Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

As I outlined in response to Senator Duniam earlier, the overall rate of increase for Tasmanian school students is in excess of four per cent per annum. That is net of all the different changes, including the impact of using the national existing collection of data on students with disability. As I said, that data does capture more students across the country; but it is correct that the reporting rates from schools in Tasmania have been lower than elsewhere around the country. In that sense, it is a demand driven loading; as long as schools are reporting according to the methodology, for students who genuinely need that support and assistance in the future, that support will flow into their schools, their systems—whichever they are—across all of the different sectors. That is reflective of the need identified by each of their schools and classroom teachers rather than a model which, at present, is one flat loading which does not adjust for the relative need of different students with disability. (Time expired)