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What do we need to do to achieve systemic inclusive education in Australia?
Inclusive education is a human right in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD). General Comment No. 4 (United Nations, 2016) on Article 24 of the CRPD provides a precise definition of inclusion that distinguishes it from exclusion, segregation and integration. Despite international and national legal instruments, and the emergence of inclusive education policies in some states, genuine inclusion is yet to become reality for many Australian students with disability. Continuation of parent choice policies and commitments to expand segregation by state governments—despite the obligation to transfer resources to implement systemic inclusive education reform—has stymied implementation of inclusive education in Australia. The consequence of this impasse is that many students with disability continue to be excluded and marginalised with reduced opportunities to equal access and participation in education. In this C4IE Inclusive Education Forum, we analyse international reform efforts to assess what Australia needs to do to successfully implement genuine inclusive education.
Jody Carr
Planning and implementation: Lessons from New Brunswick
Prof Suzanne Carrington, Dr Glenys Mann, Dr Sofia Mavropoulou, Dr Carly Lassig and A/Prof Beth Saggers
Learning from international experience: Looking to New Brunswick, Italy and Portugal
Emeritus Professor Andrew Byrnes
The right to an inclusive education: Interpreting Article 24 of the CRPD
Catia Malaquias
How well is Australia meeting its international obligations under the CRPD?
Dr Elizabeth Dickson
Limitations of the 1992 Disability Discrimination Act: Providing ample case for change
Discussion Panel
- Emeritus Professor Andrew Byrnes, UNSW
- Professor Suzanne Carrington, The Centre for Inclusive Education
- Trudy Graham, Assistant Regional Director, Central Queensland Region, Queensland Department of Education
- Catia Malaquias, Lawyer & Human Rights and Inclusion Advocate
What do we need to do now to make inclusion happen in Australia?
Presenters
Associate Professor Jennifer Alford
Jennifer is the co-leader of C4IE’s Inclusion and Exclusion Program. She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, at QUT. She is a current ARC DECRA Fellow (2021-2023) exploring critical reading with migrant and refugee-background youth in and out of school. She coordinates and teaches units related to English Curriculum Studies and English as an Additional Language and Dialect EAL/D) in the Bachelor of Education, QUT.
Associate Professor Terri Bourke
Terri is the co-leader of C4IE’s Curriculum and Leaning Program. She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, at QUT. Her main areas of research are in standardisation, accountability and professional standards in teacher education. As a geographer, she also research in geography education around assessment.
Emeritus Professor Andrew Byrnes
Andrew Byrnes is Emeritus Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the University of New South Wales, an associate of the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW. His publications address women’s human rights, human rights of older persons, gender and human rights, national human rights institutions, economic and social rights, peoples’ tribunals, and the incorporation of human rights in domestic law. He has served as President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law and Vice-President of the Asian Society of International Law, as well as external legal adviser to the Australian Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights. He was involved in the drafting of the CEDAW Optional Protocol and the CRPD, and has acted as pro bono adviser to the Asia Pacific Forum of NHRIs in the context of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing. He has also acted as a consultant to the UN on human rights, most recently as a consultant in the preparation of two recent studies by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on older persons and the international human rights framework and on a UNESCAP project on the harmonization of national laws with the CRPD.
Jody Carr
Jody Carr is a practicing lawyer and former minister for education from New Brunswick, Canada. During his time in office, Mr Carr championed systemic inclusive education reforms through progressive legislative changes that align education practices with the UN CRPD.
Professor Suzanne Carrington
Suzanne is a Professor in The Centre for Inclusive Education (C4IE) and a member of the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice. Suzanne’s areas of expertise are in inclusive education, ethical leadership for inclusive schools, disability and teacher preparation for inclusive schools. She has engaged in research to inform policy and practice in Australian and international education contexts. She has published over 90 journal publications, books, book chapters and research reports.
Dr Grazia Catalano
Grazia has contributed to the development of government policies in the areas of equity in school education and in disability. Her roles in government have allowed her the opportunity to follow the enactment and review of policies at the levels of programs and practice from both head office and regional perspectives. Grazia is also a lead auditor for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, assessing providers operating under the legislation and practice standards of the NDIS. Her research interests are in disability, human rights and criminology.
Dr Elizabeth Dickson
Elizabeth Dickson is a Senior Lecturer in QUT’s Law School. She is a qualified teacher and has taught in schools in both the state and independent education sectors. At QUT, Elizabeth teaches Introduction to Law and Discrimination and Equal Opportunity Law. Elizabeth’s research interests are in the areas of Education Law, Discrimination Law, People with Disabilities, Rights and the Law Children, Rights and the Law.
Professor Linda Graham
Linda is Director of The Centre for Inclusive Education (C4IE) and a Professor in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice. Her research investigates the role of education policy and schooling practices in the development of disruptive student behaviour and the improvement of responses to children that teachers can find difficult to teach. Linda is co-leading the Accessible Assessment ARC Linkage project with A/Prof Jill Willis “Improving Outcomes through Accessible Assessment and Inclusive Practices”.
Trudy Graham
Trudy is an Assistant Regional Director, Central Queensland Region in the Queensland Department of Education. With 29 years of experience as a school and system leader, her entire career has been in rural, remote and regional Queensland. Currently, she works with 28 schools including primary, secondary, special school, school of distance education and schools with State Delivered Kindergarten. Trudy facilitates professional learning communities for principals centred on Inclusive Education. She also hosts Central Queensland Region’s Leading and Learning podcast.
Kelly Jeppensen
Kelly is Lead Principal, Central Queensland Region in the Queensland Department of Education. She has been involved in a number of leadership roles, including school principal in three different schools in Queensland. In 2017 she received a scholarship from the Department of Education to undertake a Master in Inclusive Education through QUT.
Dr Carly Lassig
Dr Carly Lassig is a Senior Lecturer in the QUT Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice with a passion for social justice, equity, and inclusion. Her research and teaching interests include: inclusive education, disability, differentiation, Universal Design for Learning, gifted education, and creativity.
India Lennerth
India is a teacher and leader with the South Australian Department of Education who is passionate about inclusion and providing leadership that ensures all students can access a high quality and inclusive curriculum in their local schools. She has previously held roles as an inclusive leader and Deputy Principal and is currently the Head of Inclusion for one of the South Australian Departments new birth to 12 schools, where she was part of the foundation team establishing the school. India is nationally certified as a Lead teacher. Before becoming a teacher, India studied a Bachelor of Dance Performance and was heavily involved in performing arts, and worked teaching dance to young people with disability. India has a Masters of Teaching, Graduate Certificate in Trauma Aware Education and is currently working towards Masters of Inclusive Education, through Queensland University of Technology.
Catia Malaquias
Catia is an award-winning lawyer and human rights and inclusion advocate, board director and doctoral candidate at Curtin University, Western Australia. She is the founder of the not-for-profit organisation Starting with Julius, which promotes equal representation of people with disability in advertising, media and education and co-founder of All Means All – The Australian Alliance for Inclusive Education, a not-for-profit multi-stakeholder organisation working for the implementation of an inclusive education system in Australia.
Dr Glenys Mann
Glenys is a C4IE member and a Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Education at QUT. Her research focus is on parent-teacher partnerships in an inclusive education context and, specifically, the communication between teachers and parents. She is also interested in inclusive education for students with intellectual impairment and the role of special schools in an inclusive education system.
Dr Sofia Mavropoulou
Sofia is the co-leader of C4IE’s Inclusion and Exclusion Program. She is a Senior Lecturer and Study Area Coordinator for the area of Inclusive Education (Master of Education) at QUT. She has received extensive training in the UK and US on a range of evidence-based strategies (i.e. TEACCH, PECS, Social Stories) supporting students with autism in school, home and community settings. Sofia is very passionate about creating autism-friendly environments to accommodate the strengths and preferences of persons with autism to promote their inclusion, independence and well-being.
Associate Professor Beth Saggers
Beth is an Associate Professor in C4IE. During her thirty years of teaching experience Beth has worked across all educational age groups in a diverse range of educational contexts. A focus of her teaching has always been developing supportive educational environments for students on the autism spectrum (ASD) In her research, Beth has a strong interest in the educational perspectives of key stakeholders including students with a diagnosis of ASD. While a key focus is best practices for supporting students with ASD in schools.
Haley Tancredi
Haley is a PhD candidate at QUT, where she is investigating the impact of teachers’ use of accessible pedagogies on the classroom experiences, engagement and learning outcomes of students with language and attentional difficulties. Haley is a Senior Research Assistant in the Centre for Inclusive Education and is also currently working on the Central Queensland Region Inclusion Action Research Project.
Agenda:
Details:
| Location: | QUT, Kelvin Grove Campus, KG-E550 [link to map] |
| Start Date: | 05/08/2022 [add to calendar] |
| Start Time: | 8:30am |
| End Date: | 05/08/2022 |
| End Time: | 5:00pm |
| RSVP By: | Monday 1st of August 2022 |
| Cost: | In-person $199; online $139 |
| Organiser: | Centre for Inclusive Education |
| Enquiries: | contact.c4ie@qut.edu.au |