Education Amendment (Educational Support for Children with Significant Learning Difficulties) Bill 2008
Four and a half years ago I spoke about the need for educational support for dyslexic children. I followed that up, as can be seen in Hansard and on my own website, with questions and articles, as well as a second reading speech, hoping we would get some action on this private member’s bill. At long last it comes before this House.
Dyslexia can lead to a continuous stream of children becoming uncontrollable in school and at home through sheer frustration. Teachers may miss the signs and wrongly punish difficult children. Social conflict and unemployment follows. A disproportionate percentage of people in jail are dyslexic. In some neighbourhoods, especially in public housing estates, education is the main weapon to prevent children and teenagers from turning to a life of crime. If we do not take action, this creates a spiral of despair that leads to drug or alcohol addiction, prison, or death.
No-one has fought harder or more consistently to have dyslexia recognised as a disability and therefore eligible for educational department special support than Mr Jim Bond, a regular visitor in the public gallery, where he has waited for four and a half years for this bill to come to its final reading today. Along the way Jim has had some good victories.
Recently, the New South Wales Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care was forced to apologise for discriminating against him. Staff at the department refused to help Jim Bond complete an application form to be a member of the New South Wales Disability Council. He has had victories over a Federal department and the Australian Protective Service. The Anti-Discrimination Board ruled in favour of Jim Bond, and the director general of the department was forced to issue a written apology. It has promised to conduct staff training about such discrimination.
I have known Jim Bond for six years, I have visited him in his home, and with his urging I have become an active supporter of dyslexic people and have lobbied the State Government to consider dyslexia as a disability. One in seven Australians suffers from dyslexia. The effects of dyslexia in society include unemployment, poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse and dependency, and even family breakdowns. This legislation is long overdue.
According to the International Dyslexia Association, approximately 12 per cent of the population suffer from varying degrees of dyslexia. Paediatric neurologist Dr Gordon Serfontein says that children with dyslexia suffer from what he calls the “hidden handicap”. Article 23 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child States:
Any child with a disability should have access to and receive an education in a manner conducive to achieving the fullest possible social integration and individual development.
The Department of Education and Training in the past did not recognize dyslexia as a disability and therefore did not provide appropriate support. To date, children suffering from dyslexia have been catered for under the department’s Learning Assistance program, which provides one junior teacher or teacher’s aide through the Support Teachers Learning Assistance program for every special education class.
I would place on record my appreciation to successive Ministers of Education, including the Hon. John Della Bosca, whom I have lobbied for their encouragement. I would thank and congratulate the current Minister, the Hon. Verity Firth, who in this era of budget cutbacks achieved the impossible by having $9 million added to her portfolio in the mini-budget for special needs teachers. The package of $9 million will be spent on training 80 new full-time special education teachers to work with students with autism, mental health problems and dyslexia.
Recently, at a budget estimates committee hearing, I had the opportunity to ask the director general of the department to give certainty of this funding and asked what schools would receive an additional special needs teacher. The response to me by parents was overwhelming. I am grateful to the Minister of Education and Training and the director general for their commitment to a new era in providing for special needs teachers for children with dyslexia. In that regard, I refer honourable members to the answers given by Mr Coutts-Trotter to the questions that I asked him, in which he indicated the money had been earmarked, and that it would be put aside. I asked about the deployment of special needs teachers, and he indicated that they were being appointed at this time. He said:
We are developing a very detailed plan of implementation. This initiative will benefit about 265 schools. The leaders of those schools—in the first instance the principals—are being briefed in the second half of this week and then are getting into a process of planning to make sure that this is implemented well and implemented quickly, and that the children in those schools get the benefit of the initiative as they should.
He said that will be at the beginning of the first term of next year. I asked him could we be assured that the 250 schools actually will spend the money that had been allocated in the budget. Mr Coutts-Trotter replied:
With great trust comes great accountability, and increasingly schools have very tight accountabilities for what they achieve and what they spend. We will be working in partnership with schools to support them to ensure that they have good plans for implementation. It is not merely about saying, “You must do it”; it is about working together to ensure that it happens. So we as a department will be keeping a very close eye on it and we can report upon it.
I congratulate Mr Coutts-Trotter and the Minister for the expenditure of some $9 million, which will provide 80 full-time equivalent positions. Aligned to that, I had a look last week at what they were planning to do. I really appreciate that they have a massive task on their hands, but the Government is getting into completing it. The effects of dyslexia in society are the dreadful outcomes that I have indicated. Dyslexia is a disability. The Government will now provide support for such students. I do appreciate that the Government has decided to do that. This formalises the results that the mini-budget allows.
I congratulate the mover of this bill, my colleague Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile, for introducing it, and I congratulate Mr Jim Bond, who has fought for it for four and a half years. Our vote for it today completes a very long battle.