, learners must be engaged behaviourally, emotionally and cognitively (all are interlinked).

This means engaging them with the teacher, fellow learners, the curriculum content and their own memory.

AUTUM N 20 2 1 // 37

Recess

Calming influence It was a powerful moment for Emma Bruce-Grima when her name was her student’s first word.

Why do you teach?

We want to hear your tips for engaging young minds. Email educator@hardiegrant.com if you have something to share.

You can provide a written piece or we’d love to interview you.

BY MARG ARE T PATO N

E

ight years ago, when Emma Bruce-Grima was an early career teacher, she had no idea what an ‘SSP’ (School for Specific Purposes) was, despite both her parents being educators.

“There was no mention of SSPs in my university training or how to deal with students with complex disability. I didn’t know what an SSP was until I turned up to work in one,” says the Western Sydney teacher. And she’s still at that same SSP – Holroyd School – now as a relieving assistant principal. She holds a bachelor of performance and a master’s in secondary teaching in drama and a master's in special education.

Holroyd School has more than 100 staff (thanks to supplementary funding), and about 180 students split into 29 classes. It caters for K-12 learners with moderate-tosevere intellectual disabilities, and many attendees have multiple, including physical, disabilities.

WINS OF THE DAY Bruce-Grima recalls her first class of five boys aged 11, who were displaying challenging behaviours. After a particularly difficult day, she considered leaving special education.

“The next day, I was heating lunch for one of my students who was nonverbal.

He was trying to get my attention, but I had my back to him and didn’t realise.

And then, I heard: ‘Emmm-mmma’. My name was his first word. I’ve got a few stories like that – little wins.”

Holroyd uses a program in which teachers observe student behaviour to understand their sensory needs and help them manage their responses. For example, a student might have difficulty concentrating because of a fan whirring

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It looks like a challenging behaviour, but it’s actually a need that’s not being met or communicated.

Emma Bruce-Grima Holroyd School, NSW

and clicking. And that might lead to them running around the classroom.

“If you don’t know about their sensitivity to particular noises, you won’t be able to help the student get into a zone to engage with learning. It looks like a challenging behaviour, but it’s actually a need that’s not being met or communicated. Unless you understand their behaviour, the

student will go past the point of being able to listen and be reasoned with,” says Bruce-Grima.

In 2020, Holroyd and other SSPs secured supplementary funding. The school used part of it to place a second teacher assistant in each of its classrooms.

Extra staff help teachers manage classroom issues and allow them the time and the resources to put in place proactive strategies, says Bruce-Grima. Anecdotally, workplace injuries are down, too.

“If you’ve got a student who needs one-on-one time to learn an augmented communication strategy, but there’s another a student who has complex health needs and a third who presents with challenging behaviours, things can get difficult. Without the extra staff member, the first student likely won’t get the attention they need to learn the communication strategy.”

In some classes, the extra pairs of hands have supported a program to improve the mobility of students with physical disabilities. Two people support each student working on their mobility and this allows the third to work with others.

Bruce-Grima says that lifting the staffstudent ratio further would open the door to more opportunities for collegial support, co-teaching and collaboration.

“It’s a very specialised field. We’ve had a high turnover of our most experienced teachers and while we’ve got some wonderful new beginning teachers, the increased staffing ratio would go a long way to providing important development opportunities for these teachers.”

Margaret Paton is a freelance writer and casual teacher.

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