A new Auditor-General’s report has revealed significant shortcomings in the provision of support for students with disabilities in public schools across New South Wales (NSW), prompting calls for urgent reform.
The report identified gaps in both planning and the provision of essential resources, which are leading to increased inequality in education for students with disabilities.
Since 2018, the number of students with disabilities in public schools has risen from one-fifth to one-quarter, according to the report. However, the NSW Department of Education has been found to lack comprehensive data on how the demand for services compared to the available supply.
The report also highlighted the department’s inability to monitor how long it takes for students to receive the targeted support they require after being deemed eligible.
The NSW Teachers Federation has criticised the findings. Natasha Watt, the federation’s senior vice president, expressed concern over the growing needs of students with disabilities, coupled with inadequate funding and insufficient planning by the NSW Department of Education.
“This report confirms what teachers have been saying for years – we have a crisis in support for students with disability,” said Watt. “The Auditor-General’s findings are stark. The Department has failed to address unmet demand for support, despite being aware of these problems for almost two decades.”
A key concern raised in the report is that 18 years after a 2006 audit recommended monitoring wait times for support, the department still lacks data on how long students are waiting for essential services. Watt called this a “fundamental failure of planning.”
The teachers’ federation has outlined several steps it believes the NSW government must take to address the issues raised in the report. These include:
- Immediate and thorough data collection to understand the demand for targeted support at local levels
- Regular monitoring of the time taken for students to receive approved support services
- Better workforce planning to ensure that the number of specialist teachers aligns with the demand for their services
- Increased Commonwealth funding to meet the growing needs of students with disabilities
“Our students with disability deserve so much better,” Watt noted. “The NSW Government must act now to turn this situation around and provide the support these children urgently need.”