People with disability in Australia

Introduction

COVID-19 led to significant and long-lasting disruptions to the traditional classroom-based education. In 2020, 1.5 billion students in 188 countries were locked out of their schools (OECD 2021). As the pandemic continued to disrupt education well into 2021, many education systems struggled with adapting to new online modes of learning and maintaining learning continuity and student supports. For students with disability, this may result in added challenges related to reduced individual supports and social interactions, increased reliance on parental supports, and problems with technology.

This section looks at some of the changes in education processes experienced by children, young people and adult students in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Children and young people with disability and their families

Many children and young people with disability experienced a change in the operation of their school or education facility during COVID-19. In the CYDA Education Survey 2020, 2 in 3 respondents (67%) reported that their school or education facility moved to remote learning (Dickinson et al. 2020). For some respondents, the changes went beyond that:

• 12% reported their school or education facility had closed
• 4% reported that their education facility had reduced its hours
• 1% reported that the student’s enrolment had been cancelled (Dickinson et al. 2020).

During this time the responsibility for education shifted away from teachers and schools to parents:

• 78% of respondents reported that parents and carers were mainly responsible for providing the student’s daily education routine
• 12% reported the responsibility stayed with the same teacher or educator as before the pandemic.

For some students with disability, the shift to remote learning could be problematic due to difficulties with accessibility of online platforms or learning materials:

• curriculum and learning materials were provided in accessible format to 50% of respondents
• just under half (46%) of respondents had regular contact with the education provider to ensure learning was accessible
• about a quarter (24%) received assistance with technology to support learning at home (Dickinson et al. 2020).

Supports provided by education facilities had drastically decreased during the pandemic. The proportions of respondents receiving supports before and during the pandemic had decreased for all types of supports covered by the survey:

• individual support worker (for example, education aide, learning support worker) (56% of respondents had received this support before COVID-19 compared with 12% during the pandemic)
• supervision (proportion receiving support fell from 48% to 10%)
• social support (fell from 43% to 9%)
• specific aides and equipment (from 40% to 10%)
• behavioural support (fell from 34% to 7%)
• access to specialist allied health (fell from 38% to 15%)
• assistance with personal care (fell from 27% to 8%)
• curriculum modification (fell from 54% to 35%) (Dickinson et al. 2020).

The CYDA survey further highlighted how COVID-19 affected the experience of education for children and young people with disability and their families:

• 72% of students felt more socially isolated from their peers
• 66% of respondents reported the family was not provided with assistance to support the learning of the student with disability during the COVID-19 pandemic
• 61% of respondents thought that the child or young person with disability did not receive adequate educational support during the pandemic (Dickinson et al. 2020).

The survey found that students who received support had better outcomes in maintaining their engagement and reducing social isolation. Support was most effective when more than one type was provided. Those who received 2 or more types of support were:

• more likely than those who did not receive any supports to feel a part of a learning community
• more likely to say they received adequate support in their education
• more likely than those who did not receive support to be engaged in their learning
• less likely to feel socially isolated (Dickinson et al. 2020)

Of the different types of support, social support (which typically involves helping to connect children and young people to their peers in meaningful ways) was most strongly associated with students feeling supported, part of a learning community, engaged in learning and feeling less isolated. This support type saw one of the largest decreases during the pandemic (from 43% to 9%) (Dickinson et al. 2020).

Adults with disability

In January, February and June 2021, the Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey asked Australians aged 18 and over about their education and training activities.

During 2020:

• 21% of adults (aged 18 and over) with disability and 28% of adults without disability undertook formal or informal study or training
• 9.0% of adults with disability and 13% of those without disability undertook study for a qualification (ABS 2021b).

The proportion studying for a qualification during 2020 was broadly consistent with the 2018 findings in the Education and skills section of this report, when 9.1% of people aged 15–64 with disability were studying for a non-school qualification at the time of the 2018 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) (15% without disability) (ABS 2019).

For those who undertook training or study in 2020, adults with disability were:

• more likely to have done all of their study online (73% compared with 59% of adults without disability)
• less likely to have done at least some of their study face-to-face (27% compared with 41%) (ABS 2021b).

In January 2021, people with disability (20%) were less likely to report an intention to study in the next 6 months than those without disability (27%) (ABS 2021a).

In June 2021, people with and without disability were asked about the study they had done in 2021. Both groups were similarly likely to:

• have done study or training since January 2021 (25% and 29%)
• intend to undertake study or training in 2021 but have not started (22% and 26%) (ABS 2021c).

Of people with and without disability who had done study or training in 2021 or intended to but had not started, 9.2% and 2.7% reported that one of the reasons was that they had more time available during COVID-19 restrictions (ABS 2021c).