Page 412 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 18 February 2020
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classroom setting just does not work. Muliyan provides high quality academically rigorous and trauma-informed learning for a select group of young people with complex needs and challenging lives.
Students who attend Muliyan are supported by a multidisciplinary team which includes educators, psychologists, social workers, youth workers and allied health professionals who co-construct personalised learning plans including both academic and wellbeing goals. The team focuses on student transition, supporting them to move between settings, whether that means a return to their local school, which is often an outcome, or further education, training or employment.
MR GUPTA: Minister, what additional investment is the government making to this program?
MS BERRY: Muliyan has been reviewed and refined in the 15 months it has been operating since its inception. The team has worked to adapt to the changing cohort and service needs of the individual students. Since Muliyan started, it has received more student referrals than it has capacity for. The ACT government last week announced, as part of its 2019 budget review, additional investment to cater for this additional demand.
The investment will see Muliyan’s capacity double, from 10 to 20 places, and it will include additional teachers as well as allied professionals to support these students. Muliyan currently has 12 students enrolled and the growth to 20 will take place incrementally over term 1. The expansion ensures that the public school system is meeting the needs of new students who need extra support. This means that more students will have access to this amazing multidisciplinary team, be supported to remain engaged in schooling, focus on their wellbeing and, in most cases, return to mainstream schooling.
The government’s investment in this area is getting really great results. Parents of Muliyan students have given very positive feedback. One parent said that their child’s involvement at Muliyan has been “life changing” not just for the student but for the family. Another said that their child felt that Muliyan had “reconnected them with their education as well as their self-confidence”. Students have demonstrated significant improvements in their attendance whilst enrolled at Muliyan and there were no suspensions or negative behaviour at Muliyan during 2019.
MS CODY: Minister, how else is the government supporting inclusive public education?
MS BERRY: The ACT government is continuing to implement the future of education strategy and is investing in safer and more supportive school environments for all students and staff. The government has also announced, as part of the 2019 budget review, that it will support an uplift in the government’s ongoing commitment to implement the positive behaviours for learning approach across all ACT public schools.
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