Education and Disability Sectors Unite for Rally

Media Advisory: Education and Disability Sectors Unite for Education for All Rally

21 September 2016

What: Education for All Rally, organised by Education for All, a collaboration involving the disability and education sectors

Where: Parliament forecourt

When: Tomorrow, Thursday 22 September 4.30-5.30pm

Who: Tess Casey, Inclusive NZ CEO and Education for All member

Disabled people, families, educators and service providers are rallying at Parliament on Thursday to let Government know that their Special Education Update is totally inadequate and it is time to invest in inclusion.

The Rally has been organised by Education for All, a collaboration involving family groups and the disability and education sectors.

The Special Education Update is the latest in a long line of reviews, consultations and inquiries into ‘special education’ that have done little to remove the barriers to education for disabled people.

“We currently have a system that makes it very hard for schools to provide disabled children with an inclusive education,” says Bernadette Macartney, spokesperson for the family-led Inclusive Education Action Group. “Teachers and families are trying to make the best of a very bad situation that isn’t of our choosing. We are all victims of a flawed system and processes.”

The group does not believe that the Special Education Update will solve any of the persistent problems and is not impressed that the Minister of Education has said that ‘special education’ groups support the proposed changes.

“Our fear is that the proposals in the Special Education Update are actually going to make things worse,” says Mark Potter, Principal of Berhampore School. “We already have a system where children and schools have to compete against one another for funding, and now the Update is proposing to increase the competition by taking money from one part of the system in favour of another.”

The Rally is a united action that has not been entered into lightly by Education for All.

“In the current climate it is not easy for any organisation that is funded by government to speak out,” says Rachel Noble, a member of the collaborative.

“And what is historic about the Rally is that it is the education sector and the disability community coming together and agreeing that we have to take action.”

Education for All will be launching an online petition at the Rally that will ask that the Government makes a full commitment to disabled people and inclusive education by:

1. Meeting New Zealand’s international human rights obligations and our own legislative requirements to provide every disabled person with an inclusive education.

2. Putting an end to children, families and schools having to compete against one another for funding.

3. Removing the disincentives for schools at all levels (i.e. ECE, primary, secondary and tertiary) to enrol and include students with disabilities by providing proper resources, supports and funding.

4. Adopting a policy of universal design for learning so that everything, from the built environment, curriculum, teaching practices and support services, is accessible for everyone.

5. Working with the disability community, families, educators and service providers to implement a system that works.

ENDS

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