ALL Queensland students deserve a high-quality and truly inclusive education!

ALL students deserve to be welcomed and supported in their local regular schools, to all learn side by side, without exception.

They deserve fully resourced and quality teaching, and to participate fully in the life of their school.

They deserve to have their human right to an inclusive education upheld, which evidence shows benefits ALL students.

YOU CAN BRING THIS CHANGE!

The Queensland Collective for Inclusive Education asks for YOUR signature here today, a moment of your time to show your support. 

In 2018 the Queensland Department of Education announced a new inclusive education policy. It was world-leading, award winning and aligned with the UN's Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities Article 24 General Comment no. 4 'The right to an inclusive education.

With this Policy, the QId Government promised and committed to all students an inclusive education, but four years on, this is far from the current reality for too many students — and Queensland students and families say we need real Inclusion NOW!

In 2018, many Queensland families headed off to their local, regular school with renewed confidence. Their child with disability would be welcomed and included in regular classes, learning their age-appropriate curriculum alongside their non-disabled peers, as was stated in the policy! Our children could finally attend their local school with their siblings and neighbourhood friends!

But no, despite a world-leading inclusive education policy many families still currently experience state schools unwilling to enrol their children, schools that 'manage' their children out of schools through reduced hours, suspensions or cancellations of enrolment.

There is still a common occurrence of micro-exclusions, where students are not supported to access school activities on the same basis as their peers, such as camps, sports days, swimming carnivals, and extra-curricular activities offered at or after school.

Too many children are still denied the reasonable adjustments they require to access the Australian curriculum and are expected to 'keep up’ and are too often suspended or face expulsion when their distress becomes too great.

Four years into the inclusive education policy stories of true inclusion remain extremely rare. Queensland schools that have leadership teams for whom true inclusion is the only acceptable path and are determined to find a way to support all students, families and teachers can be counted on one hand.

By now inclusive schools should be the norm, not the exception.

It is not only students with disability getting a raw deal regarding education.

The woes of the Australian education system are reported daily by the Australian media.

The Australian Education System continues to follow a model designed hundreds of years ago. It is not serving ANY teacher or student well.

Minority groups are struggling in our schools, indigenous students, refugee & migrant students, students in out-of-home care, and LGBTQIA+ students.

It is rare to find a student, teacher or family who are loving the school experience and who feels accepted or valued for who they are.

If we want stronger, healthier and happier communities we must build an education system that is inclusive and supportive of all.

If we truly want the best for all Queensland children, we must come together and demand change for the better.

Inclusive education is the necessary transformation that our education system is screaming out for and will bring about a transformation that will benefit all students, teachers and the broader community.

Right now in 2022, for thousands of students and families across Queensland, the words of the Education Queensland’s Inclusive Education Policy for thousands across Queensland are now hollow.

We want REAL Inclusion and to attain that, we need a transformation of our education system — NOW!

Please sign our petition and join us in asking the Qld Education Minister to act immediately to commit to genuine reform of our education system, before another generation of students falls victim to the exclusion, neglect and failures of the current broken system.

This is urgent.  Please share this petition and if you can also write to your Education Minister and your local MP to tell them why a high quality inclusive education for all students matters!  Please donate if you can to assist us in our ongoing advocacy and follow socials for additional ways to support true inclusion! 

Yours sincerely,

The Queensland Collective for Inclusive Education Governance Committee & the QCIE InclusionNOW Rally Team.

QCIE's website- www.qcie.org

QCIE's public Facebook page - https://fb.me/e/2kGh2uPun