Primary schools in South Australia will be staffed with specialist Autism Inclusion teachers, with more than 400 starting the role in the first week of returning from school.
Key Point:
- Over 400 professional autism inclusion teachers deployed across South Australia
- The SA government states that, on average, every classroom has at least one student with autism.
- One stakeholder said the aim was not to work directly with students, but to “build capacity” to improve outcomes.
Prime Minister Peter Malinaukas said the purpose of the newly created role is to improve the skills of the state’s 18,000 teachers.
“There is at least one child with autism in every classroom, at least one,” Malinauskas said.
“In some classrooms, there are two or three children with autism.
“The challenge here is to teach 18,000 teachers the latest practices to help children with autism.”
Richmond Elementary School teacher Rob Oyen is one of 417 new Autism Inclusion teachers.
He said the role was not designed to work directly with students with autism.
“My role is more to deal with my colleagues, support them, and consider best practices than interacting with students in the classroom,” he said.
“It’s about building our capacity as a school.”
Teachers serve as Autism Inclusion roles for up to one day per week and continue as regular classroom teachers for the rest of the week.
“I don’t know what the future holds”
Assistant Minister for Autism Emily Burke said one day a week is a good place to start.
“Today is my first day as an autism inclusion teacher,” she said.
“If I hadn’t started here, I would have continued this conversation 10 years later if I hadn’t finally given in and started offering some support.
“We have to start somewhere. If we don’t start that, the future is uncertain.”
Training for new positions is just beginning and will be done through webinars and in-person sessions.
Parents of children with autism welcome the move.
Sarah Keane believes that teachers generally want to do the best they can for their students, but that’s not always possible.
“Their hearts are in the right place and they want to see your child grow up,” she said.
“They’re in charge of the whole class, so it’s tough.”
Keane said each child with autism is different and has different needs, and she hopes further training will help teachers adapt.
“Because you have time to process things, you’re put in place, you have the way the assessment is done, you have a verbal presentation and you know if your child is confident and really struggling.” Speak, kid,” she said.
