On Review of the Educational Adjustments Funding Model …

Media release – Roger Jaensch, Minister for Education, Children and Youth, 2 November 2023

Independent Report Released – Review of the Educational Adjustments Funding Model

The Rockliff Liberal Government is committed to providing high-quality inclusive education for students with disability.

Introduced in 2020, the Educational Adjustments Disability Funding Model has been providing additional support to schools for students with disability to enable them to access, participate and engage in quality educational programs.

Minister for Education, Children and Youth, Roger Jaensch, said that since implementing the model, an additional 3,134 students with disability have been supported and 80 full-time equivalent additional Support Teachers have been funded through the Educational Adjustments Model.

“Today, I am pleased to release an Independent Review Report of the Educational Adjustments Model and its implementation in Tasmanian Government Schools,” Minister Jaensch said.

“I welcome the Independent Report and I am pleased to confirm that all 12 recommendations in the Report have been accepted by the Tasmanian Government.

“The purpose of the independent review was to better understand how the model has supported students with disability and schools; and identify areas for improvement.

“The report confirms that the Educational Adjustments Model has had a positive impact overall with a greater number of students receiving funded support, along with a positive shift in culture and inclusive education practice. It also provides recommendations on where we can do better so that we can continue to improve our support for students, their families and our schools.”

Minister Jaensch said the recommendations present an opportunity for us to further improve support for students with disability and strengthen inclusive education practices more broadly across Tasmanian Government schools.

“This is also an important opportunity to strengthen the understanding, engagement and communication within school communities on the planning and supports provided to students in their community,” Minister Jaensch said.

The Report has been informed by broad consultation state-wide with schools, families, students, disability and education stakeholder groups, and relevant departmental business units.

“Thank you to everyone who participated and provided important feedback throughout the consultation – your knowledge and experiences have helped shape the report and the recommendations within,” Minister Jaensch said.

To view a copy of the Report, please visit Educational Adjustments Funding Model.

Report from the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with a Disability

Separately, it is important to note that at the end of September the national Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with a Disability report was released.

There are 222 recommendations in this report, asking for changes in all areas of disability support, including education, employment, justice and housing.

The recommendations talk about the importance of inclusive education, specialist disability expertise and how to best support student learning for children and young people with disability so they can have a great future in our community.

There is strong alignment to this Government’s significant education reforms to make our schools inclusive for students with disability.

The Tasmanian Government will now take time to review the recommendations in a fully considered and consultative approach.

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Media release – Josh Willie MLC, Shadow Minister for Education and Early Years, 2 November 2023

Review of Educational Adjustments Funding Model welcome

The Rockliff Liberal Government has finally released a critical review into how students with disabilities are supported in school after sitting on the report since May.

KPMG analysed how the model aligns to changes happening nationally, the principles, structure and underpinning processes of the model, how schools implement the model within schools and the impact of the model. This included how students with disability are supported at school, whether parents are involved in the learning plan process, whether funding has resulted in positive outcomes and whether the learning supports change over time.

While it is welcome the introduction of the model has meant a greater number of students with disability are receiving funded educational adjustments for their schooling, there is still plenty of work to do to support all students in the Tasmanian education system.

It is disappointing adequacy of funding was out of scope of the review. A Tasmanian context could have been useful for further improvement.

The recommendations show that awareness and understanding of disability and its impact on student learning varied across schools, demonstrating the Rockliff Liberal Government needs to do more to support schools across a range of areas whether that be leadership and workforce capability, engagement, communication, processes and transitional funding.

Life doesn’t get any easier for many Tasmanian families of students with disabilities until the government gets it right.

This is critically important in the context of the recent Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with a Disability and Tasmanian students with a disability being over represented in school suspension stats.

After 10 years of a Liberal Government, Tasmania’s education outcomes are among the worst in the nation, and not all students with a disability are getting the support they need to engage with learning.

As former education Minister and now Premier, if Jeremy Rockliff hasn’t fixed the issues by now, he never will.

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Media release – Australian Education Union Tasmania, 3 November 2023

Thousands of students with disability miss out as Government dodges action

More than 2,000 Tasmanian students with disability will continue to miss out on millions of dollars in education support as the Rockliff Government dodges the real issue of underfunding.

The Rockliff Government’s Review of the Educational Adjustments Funding Model was designed to fail by ruling out any review of funding levels, leaving underfunding and neglect unaddressed.

The Australian Education Union’s submission to the Review called for measures to ensure over 2,000 students with disability currently missing out on educational support receive the funding they need.

“The core problem here is underfunding and thousands of students missing out on support,” said David Genford, Australian Education Union Tasmania President. “Yet the Government ensured this review wasn’t able to examine the main issue and criticism of the Government’s neglectful approach.”

“Underfunding and neglect affects every child and there’s a double negative for over 2,000 Tasmanian students with disability who receive no additional funding.”

“Every child in Tasmanian public schools and colleges is around $2,000 per year below the minimum national funding standard. This underfunding hits students with disability the hardest and it’s unacceptable – we demand urgent action.”

“Support Teachers in public schools are currently expected to support as many as 35 students with diagnosed disability each – this creates unsustainable workloads and denies students the personalised support they need. Unfortunately, the review fails to address this situation and we suspect this is due to restrictions around the scope of the review designed by the Government.”

The Rockliff Government has accepted all 12 recommendations in the Report, but have committed no funding to implement them.

“Firstly dodging any review of funding shortfalls and then accepting recommendations with zero funding commitments to implement them is neglectful at best and harmful at worst.”

“Raising the hopes of students, families and educators that significant funding shortfalls will be addressed without committing the required funds to fix neglect is disgraceful.”

“Recommendations such as additional professional learning, improved workforce capability, expanding inclusive practice coaches, additional support for primary to high school transition and increased contingency funding are all very welcome – but where is the money?”

“Students are missing out now, we have raised this with the Rockliff Government for years and there is still no commitment to ensure every child receives the full funding and support they need.”

“It is past time this Government turned words into dollars flowing through the school gate.”