Addressing Recommendations 5 and 9 of the 2020 Review of the Disability Standards for Education 2005
The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) recently completed the 2020 Review (the Review) of the Disability Standards for Education 2025 (the Standards). You can find a copy of the Review final report at www.dese.gov.au/disability-standards-education-2005/2020-review-disability-standards-education-2005/final-report.
This notice asks Independent sector Approved Authorities to address two of the Review recommendations as they prepare for the 2022 school year.
Recommendation 5 of the Review is to ensure school leaders and teachers have appropriate training on the Standards, and induction processes for graduate teachers that provide an appropriate focus on the Standards and supporting students with disability.
The Review heard students with disability have the best learning outcomes and experiences in school environments where all involved understand their obligations under the Standard and have the skills they need to support students with disability.
To address this recommendation, we ask you to consider the training and supports provided to your teachers and other staff who support students with disability. This may include consideration of existing resources, such as the e-learning modules available on the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability Portal.
Recommendation 9 of the Review is to better support parents and carers with user-friendly web-based information about the services and supports offered by schools. The Review heard that when schools proactively provide information it empowers parents and carers to make informed decisions for their child with a disability.
To the spirit of this recommendation, we ask you to review and build on information regarding students with disability on your approved authority and school websites. This should include ensuring the content meets accessibility requirements and is user friendly. Priority information to be considered includes enrolment options and processes, rights and obligations under the Standards, how to access supports and adjustments for their child, where to go for help, and complaints processes.
While the Review proposed that providing user-friendly website information for parents should be a condition of Commonwealth school funding from 2022, there is no intention for this expecation to be set as a condition of funding at this stage. Given the impact of COVID-19 on the schooling system, it is not desirable to impose any additional regulation on school authorities at this time. Instead, the Government may seek to address this matter in the context of the next national school reform agreement as part of a broader commitment to driving better outcomes for school students with disability.
DESE is also developing a range of new information resources to assist students, their parents and carers, and providers and educators. These products will be easily accessible and will be made available to you to share with your school community, including hosting them on your school website(s).
If you have any questions about this notice, please contact your state and territory association.
Thank you for your continued work in supporting students with disability.
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The Hon Alan Tudge MP, Minister for Education and Youth has released a 2021 Statement of Intent to provide continued reassurance to the schooling sector that a flexible approach will be used for compliance and reporting arrangements where obligations cannot be met due to the unforeseen and unavoidable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The links below provide additional information.
The Department is closely monitoring the effects COVID-19 may have upon the 2021 Non-Government School Census, particularly the current health orders in place for Queensland, Newcastle, and the Hunter region.
Schools across these areas have been impacted by public health orders over the week leading up to Census Day (Friday, 6 August). As schools have been operating as normal for the remaining 15 days of the Reference Period, we expect the Census to be completed as usual.
If a student does not attend school in person at any time during the Census Reference Period, they cannot be reported in the Census. A school may instead submit a Special Circumstances Application to have the student considered for inclusion in the Census. Applications are due Friday, 20 August 2021.
We acknowledge the disruption COVID-19 is having across affected school communities as they adjust to supporting the immediate needs of staff and students. If your school is having difficulty completing the Census, please let us know as soon as possible.
More information regarding the Census and the Special Circumstances Applications process can be found on SchoolsHUB. If you have any other questions, please let us know by email at Schools@dese.gov.au or call 1800 677 027 (option 3).