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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

The classroom divide

Almost a million Australian school children now have a disability – either developmental, intellectual or physical - and our underfunded schools are struggling to provide the required support. This investigation looks at how Australia's education system reached crisis point.

5 May 2024

  • Alicia Cook with her son Emerson

    Why are Australian schools failing children with disabilities? – Full Story podcast

    Investigative reporter Sarah Martin explains to Jane Lee how the education system has reached crisis point

4 May 2024

  • Teen students seen from behind sitting at desks with one sitting in a wheelchair

    Here are six ways to make Australian education more inclusive

    Catherine Smith
    This is not an easy fix, but our schools should be safe places where students grow and learn together

3 May 2024

  • School students walking

    To the parents of school-aged children with disabilities: it’s not your fault

    Anonymous
    My son spent his high school years isolated in the library or watching YouTube videos. Am I angry? Absolutely. Do I blame his teachers? I don’t

2 May 2024

  • Year 12 students take their HSC exams at Gymea Technology High

    Funding for Australian school students with disabilities ‘woefully inadequate’, principals say

    Exclusive: Schools have reallocated as much as $1bn from other areas to support children with disabilities in past year, survey finds

1 May 2024

  • Neville Williams

    Six-year-old student restrained in infant high chair at NSW school, family claims

    The boy, who has autism and Down syndrome, was photographed in the restraint for a social media post, his guardian says

30 April 2024

  • Man and woman sit on front porch with their daughter, who is hiding her face, between them

    Students as young as five with disabilities disproportionately suspended from Australia’s schools

    Guardian Australia data analysis shows suspensions are increasing in most states. Students with disabilities are overrepresented

29 April 2024

  • Nadine Moore, mum, and son Liam

    Disabled boy attempted suicide after being suspended for touching teacher’s face, mother claims

    The then 16-year-old was ‘an absolute mental wreck’ after the incident, his mother says

28 April 2024

  • Children's legs and feet in black shoes hanging down over a brick wall.

    Why the Guardian is investigating the deep failings in Australia’s school system

    Australia says it is committed to inclusive education. But the reality for the one in four schoolchildren who now have a disability is far from that
  • School students wearing large hats on an excursion

    Revealed: Private school students reap thousands more than public students in disability funding

    Exclusive: New data shows children with disabilities at wealthy fee-paying schools are receiving up to six times the government support funding as those at public schools
  • Alicia Cook and Emerson sitting on a couch

    How the rise of autism and ADHD fractured Australia’s schools

    Almost a million Australian schoolchildren now have a disability – that’s one in four enrolments. Parents, teachers and advocates say education is at crisis point
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