Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon says a plan for a prep-to-year-12 school for students with autism in Melbourne’s western suburbs is ”non-negotiable”, with work on the new school to begin within two years.
Specialist autism P-12 schools are controversial because some experts argue autistic children should be educated in mainstream schools to improve their social skills and prepare them for the real world.
The Autism Schools Action group, which lobbied for a P-12 autism school in the west for six years, said it was constantly stymied by Education Department bureaucrats who claimed studies showed children with autism should not be educated together. However Mr Dixon told The Age there were already P-12 autism schools in the northern, southern and eastern suburbs. The Baillieu government allocated $4 million this financial year to establish a P-12 autism school next to Laverton College. Further funding is expected in the next two years.
Mr Dixon said the Coalition had promised the west a P-12 autism school before the election and he had made it clear to the Education Department that this was non-negotiable.
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- Cost
- Free
- Topics:
- Education, Inclusion and access
- Author:
- Jewel Topsfield
- Source:
- The Age
- Date published:
- Mon 12th Mar, 2012