The Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee of the Parliament of Victoria conducted an inquiry into the state education system in Victoria. At the time of the inquiry, there were 2 294 schools in Victoria made up of:

• 1570 government schools
• 495 Catholic schools
• 229 independent schools.

The Committee published its findings and recommendations in October 2024.

This important inquiry highlights many ways in which we can improve the safety, quality and care provided to children and young people in our education system.

Here are some of the learnings from this important work that we can apply to all schools (not just Victorian government schools) …

Priority children

Students from ‘priority cohorts’ face challenges that can significantly impact on their learning outcomes.

Based on advice and recommendations from the National School Reform Agreement, the Productivity Commission, the Commission for Children and Young People, and the Victorian Council of Social Services, the education system should recognise and appropriately support the following ‘priority cohorts:’

• students with disabilities
• Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students
• students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
• students living in out of home care
• students in youth detention
• refugee students
• students experiencing homelessness
• students requiring literacy and numeracy support
• students living in rural and remote locations
• students who are mature minors and living independently
• students that have been exposed to adverse experiences in childhood or adolescence such as
  • racism, stigma and discrimination
  • family violence, abuse or neglect
  • the death of a family member
  • a family member with a mental health or substance abuse problem
  • instability due to parent separation
  • a household member who is incarcerated
  • experiencing traumas linked to poverty such as not having enough food to eat, homelessness or unstable housing.[1]

Students with disabilities

Disability advocates advised the Committee that students with disabilities continued to experience the following issues:

• Schools refuse enrolments by suggesting that they do not have appropriate resources to support students with disabilities.
• Schools fail to put in place reasonable adjustments and supports.
• Schools do not convene student support group meetings.
• Students with disabilities do not have an Individual Education Plan, or if it does exist, it is sub-standard.
• Students with disabilities have limited access to therapies such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists and psychologists.
• Students with disabilities have limited access to Auslan interpreters or other communication supports.
• Schools restrict hours of attendance for students with disabilities.
• Schools do not allow students with disabilities to be involved in camps, excursions and other activities.
• School staff use other restrictive practices such as restraint and seclusion.
• Students with disabilities are suspended and expelled.
• Students with disabilities experience bullying.
• Schools fail to appropriately action and respond to complaints.[2]

Here is some additional information about some of these issues:

Communication needs not being met

Speech Pathology Australia advised the Committee that students with communication needs, including those who are deaf, students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, acquired brain injury, cerebral palsy, motor neurone disease and stroke, were experiencing issues accessing speech pathologists, Auslan interpreters and communication devices.

Speech Pathology Australia explained that these students could immediately benefit from the provision of Augmentative and Alternative Communication. This type of communication is where the student uses something other than speech to communicate. This may include body movements, gestures, sign language, a computer or device, or communication books.[3]

Segregation, exclusion and isolation

Disability advocates advised the Committee that students with disabilities sometimes faced segregation, exclusion and isolating practices.

This included inclusive segregation. This is where a student with disabilities is enrolled in mainstream schooling but spends a significant amount of time in specialised, disability-specific programs or classrooms.

It also included suspensions being used as bargaining tools. This is where the school would not accept the student back after a suspension unless the parent agrees to a previously rejected strategy such as planned restrictive practices or part time attendance.

Other practices included:

• reduced attendance at the insistence of the school
• impromptu requests for students to be collected early
• being refused permission to attend school events, camps and excursions
• informal suspensions and expulsions. [4]

The Committee recommended that schools ensure that exclusionary practices of students with disabilities are phased out.

It also recommended that further professional development be provided to school staff to prevent further instances of exclusionary practices from occurring in the future.[5]

Students in out of home care

There are significant disparities between the educational experiences and outcomes of students in out of home care when compared to the general student population.

The Committee noted that the Commission for Children and Young People conducted a systemic inquiry into the educational experiences of children in out of home care and that this inquiry made a number of findings and recommendations.

The findings of the Commission for Children and Young People included the following:

• The number of children and young people living in out of home care has significantly increased.
• Children and young people in out of home care experience substantially higher rates of disengagement from school compared to the general student population.
• Students in out of home care are less likely to participate in NAPLAN, and if they do participate, they receive substantially lower NAPLAN results.
• Students in out of home care are less likely to complete VCE.
• The impact of trauma on student learning was often poorly understood and this directly affected their engagement in education.
• Negative attitudes towards children and young people in out of home care are common and contribute to their disengagement from education.
• Aboriginal children and young people continue to experience racism and culturally unsafe practices in schools. This significantly impacts their health and wellbeing, and their engagement with education.
• Many children in out of home care are placed on modified timetables, without adequate assessment of their suitability, and without adequate plans to transition students back to full time school hours.
• Children and young people in out of home care are disproportionately excluded from education through the formal use of suspensions and expulsions.
• Children and young people in out of home care are also subject to informal and soft expulsions. This contributes to their disengagement from education.
• Children and young people in out of home care are seven times more likely to be subject to restraint and seclusion.
• Critical information about children and young people in out of home care, including their educational needs, is not always available or shared between Child Protection, services and schools.[6]

The recommendations made by the Commission for Children and Young People included the following:

• Children and young people should undergo an educational needs assessment soon after they enter out of home care to determine their educational needs and whether they require additional one on one support.
• Children and young people in out of home care should receive appropriate supports when they start a new school.
• The use of modified timetables should include the following principles:
  • The modified timetable must be in the best interests of the child.
  • The child’s right to an education must be protected.
  • Schools should develop plans to return the student to full time education. These plans should include a specific date and review process.
  • Schools should consider if targeted supports are required to facilitate the student’s return to school on a full time basis.
  • Schools must accurately record student attendance. This means that students on modified timetables should not be marked as attending school on a full-time basis.
• The use of suspensions should be reviewed to include the following principles:
  • The suspension of students in primary schools should only occur in exceptional circumstances and as a last resort.
  • A suspension triggers an urgent assessment of appropriate supports required to address student behaviour.
  • The post-suspension Student Support Group meeting should effectively support re-engagement of the student.
• The practice of sending students home early should be reviewed to understand:
  • the frequency in which this practice is used
  • the reasons it is used
  • the implications for students and caregivers
  • what other supports are required in schools to reduce this practice.
• Any decisions made about providing alternative education are based on what is in the best interests of the child or young person in out of home care. This includes decisions about Flexible Learning Options, re-engagement programs and attendance at non-school senior secondary providers.

The Committee recommended that all of these recommendations be accepted and implemented.[7]

Individual Education Plans

Individual Education Plans are written statements devised to assist students who require a range of supports with their education. They describe the adjustments, goals and strategies required to meet the student’s individual educational needs so they can reach their full potential.

Individual Education Plans are recommended for all of the following students:

• students with disabilities
• student with additional needs
• students in out of home care
• students who are young carers
• Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students
• students in re-engagement programs under contract arrangements with another school or provider
• students undertaking flexible learning options
• students at risk of disengagement
• students not reaching their potential including high-ability students.

The Committee acknowledged that Individual Education Plans take a lot of work for teachers to design, implement, monitor and review.

It found that some schools were not developing and implementing effective, consistent, high-quality Individual Education Plans. It noted that this was a long standing issue and was adversely affecting the learning outcomes of some students. Some of the issues identified by the Committee included the following:

• The plans did not include SMART goals i.e. goals that were Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound.
• The goals included in the plans did not include any strategies to support the student to achieve these goals.
• The plans did not include measures to test if the Individual Learning Plan was effective.
• The plans included criticisms about the child, despite policy guidance and best practice requiring plans to be ‘strengths based.’
• The plans were prepared and provided to parents and carers without consultation.
• The plans were not regularly reviewed or updated.[8]

Student wellbeing

The Committee found that schools have an important role to play in supporting student health and wellbeing, but they are struggling to meet the needs of all of their students.

It found that whilst most schools had wellbeing staff, they are not always able to provide specialist interventions and address the complex needs of some students.

It also found that wellbeing staff were often expected to engage in mental health promotion within their school as well as provide mental health care to individual students. Given the level of demand for these services, and the complex needs of students, the Committee acknowledged that this model of care was not sustainable.

It also found that many schools struggled to employ or engage wellbeing professionals. This is supported by the following data:

• The Productivity Commission reported to the Committee that there is a national shortage of school psychologists and counsellors.
• The Australian Psychological Society reported to the Committee that schools were some way behind the benchmark of having one psychologist for every 500 students. It estimates that there were approximately 700 school psychologists in Victorian schools in 2023. This only equates to approximately one psychologist for every 1500 students in Victoria.
• Schools in rural and regional areas advised the Committee that they have funding for counsellors and wellbeing staff, but they cannot recruit suitable staff to fill these roles.

The Committee found that the community sector also has an important role to play in supporting the health, wellbeing and learning needs of children and young people. However, community services are also struggling to meet the needs of all children and young people. The Committee heard that wait times to access community supports were sometimes as long as 6-12 months. It also heard that the wait times to access allied health or mental health support can sometimes be as long as two to three years.

In this difficult and challenging climate, the Committee found that there needs to be greater collaboration between schools and community-based supports to try and help ensure that children and young people receive health and wellbeing supports in a timely way.[9]

Training and professional development of teachers

The Committee highlighted the increasingly complex role that the education system plays in supporting children and young people. Many stakeholders highlighted the need for ongoing training and professional development for teachers, leaders and others in the education sector, particularly in relation to the following matters:

• inclusive education
• supporting children in out of home care
• cultural awareness
• preventing and responding to racism
• classroom and behaviour management
• supporting student mental health and wellbeing outcomes
• trauma informed practices.[10]

 

Please feel free to contact Safety Quality & Care Legal Services to discuss how we can use these learnings to support you in your safety, quality and care journey.

 

Elena Totino

Founder, Director & Principal Lawyer

Safety Quality & Care Legal Services

 

January 2025

 

[1] Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the state education system in Victoria, October 2024, pp. 79-82

[2] Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the state education system in Victoria, October 2024, pp. 92-93

[3] Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the state education system in Victoria, October 2024, pp. 97-98

[4] Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the state education system in Victoria, October 2024, p. 99

[5] Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the state education system in Victoria, October 2024, Recommendation 24

[6] Commission for Children and Young People, Let Us Learn: Systemic inquiry into the educational experiences of children and young people in out of home care, November 2023, pp. 37-41

[7] Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the state education system in Victoria, October 2024, p. 111

[8] Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the state education system in Victoria, October 2024, pp. 100-103

[9] Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the state education system in Victoria, October 2024, pp. 186-195

[10] Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee, Inquiry into the state education system in Victoria, October 2024, pp. 91, 115-116, 125, 171, 188, 196, 219, 222