Students with disabilities are being denied support.
A System Under Strain
The Rise of Disability Diagnoses Challenges Australian Schools
Alicia Cook's son, Emerson, has been diagnosed with ADHD and autism. At his previous schools, his struggles were often dismissed; now, his challenges highlight a growing crisis within Australia's educational system.
With almost one in four students needing additional support due to disabilities, the landscape of Australian classrooms is rapidly changing. Parents, teachers, and advocates are all raising the alarm - the system seems to be at a breaking point.
Funding Disparities and Investigative Focus
Studies reveal startling disparities in disability funding between private and public schools. This, among other factors, has prompted The Guardian to launch an in-depth investigation into systemic shortcomings within Australian education.
A Mother's Struggle
Emerson Cook's path exemplifies the challenges many families face. His severe anxiety, triggered by seemingly minor events like rainy weather, masked deeper issues. Initially, his concerns were attributed to a past traumatic event.
Despite seeking help at multiple schools, Emerson's needs weren't met. His mother, Alicia, faced phone calls asking her to collect him and witnessed his attempts to escape the school environment. Even with formal diagnoses, his advanced language skills made him ineligible for individualized school-based support.
“The constant anxiety is overwhelming," Alicia admits. "We tried everything, but eventually, we were left with no option but to withdraw him from school. It was heartbreaking."
A Widespread Crisis
Emerson's story is not unique. Across Australia, nearly a million students now require additional support specifically due to disabilities. While the vast majority remain within mainstream schools, the system's capacity to effectively serve them is increasingly strained.
Since 2017, reported disabilities among schoolchildren have skyrocketed by almost 40%. Of particular note is the almost 10% annual rise in social and emotional disabilities - a pace significantly exceeding standard enrollment growth.
Experts estimate that 4% of 7 to 14-year-olds now have a primary autism diagnosis, with ADHD diagnoses affecting between 6-10% of children. The introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), along with changing assessment protocols, are seen as major contributors to this sharp increase.
Data from Children and Young People with Disability Australia paints a worrying picture. Shockingly, less than one-third of students with disabilities feel supported within the school environment, and only half report feeling included. A staggering 70% report being excluded from school events and activities.
While "inclusive education" is the widely-supported ideal, its successful implementation is a massive challenge. Teachers feel overwhelmed and under-resourced. Families face agonizing decisions, with some resorting to drastic measures like homeschooling to meet their children's needs.
The fundamental questions now are: Can the system adapt? Are schools adequately equipped to cope with these changes? And most importantly, are the needs of disabled students being met within the current educational environment?
Teachers on the Frontline
For Amy Harland, a teacher and assistant principal in New South Wales, the influx of students with disabilities is a daily, tangible reality. In her school, a low-socioeconomic environment, upwards of two-thirds of students in some classes have registered disabilities requiring adjustments to their learning plan.
"Teachers are adapting routines for every single lesson, sometimes with wildly differing needs within the same classroom," she explains. "This might mean visual timetables, special choice boards, even feeding plans. The amount of individualized support needed is immense."
The challenge, Harland says, is differentiation. "You might have students functioning from a kindergarten level all the way to a Year 7 level within a single Year 6 classroom. You're also dealing with students who might be on the autism spectrum, have sensory processing needs, struggle with attendance issues, or have complex behavioral challenges."
Overwhelmed and Under-Supported
Beyond these complexities, many students arrive with significant mental health concerns, friendship issues, or carry the burden of out-of-home care situations. All of this compounds the challenges teachers face in creating a functional learning environment.
"The workload is confronting," Harland stresses. "Teachers are meant to develop detailed behavior and learning support plans, track and document data for at least 10 weeks, all to justify federal funding. The hours dedicated to paperwork, especially around disability support, have increased exponentially since 1989, but the actual on-the-ground support hasn't kept pace."
This sentiment is echoed by many teachers speaking anonymously online. Some describe feeling pressured to perform tasks beyond the scope of their teaching role, such as toilet training. The repeated message is stark: "Inclusion is a nice idea, but it's unworkable in practice. Everyone suffers in this scenario."
Support Staff Overstretched
Student support officers (SSOs) are also feeling the strain. Troy Wright, who advocates for SSOs in New South Wales, sees a disturbing rise in workers' compensation claims within the education department – a clear marker of growing distress.
Many claims stem from stress and workload, but an increasing number involve physical injuries. Wright recounts one SSO who suffered a severed finger from a student. This level of violence, he emphasizes, highlights the unsustainable pressures felt by frontline workers.
Even administrative staff are burdened by the changing dynamics of disability inclusion. One school reported managing 80 allied health workers needing access for student appointments – a logistical nightmare alongside core educational responsibilities.
Last year, an official review of the NDIS suggested providing more disability supports outside the scheme, potentially within healthcare settings. However, how this would work in collaboration with the already strained education system sparks widespread concern.
Suspension, Exclusion, and a Broken System
Sophia, a seven-year-old from Adelaide, received her first suspension at just six years old. Diagnosed with level 2 autism, Sophia's struggles with emotional regulation have created a cycle of disruption and exclusion.
Over a six-month period, Sophia missed 44 days of Year 1 due to suspensions and, ultimately, exclusion. School staff repeatedly pressured her parents to medicate Sophia – an action her pediatrician advised against. Shockingly, after one particularly difficult incident when Sophia lashed out, she was sent to the emergency room, only to be sent home after a six-hour wait with no intervention.
The school even threatened to involve police if Sophia's parents couldn't immediately collect her, pushing responsibility onto the family rather than offering support. "It felt like they wanted our child gone, regardless of the consequences," Sophia's mother, Doreen Salon, says.
Her frustration is echoed by Julie Phillips, an advocate for families facing disability discrimination in the Victorian education system. Phillips highlights the overuse of suspensions and exclusions – tactics disproportionately used against disabled children, including those as young as primary school age.
Desperate Parents, Lack of Infrastructure
"Suspension is the easiest, cheapest option. Sadly, research tells us it makes behaviors worse, not better," Phillips contends. “This cycle of suspensions and disengagement just exacerbates the problem."
Beyond immediate harm, there are lasting consequences. Advocacy burdens, lost childcare, and inflexible work schedules force many parents, often mothers, to reduce hours or even quit their jobs. These economic impacts create a further cascade of challenges for families already under immense strain.
Marita Nicholas works with autistic children in regional Victoria. She sees firsthand how frequent school changes, driven by lack of support, destabilize children already struggling to cope. "Not a single family on my client list has found a school that works long-term," she says.
Compounding this, Nicholas highlights the severe shortage of appropriate physical spaces in schools where students with disabilities can decompress or manage sensory overload. When these basic needs aren't met, the risk of crisis escalates.
The "onerous" eligibility criteria for disability funding exacerbate the problem. Families may face months-long waits just for an initial assessment and even then, might not qualify for the support their child needs.
Consequently, many parents give up on mainstream schools. Home-schooling rates have doubled since before the pandemic, a troubling trend. An Autism Awareness Australia report revealed 35% of families faced refusal or discouragement when attempting to enroll autistic children. Further, 16% of autistic students reported feeling “very unhappy” at school – a heartbreaking reflection of an ineffective system.
The Toll on Children and Society
"There's this cultural problem, too," explains Louise Rogers, a founder of the support group School Can't. Her organization works with families of children struggling with "school refusal" – a phenomenon often rooted in stress and unmet needs.
Rogers sees a dangerous conflation of stress-related behaviors with deliberate misbehavior, leading to punitive responses rather than seeking the root causes. This reflects a broader societal lack of understanding around disability, a problem ingrained in our culture.
School attendance and retention rates continue a downward trajectory. The Year 12 completion rate now sits at 79% - the lowest in the past decade. This raises concerns about the long-term consequences for young people leaving school without the necessary skills and qualifications to succeed.
Nathan and Molly Bell witnessed this firsthand when their five-year-old son, Alfie, diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder, was abruptly kicked out of his Catholic school with just two weeks' notice.
Later, the Bells discovered staff frequently isolated Alfie in a separate room labeled "Alfie's Cave." This lack of inclusion likely contributed to his difficulties and the school's decision to sever ties, prioritizing their own perceived problems over a child's wellbeing and right to inclusive education.
"We felt completely ambushed," says Nathan. "The school saw Alfie as a problem to be discarded. It was heartbreaking."
Signs of Hope Amidst the Crisis
Fortunately, Alfie's story has a positive turn. His local public school offered him a place in a supportive classroom model, where he now thrives. This, unfortunately, highlights the inconsistency and reliance on luck rather than a responsive and equitable system.
Craig Petersen, president of the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council, sees hope in the rising number of specialized support places, indicating parents' desperate search for more tailored environments.
However, Petersen acknowledges the resource constraints and the unmet need for even more specialized placements. "Sometimes schools simply don't have the capacity to meet a child's needs," he admits. "That's not a failure of any individual, it's a systemic failure."
While acknowledging the challenges, experts like Professor Andrew Whitehouse, head of the Autism Research Team at the Telethon Kids Institute, emphasize the scale of the issue. "This is now mainstream education. Growing developmental disabilities are creating profound challenges within schools. We can’t avoid addressing them."
The Call for Urgent Reform
Whitehouse believes a comprehensive approach is needed, from teacher training to fundamental changes in school architecture. "Many children with disabilities receive education in the same classroom as their peers, yet they aren't truly experiencing inclusive education," he explains. "The classrooms, the level of support, and often even the buildings themselves, aren't designed for this. This is about systemic failure, not pointing fingers at any one group."
The upcoming negotiations around the new national schools reform agreement offer a critical opportunity to address these issues. Whitehouse stresses the need for a "coherent vision" for how Australia addresses the education of children with disabilities.
"Everyone is struggling with this – kids, parents, teachers, the system itself. The motivation for change has never been stronger," Whitehouse emphasizes. "We have the forums, like the Education Ministers’ Meetings, specifically meant to address such complex problems. We now have the collective will; we must translate it into action."
"It's gut-wrenching to see children who, with modest additional support and adjustments, could be thriving but are instead excluded," he adds. "That's rarely, if ever, the best option."
Professor Linda Graham, director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, believes the approach to inclusion needs a "systemic, seismic shift." Currently, students with disabilities aren't receiving the necessary adjustments or support. "Rather than expelling children, we need to proactively implement inclusive practices so they are effectively supported from the start."
The Fight for Disability Rights
The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability offered a three-pronged approach to transforming the education system:
A clear commitment to inclusive education in all Australian schools;
Training and resourcing for teachers and school staff to enact inclusive practices;
Improved accountability mechanisms to track progress and ensure all students' needs are met
Cherry Baylosis, from Disability Advocacy NSW, cautions against phasing out special schools without adequate resourcing for mainstream settings. "In a perfect world, all schools would be fully inclusive," she acknowledges. "But the reality is, without addressing the core issues, rushing into inclusion can be harmful if the existing system isn't ready."
The debate over special schools versus mainstream inclusion is complex and ongoing. However, experts generally agree that all schools should be working towards greater inclusion with appropriate resources.
What Does the Future Hold?
The path forward must involve a fundamental rethinking of how we define and approach disability inclusion within schools. This will require:
Funding models that fairly allocate resources based on individual student need, rather than solely on enrolment numbers.
Professional development that trains all teachers to differentiate instruction, recognize signs of unmet needs, and proactively create inclusive learning environments.
School infrastructure that provides designated, calming spaces for students requiring sensory breaks, as well as flexible classroom layouts for diverse learning styles.
Collaboration between parents, educators, and allied health professionals to develop individualized plans and support structures for students with disabilities.
Cultural shift away from viewing disability as a problem to be solved, and towards greater societal acceptance and celebration of neurodiversity.
Ultimately, achieving true inclusion is not just a matter of educational policy; it's a matter of fundamental human rights. Every child deserves a learning environment where they feel safe, supported, and empowered to reach their full potential.
The Personal Cost
Behind the statistics and policy debates lies a human cost. Children living with disabilities are far more likely to experience mental health issues, social isolation, and limited future opportunities. The ripple effects on their families and communities are significant.
Alicia Cook, still grappling with the consequences of her son's school experiences, describes the toll it has taken: "I'm filled with grief for the childhood I imagined for Emerson, one with school camps, sleepovers... all those experiences are unlikely for him. There will be a different path, and I have to accept that."
"But the courageous kids like Emerson, who can't tolerate the system as it is, are actually the ones showing us it's broken," she adds with a mix of sadness and pride. "I admire him for standing up and saying this isn't right."
A Legacy of Lost Opportunity
While many schools and teachers strive to create inclusive environments, the current system leaves far too many children behind. The consequences of missed opportunities, disrupted learning, and repeated exclusion can have lifelong repercussions.
Australia risks creating a generation where disabled students are relegated to the margins, denied access to the same education, friendships, and pathways as their peers. This not only undermines their individual potential but also diminishes the richness and diversity of our society as a whole.
The Path to Real Inclusion
The solutions won't be simple or immediate, but the path forward is clear. It requires:
Political Will: Placing the education of students with disabilities at the forefront of policy agendas and committing substantial, sustained funding for inclusive practices.
Systemic Change: Revamping teacher training, rethinking classroom design, and creating mechanisms that measure schools' success on inclusivity, not just academic test scores.
Community Support: Shifting societal understanding and combating ableism through awareness campaigns and integration of people with disabilities in all facets of life.
Celebrating Neurodiversity: Cultivating a mindset that recognizes the strengths and unique contributions that individuals with disabilities bring to our classrooms and communities.
Conclusion
Australia's education system stands at a crossroads. The rising number of children with disabilities presents complex challenges, but also an unprecedented opportunity for transformation. The choices made today will determine whether they are met with systemic exclusion or embraced as vital members of a rich and diverse society.
The path to true inclusion will undoubtedly require time, investment, and societal change. However, the potential rewards are profound. By creating a system that truly values and supports all learners, we invest not only in the future of individuals but in the health and well-being of our nation as a whole.
