BUILDING INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS: PATHWAYS TO THE FUTURE WORKING PARTY SIX REPORT

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1 BUILDING INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS: PATHWAYS TO THE FUTURE WORKING PARTY SIX REPORT REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS PRINCIPLE 6 The range of coordinated services provided is flexible and delivered according to student needs The following indicators assist in describing the principle in practice: individual student needs are identified and responded to through a range of co-ordinated services and supports; support services respond to local school community contexts; school-based interventions are implemented as early as possible; services and supports are reviewed regularly to acknowledge changing school community and student needs; system initiatives are monitored and reviewed. Scope The working party was required to develop recommendations: ensuring that learning environments are able to meet the needs of all students in all educational settings; developing a framework and strategies for delivering flexible models of inclusive education; designing new facilities and the upgrading of existing schools. Action The working party met on five occasions to investigate, discuss and identify best practice, critical issues and the factors to be taken into account when developing models to ensure that a range of coordinated services, programs and facilities are delivered to students with disabilities and those with special learning needs. building inclusive schools: pathways to the future working party six report 1

2 The working party: identified personnel to address the working party on school and district best practice in providing services; invited speakers to clarify definitions; invited service providers to present future models of service delivery in providing for the needs of schools and students; representatives conducted school and district visits to view best practice, discuss district local area educational planning with the view to examine existing district facilities; provided additional opportunity for feedback on issues, concerns and factors in delivering services, programs and facilities through district and school visits; developed a range of flexible models of inclusive educational provision; developed a set of values and principles that underpin the framework for providing inclusive education; developed a framework that will assist the system in developing inclusive schools. Issues The working party identified and debated a number of issues related to services, programs and facilities that presented a barrier to the understanding of the intent and provision of the principle. These issues are presented in terms of relevance to support services, educational programs and the facilities necessary to enable appropriate programs to be delivered across the state in response to student need. The Department will need to commit resources to ensure that learning environments are able to meet the needs of all students with disabilities in all educational settings. This will require the construction of new facilities as well as the upgrading of existing education support facilities and mainstream sites. Educational services Respondents identified a lack of: a range of services, particularly specialised ones, available to students on a state wide basis; building inclusive schools: pathways to the future working party six report 2

3 early identification and intervention strategies available to schools. On a more specific note it was claimed that: school-based expertise is lacking in the system. Some consideration must be given to having special needs training for Students At Educational Risk teams in schools and districts; schools require effective support from the Centre for Inclusive Schooling and the Department for teachers and for students with special learning needs; limited support is provided to schools with students who present challenging behaviour; genuine interagency collaboration is required to provide essential service delivery to schools for students with special learning needs; teachers with expertise must be available in the schools with the flexibility to conduct collaborative planning time and additional contact time with teachers and students; school psychologist time, which is valued should not to be cut back. Psychologists have an important role to play in individual education planning for students with special learning needs; links with tertiary institutions for research need further development; a district database is necessary to keep a profile of students with special learning needs in the district; the Department s website needs to provide information about learning disorders, disabilities and other learning needs that teachers are able to access easily. Working party members identified a need: for the Department website to list useful technology sites for a teacher toolbox about students with special learning needs; to develop assistive curriculum information through the e2c strategy. Educational programs Governance in some schools is an issue. The notion of one principal per site was mentioned a number of times. Educational Planning and school building inclusive schools: pathways to the future working party six report 3

4 organization need to be reviewed to allow more inclusive practices to be adopted in schools. Respondents identified the need to address a lack of teacher expertise in schools to work with students with special learning needs. To improve this it was suggested that the Department: provide staff with useful tools for assessing the needs of students with challenging behaviours; build up teacher expertise to support school communities in modifying programs for students with special learning needs; provide human and financial resources to allow coordinated management of students with special learning needs; provide each school with a Students At Educational Risk coordinator to assist teachers with students with special learning needs; provide Students At Educational Risk coordinators with ongoing curriculum development to assist schools with students with special learning needs; identify school psychologists able to work with curriculum teams and teachers to pinpoint the educational needs of students with special learning needs; undertake research programs which then assist the Department in identifying teacher pre-service training trends; support action research in effective instruction; provide funding in district offices to assist schools to develop inclusive practices and case management for students with special learning needs. Educational facilities Education support schools, centres and units are to be retained to facilitate parental choice. What is the future of Education Support schools, centres and units in the inclusive schools thrust? There needs to be clear strategic planning between Student Services and Facilities and Services Directorates to ensure appropriate facilities are provided for students with disabilities and students with special learning needs. building inclusive schools: pathways to the future working party six report 4

5 New schools planning and design targets: co-location of education support schools and centres with provision of special facilities within mainstream schools is seen as a desired way to go; education support classrooms should be the same size as other classrooms and should be able to be used by the rest of the school and located with access or connection to the rest of the school; education support classrooms need to be close to disabled toilets. Many disabled toilets are in the administration block. Toilets should be located in an appropriate position; designated therapy room for education support units; sufficient floor space is planned, room for increasing number of students, office space for all staff including teacher assistants and storage space for resources in new schools; benches placed into rooms that can be utilized as computer benches and are high enough to fit a wheelchair under them; rooms should be wired for surround sound; all rooms should be accessible for wheelchairs; doors need to be wide enough to fit wheelchairs through in a safe manner; steps to have handrails attached and ramps to be accessible to all students; provision is made to enable mainstream schools to update facilities to accommodate inclusivity, but not at the expense of the existing continuum of services; existing school facilities need to be refurbished to ensure they provide a physical environment to support inclusive practices; generic building brief needs to be reviewed. A framework for delivering a range of flexible models of inclusive educational provision Implementation would be supported through an Inclusive Schools Review Committee, chaired by an Executive Director, to align policy, services and educational provision to this framework and implement a review process. The working party suggests that each district develop their own models for delivering building inclusive schools: pathways to the future working party six report 5

6 a range of coordinated services and that these district models adopt the framework for delivering a range of collaborative, coordinated and flexible services and programs that are responsive to the changing needs of students K-12. Core Values services, programs and facilities are child centred; services, programs and facilities are collaborative, coordinated and case managed; services, programs and facilities are responsive and sensitive to diversity; facilities and learning environments that are flexible maximize learning and participation; effective systems are reflective and responsive to contemporary research, trends, and changes in school community and student needs. Principles The following principles should be considered when delivering responsive services for students with disabilities and special learning needs: students have access to a comprehensive range of services, programs and facilities that respond to the child s physical, emotional, social and educational needs; students receive support services guided by an individual education plan or individual behaviour plan; parents/ caregivers should be full participants in the planning for the delivery of services; emphasis should be given to early identification and intervention to improve outcomes for students; interagency links should be collaborative, flexible, coordinated and responsive to the students changing needs K-12; management of services and programs in a student s learning profile should be clearly articulated and linked through K-12. building inclusive schools: pathways to the future working party six report 6

7 Responsibilities teams manage identified needs of system policy development to promote inclusive schools; the promotion of inclusive schools across the system as a priority; an Executive Director chairs the Inclusive Schools Review Committee; Executive Directors report to the Director General on state-wide and district outcomes supporting inclusive schools. State-wide services responsibilities: some services need to be centrally managed to ensure equity and efficiency of service delivery to inclusive schools; a priority of centrally managed services is to promote inclusive practice in whole school environments; all services are provided based on identified level of student needs and through negotiated service agreements with the district education offices; all state-wide services report to Executive Directors on outcomes of their service agreements with districts. District education office responsibilities: mapping needs of school culture, policy and practice; a priority of service is the promotion of inclusive practice in whole school environments to manage diversity; service agreements to schools clearly articulate multi-disciplinary support to be provided based on identified individual school needs; service managers report to Directors on outcomes of their service agreements Directors report to Executive Directors on outcomes for inclusive schools. School responsibilities: profile of student needs to be clearly identified and documented for all students who require teaching and learning adjustments; inclusive culture, policy and practice are provided for all students who require teaching and learning adjustments; the principal manages training and support needed to build an inclusive building inclusive schools: pathways to the future working party six report 7

8 school. Negotiation with the district and recommendations for other service providers to ensure this occurs efficiently; the principal reports to the Director on outcomes for identified students and the inclusive philosophies and practices of the school. Recommendations from working party 6 Services to schools It is recommended that: an ongoing committee be established to evaluate state-wide services and recommend variations to these services to the Executive Leadership Team to ensure services are coordinated, flexible and delivered according to student needs. all service providers collaborate to manage a flexible and coordinated learning program with simple operational guidelines that responds to changing school community and student needs. support services focus on best practice of early identification and intervention strategies and monitor and evaluate the success of strategies through K-12. a directory of services and programs is provided to support the local school community to respond to students with special learning needs. system initiatives and services are monitored and regularly reviewed to ensure they are meeting changing school community and student needs. the Department develops tools allowing schools the capacity to manage and further assist teachers in the early identification of student with special learning needs. the Department provides schools with coordinated resources to develop appropriate strategies to meet the special learning needs of students. the Department provides resources to establish a coordinated case management system for students with special learning needs. the Department initiates and promotes action research to support direction for system initiatives and professional learning strategies. Educational facilities It is recommended that: building inclusive schools: pathways to the future working party six report 8

9 all new school requirements are based on educational and pedagogical principles that support inclusivity; the generic brief for new schools is urgently reviewed; someone who has experience of disability issues is involved with this review of the generic brief; the Department develops a process for identifying an inclusive schools capital works program. A 5-year capital works program is funded to refurbish or upgrade existing school facilities to address the barriers to inclusivity in line with the School Education Act The Disability Services Plan requires the Department to make physical adjustments to existing school facilities to assist people with disabilities. in 2003 districts examine demographic data to establish student needs and through the local area education planning process examine existing education support facilities to ensure they meet the needs of students and Department policies; the range of existing facilities be maintained where appropriate and additional appropriate facilities are planned to enable the flexible delivery of services and programs for students with high and diverse educational needs; Student Services liaise with Facilities and Services Directorate, districts and schools to provide up to date information in local, national and international trends and practices in provision of facilities for students with disabilities and special learning needs; a central coordinator position be established with responsibility for: new schools information; refurbishments enhancing inclusive school facilities; minor works requests for schools; inclusive schools issues; high needs facilities; other facilities issues. Chairs : Phil Harvey Kerry Usher Executive Officer: Lloyd Page September 2002 building inclusive schools: pathways to the future working party six report 9