Special Needs Education

Student Disability Report

Update: 28/11/14

It was recently revealed that the Pricewaterhouse Coopers has completed a survey of schools for the nation’s education ministers. The report was commissioned to determine the support provided to special needs students. The findings paint a dramatically different picture to conventional opinion.

The research found almost double the number of children with disabilities than was previously estimated. This is more than three times higher than the number of students currently receiving funding.

The nation’s ministers have, however, decided to keep the report under wraps for at least another year.

SAASSO has written to South Australia’s education minister, Jennifer Rankine, asking that she release the report to our state’s parents and education community – who we believe have the right to know the true situation with our special needs children.

We look forward to Minister Rankine’s reply and hopefully release of the report.

The number of students with special needs in South Australian schools has been rising for years, and recently, the well publicised discussion surrounding the Gonski Review of school funding has brought special needs education into the limelight. The review showed that 7.1% of SA students have a disability, yet the funding currently committed to those students is well below that committed by other states.

While by no means exhausting, below are some resources relevant to special needs education in South Australia.

SAASSO Federal Election Submission 2010			SAASSO State Election Submission        2010
	SAASSO listed Special Needs Education as a priority in a submission to the 2010 Federal Election.			Special Needs Education was also a priority in SAASSO’s 2010 State Election submission.

School Post Term 3, 2015 Interview with MLC Dignity for Disability’s Kelly Vincent

School Post Term 3, 2015 Parliamentary Inquiry into Special Needs Education in SA.

	School Post Term 1, 2012 Dyslexia			School Post Term 4, 2011 Recognising ADHD			School Post Term 3, 2010 Negotiated Education Plans
	School Post Term 4, 2009 Special Needs Students			School Post Term 2, 2008 Sexual Education for Special Needs Students			School Post Term 1, 2008 Special Needs Education

“Every student with a disability has the right to gain the necessary knowledges, skills and attributes to achieve to their highest level of learning…. “

Guidance for using the Australian Curriculum for Students with Special Education Needs			Protecting Children and Young People with Disability			Education and Autism Spectrum Disorders in Australia
	Guidance from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).			A guide for parents and carers.			A position paper from the Australian Advisory Board on Autism Spectrum Disorders, April 2010.

Page updated: 22/03/16