Ethan Nash attended both mainstream and specialist schools. The Royal Commission was split on a recommendation to combine the systems, and the government response is unclear.
On the 31st of July, the federal government released its response to the recommendations made in the Disability Royal Commission final report published September last year.
The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability made 222 recommendations, with one volume dedicated to inclusive education, employment, and housing.
There are four categories of response provided by the government: ‘accept’, ‘accept in principle’, ‘subject to further consideration’, and ‘note’.
According to the response, ‘accept in principle’ means the government supports the overarching policy intent but “may consider different approaches to implementation”.
‘Note’ means the federal government believes it is not within their policy responsibility.
None of the 10 recommendations under the government’s primary or shared responsibility regarding inclusive education have been fully accepted in the Disability Royal Commission Government Response.
Instead, eight were accepted in principle and two were noted.
One of the noted recommendations was to completely phase out special schools by 2051 with no new enrolments from 2032.
This has left families of people with disability uncertain about the future of inclusive education in Australia.
From prep to year 3, Ethan Nash attended two vastly different schools each week: a local mainstream primary school, and the local specialist school.
“Ethan was excluded from the beginning,” his mother, Jane Nash, said.
“The mainstream setting wasn’t equipped to have him full time.”
At three years old, Ethan was diagnosed with autism, and later an intellectual disability and sensory processing challenges.
As teachers themselves, his parents thought a dual schooling approach would help the kids at school get to know Ethan on a more “mutual ground”, as well as helping his siblings through having their brother in amongst their peers.
Ethan was one of around 380,000 children with a disability who attended primary or secondary school in Australia.
Of these students, nearly 90 per cent attend a mainstream school either in regular classes or in special classes, according to a 2022 government report.
Jane believes that in an ideal world fully integrated education systems could be fantastic, but there is too much social change needed before it could ever be successful.
“In a perfect world everyone would be kind, there'd be no bullying, there'd be acceptance of everyone regardless of ability. And I don't think that's ever going to happen,” she said.
The proposal to phase out split education was endorsed by only three of the six commissioners to form part of a “national road map to inclusive education”, the final report, released at the end of September, said.
Whilst dual schooling was beneficial for community connectivity, Ethan’s years of mainstream schooling were not easy.
The teachers at the local mainstream primary school, St Thomas’, struggled with his behaviour, especially while trying to run classes with nearly 30 other young students.
By Year 3, Ethan was falling behind in the classroom and the other kids at St Thomas’ had started noticing that Ethan was different. So, he moved to the specialist school full time.
The number of segregated schools in Australia has grown by 26 per cent since 2010.
Going to the specialist school was easier for Ethan as the facilities and teachers were better equipped to support him.
“They have all the tools for the sensory side of things to calm kids like Ethan down if they are unsure or have high anxiety,” Jane said.
But going through a completely separate school system can contribute to isolation and invisibility of those in the disability community.
“It broke my heart as [Ethan’s siblings] went through secondary school, they didn't even realise that some of their peers had brothers and sisters with a disability,” Jane said.
Ultimately, Ethan’s dual experience in the mainstream system saw many “great and positive outcomes”, and Jane said it would have been good to have him integrated all the way through.
From just three years amongst his peers at St Thomas’ Primary School, some students still stop in the street and greet Ethan.
For full desegregation to be successful, Jane said the transition to fully integrated classrooms has to start in kindergarten and primary settings.
“You can't just throw a [person with a] disability into a Year 10 class…that's just too in your face,” she said.
“It breaks your heart, but I get it. They're not used to it.”
The government response on desegregation of education is unclear, and the future of these schools is now uncertain.
Comments