State governments should be stepping up to provide the ‘foundational supports’ required in schools and early childhood education.
Victorian Disability Worker Commissioner Dan Stubbs has called on both educators and state governments to consider the implications of the NDIS shakeup that he sees as an opportunity to deliver.
The Victorian Disability Worker Commission regulates all disability workers, no matter who funds them, including those in schools and early childhood education in Victoria.
“This review clarifies that it is a state government responsibility to educate all children, alongside our education providers,” Stubbs said, adding that some schools have been assuming that NDIS funded services can help them.
“In Victoria, the government has responded to serious need in the last few years and is spending money on schools. Now all state governments and all schools, including Catholic and Independent schools, must deliver.”
However, he believes there is still work to be done to improve the quality and safety of support in many settings, including schools.
Stubbs also welcomed the opportunities that the NDIS review and the Royal Commission set out when it comes to providing greater rights for people with disability to complain about the services they receive. “This will be crucial to achieving the sort of model that the review and the NDIS is ultimately seeking”, he said.