Why closing special schools is such a complex topic important to so many families
When Maree MacDermid drives her son Joseph to school in the morning, it’s “like dropping him off to family”.
Key points:
- Debate has erupted again over the future of special schools following the disability royal commission’s final report
- Parents of children with disabilities have contacted the ABC to emphasize the benefits of special schools
- Advocates of the move acknowledge closing special schools will require an entire overhaul of the mainstream education system
“Every staff member in this school knows Joseph. They know how he communicates. They know his challenges,” she said.
Joseph, 16, lives with severe intellectual disability, hearing and vision impairment, and has attended St Lucy’s special school in Sydney’s north since he was six.
The school has both primary and secondary students. Every pupil at the high school has a diagnosis of intellectual disability and two-thirds of the students overall are autistic.
Because of his support needs, Joseph was never offered a full-time place at a mainstream school.
At St Lucy’s, he is in a class with seven other students, a teacher and two aides.
“[Our students] need small class sizes and expert teachers. They need the right architecture, places where they can retreat to when they get overwhelmed,” principal David Raphael said.
Maree has no doubt the school is the best place for Joseph to learn.
“It’s much more targeted as to what he can do and what he can achieve … rather than sitting in a classroom learning with less support,” she said.
But the disability royal commission’s final report last month has her worried.
A recommendation to phase out segregated education by 2051 reignited the debate about the future of special schools and saw renewed calls to expedite their closing.
But it also sparked fear, with scores of parents and teachers contacting the ABC to voice their support for special schools.
It also sent alarm bells ringing at St Lucy’s.
“The parents … have been outraged. The staff looked at me in shock when I told them,” Mr Raphael said.
A complex debate
The first special schools in Australia opened during the 19th century.
They began as institutions for students who were Deaf and blind, before expanding to other disabilities.
There were 520 special schools in Australia in 2022, up from 414 in 2010, according to the royal commission.
For many families, whether or not to keep them open in the future is not clear-cut.
The place of special schools in society has divided opinion for years, highlighted by the fact the royal commissioners themselves disagreed in the final report.
Only three of the six commissioners — including the two who live with disabilities — recommended phasing out special schools.
“I still haven’t met a parent … who chose a special school,” Rhonda Galbally, one of the commissioners with disability, told 7.30.
“But I’ve met parents where the choice has been removed because the mainstream school was absolutely terrible.”
Dr Galbally said mainstream schools would not be incentivized to change as long as special schools were still funded and operated.
“There should be no option for opting out because then we’ll see mainstream schools giving up and not becoming inclusive,” she said.
‘Hate crimes, vilification and discrimination’
Those in favor of closing special schools say such a move would require an entirely new education system, as well as more training for teachers, but it would be worth it.
“It’s going to take a big shift in attitudes and resources,” Inclusion Australia CEO Catherine McAlpine said.
“What we have at the moment is a resourced special school system … and we have a mainstream system that tends to think kids with disabilities belong there.
“What we need to do, in very simple terms, is put all the resources together.”
Ms McAlpine has firsthand experience with both the mainstream and specialist systems.
Her son started in a special school before transferring to mainstream education.
“I’d seen the data that showed that if you went to special school, you’re 85 per cent likely to stay in segregated settings for the rest of your life and we had dreams of him having a job,” she said.
“I realized that if we didn’t get him … into settings where he was included, that would have had a really big impact on his life outcomes.”
Children with disabilities fare better in inclusive mainstream education, and able-bodied students educated alongside those with disabilities hold fewer prejudicial views, research suggests.
As long as Australia has two education systems, community attitudes about people with disabilities will not change, Dr Galbally said.
“We spent a lot of time at the royal commission hearing [that] attitudes were terrible. There were hate crimes, vilification and terrible, deep discrimination,” she said.
“That will continue while all children don’t have any experience with children with disabilities.”
Some advocates for special schools say they do not have to operate in strict segregation.
At St Lucy’s, students from nearby mainstream schools participate in a buddy program, robotics classes and events together.
“We’re not an enclave. We’re not cut off from the rest of society,” Mr Raphael said.
Resourcing and support
Fourteen-year-old Bas* lives with cerebral palsy, uses a power wheelchair and communicates through screen reading technology.
He has been in mainstream education for most of his life and feels right at home.
“I like attending my school because it gives me freedom and independence,” he said.
“I believe all students should go to the same school.”
Bas currently attends Alfred Deakin High School in Canberra, where he takes part in the full curriculum.
Some lessons have been adapted for him and he is assisted by learning support teachers.
“[At first] we really weren’t sure about Bas’s ability to access the curriculum [or] the space we had. So we just kept communicating with his mother and Bas himself,” said Kirsten Bedggood, who runs the diversity and inclusion program.
“It was just the fair thing to do, just to keep trying, and if something wasn’t working … then we would try another angle. It was just about really flexible solutions.”
Bas and his mother Julie supported the phasing out of segregated education and spoke at the royal commission’s education hearing.
“I think it’s really important that people see … it is possible for children with complex disabilities to go to regular school,” Julie said.
“People with cerebral palsy may have differences, but mostly are the same as everyone else,” Bas added.
“All the evidence proves I am a regular kid, who can do the same things, but just cooler.”
Ms Bedggood said the argument that inclusive education couldn’t work for all students was “fundamentally untrue”, but appropriate resourcing was paramount.
The federal government has announced a task force to respond to all 222 of the royal commission’s recommendations.
A progress report is expected early next year.
No matter where individual families sit on the issue of special schools, one dream unites all parents.
“What we all want for every one of our children, whether they are disabled or not, is that they come to school and they’re loved and someone sees their strengths,” Maree MacDermid said.
*surname withheld