Integration in Victorian : 1984-1994

Anne Hurley Faculty of Education The University of

The years 1984-94 saw many changes in Victorian education for children with disabilities. This paper provides an account of the decade. Utilising state government reports and policy documents, DSE curricula and memoranda, union publications and newspaper articles, it begins with the release of the 1984 Ministerial Review, outlines the success of the integration program under the Labor Government, documents the difficulties which were encountered and the educational reforms initiated by the Liberal-National Party Government elected in October, 1992. It concludes at the end of 1993; a turbulent year of educational budget cuts, teacher strikes, regional restructuring, self- managed schools, school closures and amalgamations, quality provision taskforces and teacher redundancies. This historical account provides a background to the current position of children with disabilities in Victorian education.

This paper arose from a need to provide background information for my PhD thesis: The Integration of Children with Disabilities into Victorian Primary Schools: Factors Predictive of Success. The assistance of Dr. Charles Poole, Faculty of Education, The throughout the duration of my candidature is gratefully acknowledged. I am also indebted to Dr. Maxine Cooper, Faculty of Education, The University of Melbourne for presenting this paper at the 25th Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, November 26-30, 1995, Hobart.

The decade spanning 1984-94, which commenced with the publication of the Ministerial Report of Educational Services for the Disabled in 1984 and concluded with the release of the Minister's Future Directions Statement: Educational Opportunities for Students with Disabilities and Impairments in 1993, saw many changes in educational services for children with disabilities in . The implementation of policy documents such as these exerted far reaching effects on many aspects of these children's education while educational reforms such as the budget cuts and the Schools of the Future Program also affected the schooling of these children, albeit in a less direct manner. This paper documents the progression of the integration movement in Victoria during this period.

Prior to the release of the 1984 Review, children with disabilities had been integrated into Victorian schools on an informal, ad hoc basis. At the time of the publication of the Review, Sykes (1989) estimates that about 80% of children with mild intellectual disabilities, most of the children with hearing and vision impairment and all children with learning disabilities and speech impairments were in regular schools. As Long (1985) states: "The concept is not new. Children with a wide range of disabilities have for years been enrolled in mainstream schools all over Australia" (p. 9).

The 1984 Review, which was based on a human rights model, and which provided 143 recommendations relating to integration policy was "essentially Government's blueprint for change" (Steer, 1985, p. 17). It "clearly revealed the Government's intentions to hasten theintegration movement" (Sykes, 1989, p. 85). It recommended changes toeducation in Victoria by defining integration as:

1. a process of increasing the participation of children with

impairments and disabilities in the education programs and social life of regular schools in which their peers without disabilities participate

2. a process of maintaining the participation of all children in the educational programs and social life of regular schools (p. 6).

The Review committee, which was chaired by the Deputy Director-General of Education, included a 12 member committee comprising members of the Australian Labor Party, academics, members of the Education Department, parents, teachers and principals as well as four working parties in the areas of rights, normalisation, structures and decision making and teacher, parent and community education. The committee, in their preparation of the Review, adopted the following five guiding principles:

1. Every child has a right to be educated in a regular school

Tofacilitate this right, the Review stated that "the Government must ensure that regular schools can provide and have access to a range of educational options and services" for all children, including those with disabilities (p. 13). All children with disabilities were therefore to be educated either at a regular or special school, according to parental preference. As Sykes (1989) has stressed, "this first principle does not require children with disabilities to be educated in a regular school. Parents now have a choice between two school settings - special schools and regular schools" (p. 89).

2. Non-categorisation

The Review stated that a child should not be "categorised as a person withaspecific impairment or disability"(p.13). It considered such classification to belong to a medical or deficit model ratherthan toasociologicalorsystemsmodelwhich emphasised"changingthenatureoftheeducational environment... in order to reduce the educationally handicapping consequences which may otherwise follow from certain impairments and disabilities" (p.8).

3. Resources and services should, to the greatest extent possible, be school-based

The Review stated that "successful implementation of the policy of integration...will depend on action at the school level" (p.13). To facilitate such action it recommended the closure of the Counselling, Guidance and Clinical Services Centres with personnel to be redistributed across Regions, the redeployment of teachers in Special Education Units, Special Assistance Units, Special Facilities UnitsandSocial AdjustmentCentres asintegration teachers in regular schools and the appointment of integration aides to these schools. It also stressed the necessity for the reorganisation of curricula to cater for a wide range of children.

4. Collaborative decision-making processes

In line with principles established in Ministerial Paper Number OneDecision-Making in Victorian Education (1983), collaborative decision-making was defined by the Review as "equal participation of all those concerned with decisions about a child's educational progress" (p. 4).

5. All children can learn and be taught

This principle states that no child is ineducable, challenging the"practices of no educational provision orlimitedprovision, for certain groups of children" (p. 14).

The model of Victorian education as described by the Review, cast as it is in "a dichotomous mould" (Berge & Berge, 1988, p. 114) and with its recognition of the rights of parents and the favouring of all educational provision for children with disabilities within the regular school was "radical by national and international standards" (Pickering, 1992, p. 2). Integration in Victoria has been guided largely by this report.

In the years following the publication of the Review, a Central Integration Unit and Regional Integration Committees were established, a number of memoranda and guidelines relating to Integration Support Groups, integration teachers and integration aides were prepared and major documents such as The School Curriculum and Organisation Framework (1985), Curriculum Victoria: Learning for All (1986) and The Social Justice Framework (1990) which elaborated on the Victorian view of integration were published. The number of children enrolled in the integration program increased steadily, reaching approximately 2,950 with an estimated budget of $20 million in 1988 and 5,500 with an estimated budget of $44 million in 1992.

While the integration program continued to enjoy a great deal of success, being "a singularly successful policy of social justice...probably this Government's most successful policy" (Murray, 1992, p. 4), a number of difficulties were encountered. These difficulties centred mainly around the issues of non-categorisation, unequal resource distribution and the lack of qualified teachers for the program.

In 1991, the Department of School Education requested the Auditor-General's Office to conduct an examination of educational services provided for children with disabilities in Victoria. This Report, Integrated Education for Children with Disabilities, noted the increase in the number of these children in both integrated and special settings and found that the adherence of the Department of School Education to the policy of non- categorisation had resulted in lack of information regarding thenature of these children's disabilities and their additional educationalrequirements. As Pickering (1992) stated: "no-one really knows why the 5,500 students on integration programs are in receipt of such assistance, other than that they were successful in their application for support" (p. 2). Consequently it was "not possible to judge whether "resource allocations are being made on an equitable basis between departmental regions and individual schools [and whether] students are benefitting significantly, socially and educationally from resources provided" (Auditor-General, 1992, p.78).

A further finding of the Auditor-General's Report was that"relatively few" teachers with special education qualifications were employedas integration teachers with "22 per cent of students not receiving integration teacher assistance and 50 per cent of schools in which students with disabilities are enroled not being allocated an integration teacher" (p. 11). Pickering (1991) pointed out that the failure of special education teachers to transfer from special to regular schools "had a lot to do with the seniority and high qualifications of special education teachers in segregated schools...The big problem is that integration teachers are at the lowest level of teaching classification and a lot of special school teachers are just too senior to go across" (p. 9). TheAuditor-General's Report also noted the failure of "students and resources [to transfer] from segregated settings to regular schools" (p. 9).

As a result of the findings of the Auditor-General's Report, the Minister for School Education, Mr Neil Pope, commissioned the Victorian Post- Secondary Education Commission Chairman, Dr Ron Cullen and a senior departmental officer, Mr Neil Brown to conduct a program effectiveness review of the education of children with disabilities in Victoria. Some of the recommendations to emerge from the Cullen-Brown Report, Integration and Special Education in Victorian Schools: A Program Effectiveness Review were

* The policy that parents are free to choose the educational placement for their child should be supported by balanced and comprehensive information

* Programs for children with disabilities be evaluated and monitored annually

* Uncertainties and inequalities in funding to be removed through the creation of the resource index

* Greater exchange of staff expertise between regular and special schools

* All schools enrolling children with disabilities to have access toprofessionalspecialist advice fromanintegrationteacher, visiting teacher or senior integration teacher shared with another school

* Training of integration teachers and integration aides

* Promotion of inservice training for teachers

* Establishment of a central management group charged with evaluating, funding, planning, policy development and operational control of programs for children with disabilities

In October 1992, ten years of Labor Government in Victoria ended with the Victorian State elections. A number of educationalreforms were initiated by the Liberal-National Party Government. These included a review of educational services for children with disabilities, TheCullen- Brown Implementation Advisory Committee Report, which wascompleted in 1993, a projected savings from the education budget of $400 million over the following three years and the Schools of the Future programwhich involved the devolution of authority and responsibility toschools.

These three major educational reforms will be examined in turn, commencing with the Cullen-Brown Implementation Advisory Committee Report which was commissioned by the Minister for Education, Mr Don Hayward. This Report resulted in the acceptance by the Committee of the majority of the recommendations contained in the Cullen-Brown Report. The Report formed the basis of the Government's new policy for the education of children with disabilities.

The details of this policy were announced in the Minister's Future Directions Statement: Educational Opportunities for Students with Disabilities and Impairments issued by the Directorate of School Education in August, 1993. The major new initiative to be implemented by this policy was the resource index which was to be developed by a working party headed by the Dean of Education from The University of Melbourne, Professor Kwong Lee Dow. The index "will be the basis for determining the level of funding which will be provided for each student, whether they attend a special or regular school" (p. 4). The index was to "consist of a range of criteria based on the educational needs of the students" which would be converted into appropriate support by the school (Education News Supplement, 19

August, 1993, p. 7).

The second educational reform was the cuts to the education budget which, although not directly affecting the integration program, caused "a very real and broad community anger", being referred to as the "slash and burn state government cuts to education" by the Federated Teachers' Union of Victoria (FTUV) newspaper, the FTUV/Federation News (Cazaly, 1993, p. 1). The Union considered that these cuts "represent[ed] a massive attack on the state education entitlement of all Victorians" (p. 1).

Writing in The Age, in September, 1993, the state Treasurer, , defended his government's educational savings with the following explanation:

Because Victoria is still borrowing to fund Budget operating costs, extra debt would be incurred were educational savings deferred: $145 million extra in year one, $290 million in year two, $435 million in year three; $145 million extra for every year we try to live beyond our means. Even without another downgrading, to defer our savings effort would blow out our borrowing margin and add hundreds of millions of dollars to the state's interest bill. This extra cost would have to be met by further reducing education and other service spending (p. 16).

Mr Stockdale was also critical of the teacher unions:

For too long, Victorian education hasserved the interestof teacher unions, not students. More than 80 per cent of education costs are teacher salaries. But Victoria's high costs do not mean more instruction for students. Increased costs have largely gone into reducing the time that teachers spend in the classroom and into cosy deals with teacher unions....In Victoria, more than half our teachers received advance teacher promotions under Mrs Kirner at a cost of an extra $72 million every year - about half the savings now required (p. 16).

The third educational reform initiated by the Liberal-National Party Government was The Schools of the Future Program. Writing in the Education Age section of The Age, Denis Muller, the education editor stated that the purpose of the Schools of the Future Program was to "give schools control over their operations and future" (p. 20) and outlined the following points describing the program:

* School funding made up of two components; a base component to provide for the education of children in regular programsand an equity component for the education of children withspecial needs

* Extension of the powers of the school council to oversee the employment of non-teaching staff and teaching staff contracted for short-termprojects,the school discipline policy and school programs within the guidelines set down by the Board of Studies

* The principal responsible for carrying out recommendations of the school council

* School selection of staff

* School council selection of principal

* School funding of emergency teachers

* School accountability to the Schools' Review Office

The timing of the Schools of the Future program with the State Government cuts to the education budget resulted in "distrust, suspicion and opposition" to the program and the perception by some parents that it was "a cost-cutting racket in which they will increasingly be required to pick up the bill for their children's so called `free and public' education" (Gibson, 1993, p. 15). This was, according to Dr Caldwell, "a shame" (Bruce, 1993, p. 20). The devolution of power to the school in order that it may "make decisions related to the allocation of resources" (Caldwell & Spinks, 1988, p. 5) has a long in Victorian education, taking in the establishment of school councils in the 1970s and continuing with the six ministerial papers which elaborated on devolution and collaborative decision-making in the 1980s. "What I tell schools now" DrCaldwell explained "is that the financial difficulties of the state are going to make an impact regardless of whether a reform like Schools of the Future is implemented" (Bruce, 1993, p. 20).

During the remainder of 1993, the teacher strikes continued. These were supported by the teacher unions, the federation of parents' clubs, some of the school councils lobby groups, the Victorian Council of Organisations (VICCSO) and the principals' federation. The Age featured headlines such as "Minister's rebuff fuels schools war" (August 23, p. 5), "Quality debate to flare as pupil-teacher ratios climb" (August 24, p. 12), "Hayward adamant: $145m must go" (August 28, p. 15), "A deplorable gag on teachers and principals" (September 22, p. 14) and "More than 100 schools to close" (September 30, p. 5). Teacher union offers to abandon strikes in return for some Government concessions were rejected by Mr Hayward, the Minister for Education. Through his spokesman, Mr Hayward said: "The political of the union(s) will be seen by the community for what it is. They milked the education budget over the last decade while school buildings and facilities languished. For them to talk of vandalism to education is an insult to the public's intelligence" (Painter, 1993, p. 5).

Two hundred and forty-nine quality provision task forces were created to decide which schools should be closed, amalgamated or restructured during the following school year, pupil-teacher ratios were to rise and approximately 8,000 teachers were to be made redundant. Tom Wodak, president of the Melbourne High School Council commented in The Age in September, 1993:

Many competent and efficient teachers may have been enticed into taking voluntary separation packages. Their departure is a loss to state education. It is deplorable that the Directorate of School Education has directed the very people best placed to know, that they are not to speak out. This direction is an acceptable departure from democratic principles. It also serves to deprive us all of the judgments of those to whose opinions we should give considerable weight, on the very important issue of the future of our schools (p. 14).

In conclusion, the period 1984-94 was a period of considerable change in the education of children with disabilities in Victoria. Beginning with a Review which rejected the categorisation of these children and which championed their rights to education in a regular school and those of their parents to select an appropriate setting, the integration program flourished and became a major social justice policy success for the Labor Government. Over the years difficulties were encountered with the program. The policy of non-categorisation caused inequalities in resource allocation for children with disabilities and the program was also unable to attract sufficient teachers to integration teacher positions. These difficulties were noted by the Auditor-General and others and the Cullen-Brown Report

was commissioned to address these problems. On their election to office, the Liberal-National Party Government accepted the recommendations of the Cullen-Brown Report as the new policy for the education of children with disabilities. Other major educational reforms initiated by the new Government and which indirectly affected children with disabilities were the cuts to the education budget and the Schools of the Future Program. The year 1993 was a dynamic one for Victorian education as teachers, parents, students and various organisations reacted to the changes which were occurring.

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