Wednesday, 22 June 2022

Disability inclusion package

Mr RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (19:05): (6439) This evening I raise an adjournment for the Minister for Education, and the action I seek is for the minister to update my community on the progress of the rollout of the disability inclusion package across the Mordialloc electorate. The disability inclusion package is transformational policy that will make sure every student in Victoria, no matter their needs, their circumstances or indeed their postcode, gets the very best support. With the five-year rollout of this program, tier 2 funding guarantees a base level of funding to make sure that more students—up to 55 000 students—get that support from some of the most amazing educators in the world: Victorian teachers, education support staff, principals and principal leadership.

It has been a really difficult time over the last couple years for our teachers and leaders in education facing the pandemic. But it has not stopped the incredible work that has been done by our schools—some 600 now—that are benefiting from the disability inclusion package. It is an extraordinary number as we scale up across the more than 1550 government schools. That means extra resourcing to make sure our kids get that additional support. One in five need additional support in our classrooms, and we need to make sure that we are tailoring that support to our students.

But it is also about a cultural change, and this is a massive piece of work and reform that some in the department have described to me as ‘as transformational as three-year-old kinder’. It is about bringing inclusive education and learning and the support for kids with additional needs and those changed practices to a broader audience in our communities, because every single Victorian student benefits from inclusive education. This package and its rollout will be transformational. It started in the Bayside Peninsula region, in the Loddon Campaspe region and in South Barwon. I am really keen to understand how that reform has rolled out across the Mordialloc electorate and how it is benefiting students across the City of Kingston.