A new national report by Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) reveals students with disability continue to be excluded, bullied, and denied meaningful support at school, almost two years after the Disability Royal Commission called for urgent reform.
The Disillusion and Delay report draws on recent surveys of nearly 400 disabled students and parents or caregivers conducted by CYDA, in conjunnction with the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales.
The results paint a picture of ongoing systemic failures across Australia’s education system, including widespread bullying and exclusion, ineffective support plans, under-trained teachers, and a lack of inclusive culture.
Since 2010, CYDA has conducted education surveys every two years to get a sense of what school is like for disabled students and their families or caregivers.
This year’s findings differ little from CYDA’s 2023 report, although some measures – like prevalence of bullying – have actually gotten worse.
“Students with disability, and their families, are telling us the same thing they’ve said for years, and yet nothing has changed,” said CYDA CEO Skye Kakoschke-Moore.
“We continue to hear stories of young people who have been savagely bullied or excluded, unfairly suspended, physically restrained, or forced out of school entirely because the system failed to support them.
“These frequent incidents are symptoms of a system that wasn’t designed with inclusion in mind and remains so despite the path forward being clear.”
Key results of the CYDA report
This year’s report reveals 73 per cent of disabled students were bullied in 2024, while three in five parents said their child had been subjected to physical, psychological, social, or cyberbullying.
This is compared to 65 per cent who reported bullying in the previous survey.
Parents and students also reported not being involved in the creation of Individual Education Plans, which are supposed to support them in schools. Parents described these plans as superficial and rarely put into practice.
Participants also reported being dissatisfied with the complaints system at their school, and severe mental distress as a result of their negative experiences.
The report makes three recommendations, including:
- strengthening school mechanisms that support inclusion
- implementing a National Roadmap to Inclusive Education, and
- investing in training, support and professional development for education professionals.
University of Melbourne researcher Dr Catherine Smith said the message for governments was clear.
“This is just more evidence for why governments need to take the recommendations from the Disability Royal Commission seriously,” she said.
“There are clear, evidence-informed strategies – identified both by the Royal Commission and by the voices of parents and young people in these reports – that can be implemented now to address persistent barriers in inclusion.
“We hope this brings renewed focus to the practical work that must be done to support schools and teachers in making inclusive education a lived reality for all students.”
Where to from here?
Although the Disability Royal Commission called for the phasing out of segregated education, no clear timelines for this have been implemented since the recommendations were handed down almost two years ago.
“Being serious about inclusion means listening to the expert advice and taking bold, decisive action. The research is there, and now we need the political will,” said Kakoschke-Moore.
CYDA is calling for urgent national action, including the development of a roadmap for Inclusive Education, consistent IEP standards, and stronger training and support for teachers.