In August 2024 a NSW Upper House committee tabled Report 52, an inquiry into how children and young people with disability are treated in NSW education, from childcare to university. It made 20 findings and 28 recommendations. It heard that students with disability were about 18% of students but 50% of suspensions, that families are routinely turned away, and that complaints mostly go nowhere. The government supported or supported in principle 20 recommendations and rejected one: an independent oversight body.
My son Eden is non-speaking and autistic, and he goes to a NSW public school. So when the NSW Parliament held an inquiry into how kids like him are treated in our schools, I read the whole report. This is the short version. If you want everything, the in-depth version is here.
What the inquiry was
It was run by Portfolio Committee No. 3 (Education) of the NSW Legislative Council, chaired by Abigail Boyd MLC. It covered every setting a child with disability might be in: early childhood, public, Catholic and independent schools, TAFE and university. It heard from students, parents, teachers, unions, advocates and the Department of Education, and tabled its report, Report 52, on 22 August 2024.
The main points
- Suspensions. In the first half of 2022, students with disability were 18% of students and 50% of suspensions. The inquiry heard of children suspended as young as five.
- Restraint and seclusion. It heard of a nine-year-old with autism who was denied his noise-cancelling headphones in a fire drill, held down by several teachers, secluded and then suspended.
- Turned away at the gate. In one national survey, 70% of 745 families said their child had been gatekept: refused, steered elsewhere or only allowed part-time.
- Private schools can say no. The inquiry heard NSW is the only Australian jurisdiction where private schools can lawfully refuse a child because of disability.
- Kids nobody counts. The committee found an “unquantified number” of children with disability are out of school altogether.
- Staff without support. It heard about a third of special education staff hold a special education qualification, and school leaders get about 4.5 hours of disability training every three years.
- Complaints go nowhere. In one survey, 80% of families who complained said it was never resolved. The committee called the process “severely inappropriate”.
What the government said
Of the 28 recommendations, the NSW Government supported 7, supported 13 in principle, noted 7 and did not support 1. The one it said no to was Recommendation 23: an independent body to oversee how children with disability are treated in education.
What’s happened since
The Department’s own figures for 2024, the year the report came out, show 44,924 suspensions of students with disability, involving 20,194 students. 2,037 of those students were in Kindergarten to Year 2. The new behaviour policy that year also removed the cap on how many times a student can be suspended in a year, although the caps on total days still apply.
Our kids aren’t broken. The system is. This report is the system saying so about itself.
I’m not angry at teachers. Most of the ones I’ve met are doing their best with almost nothing. The point of reading this is to know what’s happening, so you can ask better questions at your own school. Eden’s had a good year this year, and that happened because people around him chose to make it good.
Worth knowing
Tabled 22 August 2024 by the NSW Legislative Council education committee.
Media release, 22 Aug 202420 findings and 28 recommendations, covering early childhood to university.
Report 52Students with disability were 18% of students and 50% of suspensions (Semester 1, 2022).
Report 52, para 2.50of 745 families surveyed said their child had been gatekept from school.
Report 52, para 5.23The government did not support an independent oversight body (Rec 23).
Govt responsesuspensions of students with disability in NSW public schools in 2024.
NSW DoE fact sheetWhat you can do
- Read the summaryThe report’s findings and recommendations are listed at the front. You don’t need to read the whole thing to get the picture.
- Ask your schoolAsk how they support students with disability, how they make adjustments, and what happens before a suspension.
- Know the standardsSchools must make reasonable adjustments under the federal Disability Standards for Education 2005.
- Share itSend this to someone who has never thought about any of it. There are more of them than there are of us.
Questions people ask
What is Report 52?
Report 52 is the final report of a NSW Legislative Council inquiry into children and young people with disability in NSW educational settings, tabled on 22 August 2024 by Portfolio Committee No. 3 (Education), chaired by Abigail Boyd MLC. It made 20 findings and 28 recommendations.
What did the NSW inquiry find about suspensions?
It heard that in Semester 1 2022, students with disability made up about 18% of NSW public school students but 50% of suspensions, and that children as young as five were being suspended.
How did the NSW Government respond to Report 52?
It supported 7 recommendations, supported 13 in principle, noted 7 and did not support 1, Recommendation 23, which called for an independent oversight body for children with disability in education.
Can private schools in NSW refuse a child with disability?
The inquiry heard that NSW is the only Australian jurisdiction whose anti-discrimination law lets private schools refuse enrolment on the basis of disability. The government referred the issue to the NSW Law Reform Commission’s review of the Anti-Discrimination Act.
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If this meant something to you, the best thing you can do is subscribe and share it with someone who has never lived with autism. That is who I am making this for.
Sources
- NSW Legislative Council, Portfolio Committee No. 3 (Education), Children and young people with disability in New South Wales educational settings, Report 52 (22 August 2024). Paragraph and page references in this post are to this report.
- NSW Government, Government response to Report 52 (November 2024).
- NSW Department of Education, 2024 full year suspensions and expulsions fact sheet.
- NSW Legislative Council, media release: report tabled (22 August 2024).
