Page 3668 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 13 September 2017
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In November 2015, six months after the situation was made public, there was no question at that point that all of the recommendations were to be implemented. All parties involved agreed that action needed to be taken. However, by June 2016 it became clear that the implementation of all the reforms in the schools for all report was not happening at a great pace. At this point we were now seven months from when the report was handed down, and only two of the 50 recommendations were considered completed.
The first oversight report highlighted that expertise was difficult to come by, time lines were not being met and meetings were not being attended, in other words, bureaucracy was getting in the way. While the process of reform was never going to be an overnight tick-in-the-box exercise, this was certainly not a good start. By August 2016 nine of the 50 recommendations had been implemented, and here we are now, one year on, and still not all recommendations have been progressed. As at the end of August, 15 of the 50 recommendations remained outstanding for ACTÂ government schools and only one for the non-government sector. Deadlines have been pushed out and no doubt there are still obstacles to getting everything done.
The government are quite right in saying this should not ever be a tick-in-the-box exercise, and this is not what my motion seeks to do. I firmly agree that the work that needs to be done must be managed and carried out carefully so as to ensure lasting and meaningful change. However, there should be no more barriers and no more excuses. These recommendations need to be implemented as a matter of priority.
It is no secret that schools in Canberra have struggled for a long time to deal with the challenges that some students bring to the classroom. Last Assembly, in my then capacity as shadow minister for disability, I met with parents of children, some of whom had a formal diagnosis and some of whom did not, who were simply not being adequately cared for within schools. This is a situation that all school communities are aware of.
There are many students who may present as high functioning in many areas but have some level of a disability. These are the students who are mainstreamed by and large and these are the students our schools have not been able to deal with appropriately. That includes students who may not have any formal diagnosis or any formal recognition of a disability but still struggle with behavioural issues. It is a great shame that it took an incident such as a cage being built in a school to force some action on this issue and to confirm what many parents, teachers and students had known for a long time.
My motion today calls on the government to demonstrate how reforms are impacting the day-to-day life of teachers, students and school communities as a whole; how ACT teachers and support staff have been better equipped; and how the situation has changed for them on a daily basis. These questions must be asked and must be answered.
A key chapter in the schools for all report is chapter 8, which relates to the physical environment and infrastructure of schools. The inclusion of a safe, calming, sensory
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