Social Development Committee: Funding for Children and Students with Additional Learning Needs in Public Schools and Preschools Petition

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (11:55): I move:

That the 47^th report of the committee, entitled 'Petition No. 96 of 2021: funding for children and students with additional learning needs in public schools and preschools', be noted.

The committee received petition No. 96 on a motion of the member for Wright, Mr Blair Boyer, in September 2022. The petition requested the government increase funding to schools and preschools to provide immediate support and intervention for children and students with additional learning needs through the employment of more support staff, specialists, allied health and mental health professionals and teachers.

The Inclusive Education Support Program provides grant funding for the state's public school system to support children and students who have additional learning needs to achieve in mainstream and specialist schools. State schools and preschools receive proportional site grant funding based on several factors such as school location and student numbers. They also receive individualised funding for children and students identified as having greater learning needs.

The evidence to the inquiry identified there are concerns with the different grant funding streams and the issues the different funding streams raise in daily school routines. It should be noted that at the time the committee was undertaking its inquiry the government signed off on a new $1.6 billion enterprise agreement that takes into account salary and workload teachers face along with reforms to the Inclusive Education Support Program. This agreement goes some way to resolving some of the concerns presented to the committee.

The committee's inquiry has identified in broad terms that there is a need to:

ease the administrative burden placed on teachers to complete funding applications;

ensure the department provides timely learning supports and adequate funding hours to all children and students where it is needed;

ensure the Inclusive Education Support Program and individualised funding grants have flexibility and are adequately funded;

invest more in early childhood education teachers;

increase recruitment of specialists and school supports and ensure student support officers are appropriately trained to carry out their duties;

expand the Autism Inclusion Teachers program to secondary schools;

demonstrate inclusive whole-of-school evidence-based approaches to the provision of learning supports;

review departmental policies to ensure proper supports are provided to children and students with undiagnosed disability or learning difficulties who do not meet the current definitions of disability; and

continue to work to include trauma-informed practice for teachers and educators, along with broader mental health and wellbeing support.

The committee notes the initiatives that have been commenced by the department to improve the opportunities of children and students in government schools who have additional learning needs. The department's evidence shows that during the 2022 school year over 17,000 students were provided nearly 24,000 specialist services with funding allocated out of the department's annual budget. More than 5,000 of these students were funded under the autism spectrum primary disability category.

The department advised that the government is investing $50 million over four years to enable 100 full-time equivalent mental health and learning support specialists across 28 sites to provide more support to students across South Australia. It is also ensuring that autism inclusion teachers will be available in schools that offer reception to year 12, and the program will be allocated $28.8 million over the forward budget estimates.

The evidence showed that waiting times for access to some department specialists for funding applications could be lengthy. The evidence further suggested that a multidisciplinary suite of support professionals is best practice. This was evidenced to be especially true for schools in lower socio-economic areas where children and their families face additional challenges. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.