Juliette
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Juliette is a learning support teacher in a private college. She wrote to the Royal Commission about the inappropriate use of Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) funding, which she says is a systemic issue.
NCCD is used to calculate the student with disability funding loading the Australian Government provides to schools, based on levels of adjustment provided to students.
Juliette told us that over four years she saw more than $500,000 in NCCD funding come into her school.
‘I was so excited when I first saw the amount of money that was allocated to us through the NCCD funding. The possibilities for therapy and extra assistance were endless ... but my dreams were shattered. I never saw a cent of that money in my department.’
Juliette and her colleague submitted proposals each year about how the NCCD funding should be used to support the school’s students with disability.
‘It has been soul crushing to be knocked back time and again,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately in my networking with other learning support teachers/heads it is not unusual for schools to allocate this money to buildings, buses etc. One teacher even said that her school charges the learning support department rent and electricity for using their premises!’
Juliette thinks spending of NCCD funding shouldn’t be at the discretion of principals, for whom students with disability are ‘often not the top priority’.
‘Learning Support/Special Ed teachers are often … working ridiculously long hours with minimal resources, trying to provide the best possible education for our most vulnerable students. Burn out is high and mental health is damaged by the lack of priority shown to these departments by the Principals and administration staff.’
Juliette believes the government needs to allocate money to be spent directly on students with disability, and audit schools ‘to show accountability for how they spend this money’.
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.