Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner is calling on the Queensland Government to honour a commitment made by governments across Australia to the development of a National Roadmap for Inclusive Education.
In the recent state budget, the Queensland Government announced funding for six new segregated schools or ‘special schools’ in South East Queensland.
However, over the last 12 months, the Queensland Government joined the Australian Government as well as all other state and territory governments in affirming support for the National Roadmap for Inclusive Education, a key principle of which is to provide equal access to mainstream education.
The roadmap seeks to facilitate a process of reform to ensure an equitable and participatory experience and environment for all students. This means providing appropriate expertise and supports in mainstream schools rather than segregating students with disability in ‘special schools’.
Disability Discrimination Commissioner Ms Rosemary Kayess has written to the Queensland Premier as well as the Queensland Education Minister to raise her “deep concerns” with their new plan to build more segregated schools.
“The investment to build new segregated schools goes directly against the Queensland Government’s commitment to inclusive education, the principles of the National Roadmap for Inclusive Education and a key recommendation of the recent Disability Royal Commission,” Ms Kayess said.
“It is deeply concerning that the Queensland Government is blatantly ignoring all the evidence and expert advice in relation to the significant benefits of inclusive education for people with disability.
“We know that inclusive education leads to better academic outcomes and reduced social exclusion as well as increased employment opportunities for people with disability. It also reduces rates of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation experienced by people with disability.”
Ms Kayess said for the cost of the six new segregated schools the government is proposing to build, it could invest in mainstream schools across the state so they have the staff and facilities that would make them inclusive.
“Segregated schooling leads to segregated lives for many people with disability and this is unacceptable. If we want a society where everyone is included and where everyone feels they belong, then we need to be phasing out ‘special schools’, not building more of them,” she said.
“Rather than embracing a brighter future for all Queenslanders, the Queensland Government is locking the state into a failed ableist model of the past which penalises people with disability.
“I’m calling on the Queensland Government to honour its commitment to fulfilling the right to education on an equal basis with others by replacing its plan to build new segregated schools and invest instead in inclusive education across the state.”
