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Media Release
$2 BILLION TO ASSIST STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL LEARNING NEEDS
11 March, 2004 MIN 639-1/04
Students who are most in need of additional learning assistance will benefit from a $2 billion funding boost announced as part of the Australian Government’s $31.3 billion package of funding for Australian schools for 2005-08.
Of this funding, government schools will receive approximately $1.3 billion and non-government schools approximately $700 million.
It will be targeted towards the most disadvantaged students including students with disabilities.
This funding represents an increase of $393 million - or 25 per cent - over the previous four year funding period.
This includes an additional $21 million over four years to support the introduction of the Schools Grants element. Of this, some $12 million will be provided to the Catholic sector, $5 million to the independent sector and $4 million for the government sector. A further $4.5 million will be provided to support non-government centres.
The new overarching targeted programme, the Literacy, Numeracy and Special Learning Needs Programme will be introduced from 2005. It will be targeted towards the most disadvantaged students, including students with disabilities.
The programme will have three elements:
- Schools Grants – to assist schools increase their capacity to help students with additional needs;
- Non-Government Centre Support - to assist centres that provide support to children with disabilities and;
- National Projects - to support national initiatives and research to improve learning outcomes for educationally disadvantaged students.
Under the Schools Grants element, education authorities will have the flexibility to determine those schools and students who have the greatest need for additional assistance and to direct appropriate funding to assist them.
This funding is critical and has been used, for example, to contribute to:
- early years literacy and numeracy programmes such as First Steps and Count Me In Too;
- early intervention programmes such as Reading Recovery;
- extra teachers and teaching assistants to support those students not meeting the national benchmark standards;
- specialist teachers and other resources to assist students with disabilities;
- schools working together on more effective ways of teaching and learning;
- teacher professional development and resource materials; and
- conducting assessments of students’ literacy and numeracy skills and reporting of student achievement.
The Howard Government is committed to improving literacy and numeracy standards in schools, particularly those of disadvantaged students. It has led the push to set national benchmarks for Years 3, 5 and 7, to test students against these benchmarks and to have these results reported to parents.
Later this year the Howard Government will introduce the Disability Standards for Education into Parliament for implementation from 2005. The Standards will provide clarity for education providers as to their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and for students with disability as to their entitlements.
The strong focus on these students builds on the Howard Government’s continued commitment to improving the learning outcomes of all students and to give them every opportunity to achieve and fulfil their potential. Our aim is to ensure that every child has every opportunity to read, write, count and communicate effectively.
Media contact:
Dr Nelson’s Office: Ross Hampton 0419 484 095
Dept of Education, Science & Training: Virginia Cook 0412 971 323
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