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When Lilian Meaker was three, no kindergarten would take her. The little girl had survived meningitis at eight weeks old, leaving her with severe brain damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey took her off life support and instead she decided to breathe,\u201d her mother, Margaret Meaker, says. \u201cShe\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Margaret Meaker (left) with her daughters Lilian (right) and Ella Meaker at Lilian\u2019s home. Margaret says special school changed \u201call our lives, setting Lili up for success\u201d.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Kate Geraghty<\/cite><\/p>\n But a few years on, the only kinder she could find to care for Lili was a pilot program at Macquarie University run by teacher Dr Coral Kemp, where children with disabilities learnt alongside others.<\/p>\n \u201cLili couldn\u2019t speak so I thought they\u2019d send us away too but Coral said, \u2018Every child has a way of communicating. We just have to find Lili\u2019s\u2019,\u201d Meaker says. \u201cThat\u2019s special education.\u201d<\/p>\n The disability royal commission has called for a national road map to make schools more inclusive, after hearing harrowing stories of children with disabilities shunted out of the mainstream system, despite their right to a public education.<\/p>\n But, in their final report, commissioners are split over the future of special schools themselves, which some see as segregation. Three out of six commissioners have called for separate, specialised schools to be phased out altogether by 2051, and no new enrolments from 2032.<\/p>\n It would be a seismic shift in Australian education, demanding a radical reconfiguration of funding, teacher training and infrastructure.<\/p>\n Some research shows children with disabilities go on to better outcomes, including employment, after mainstream schooling. Academic outcomes for the students without disability learning alongside them are more mixed, but a 2021 review of research found positive social effects such as increased tolerance.<\/p>\n Kemp has followed Lili and the rest of her mixed kinder cohort through their school years into adulthood.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve all gone on to success, from Paralympics to acting,\u201d she says. \u201cI know<\/em> inclusion works.\u201d<\/p>\n Lili in a special integrated pilot kinder program for kids with disabilities in the early 2000s, now run by STAR Limited.<\/span><\/p>\n But Kemp expects there will always be a need for some special schools for those with the most complex needs.<\/p>\n Though Meaker wanted Lili to stay in mainstream classes, her medical needs made a special school the right fit. There Lili thrived, learning to sign and making friends. Today, the 25-year-old lives in her own house with two ex-classmates. <\/p>\n \u201cIn an ideal world, we\u2019d have inclusion, but this isn\u2019t an ideal world,\u201d Kemp says. \u201cThese kids need tailored support.\u201d<\/p>\n Inclusive education advocate Catia Malaquias says no one is suggesting special schools should be shut down tomorrow.<\/p>\n Julius Panetta in Year 8 attends a mainstream high school and loves it as much as he did primary school.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Stefan Gosetti<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cThere will need to be a transition,\u201d she says. \u201cBut until that commitment is made at a policy level, the easier option will always be to send kids with disabilities somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n Malaquias\u2019 son Julius, who has Down syndrome, has always attended mainstream schools with his sisters. But when he reached high school, Malaquias was warned the \u201cgap\u201d between him and other students would be too great and he wouldn\u2019t have any friends.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was this doom scenario,\u201d she says. \u201cBut Julius loves high school as much as primary school. I want my child to live a life where he\u2019s always part of his community.\u201d<\/p>\n Inclusive education lecturer Dr Kim Davies says phasing out special schools isn\u2019t politically feasible as it will take away parental choice and distract from much-needed improvements to inclusion at mainstream schools where most kids with disabilities are already taught.<\/p>\n Catia Malaquias says she wants Julius to live a life where he is always part of the community.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Stefan Gosatti<\/cite><\/p>\n Australian Special Education Principals Association president Matthew Johnson says if special schools are considered segregation, then by the same logic, single-sex, religious and high-fee private schools are segregated too.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m terrified to think of my kids being thrown back into the mainstream, that [are] already not coping, for a thought experiment,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cIt should be about what the kids need.\u201d<\/p>\n Research has found fewer than 40 per cent of Australian teachers feel equipped to teach kids with special needs, and the sector is currently struggling with a teacher shortage.<\/p>\n \u201cBut teachers don\u2019t need any extra qualification to teach special ed,\u201d Kemp says. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no incentive to get one.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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