Education Minister Yvette Berry says an inclusion strategy was being developed and the ACT can do better. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
A seemingly innocuous social media post about disability services in ACT public schools has backfired on the Education Directorate, prompting Education Minister Yvette Berry to order an investigation into the torrent of angry responses from parents.
The Facebook post, timed for the opening of 2026 public school enrolments, starts: “If your child has a disability or diverse learning needs, they are welcome and encouraged to attend their local ACT public school. Our schools are supported to help your child fully participate in school life.”
It goes on to mention “allied health professionals and school psychologists”, “individual learning plans” and specialist schools.
Responses highlighted the disconnect between what the post stated and the reality in ACT public schools, the lack of training and resources, and the difficulty contacting the directorate, while others accused the post of gaslighting parents.
“Parents are raising concerns daily and advocating to a system that doesn’t act. This is not a parent problem,” one parent said.
Another said she had spent five years begging her children’s school for help, and was told that they didn’t have the funding to provide any help unless there was a diagnosis and NDIS funding.
“I wasn’t even informed there were any allied health professionals or school psychologists at the school, either. There is a HUGE discrepancy between what the ACT Public Schools directorate says and what the actual schools are telling parents and students,” she said.
One said it was a hit-and-miss experience in ACT public schools, depending on what teacher one gets.
“Our experience of a neurodiverse child in primary school has not been positive. After five years of attendance, we are still advocating to have inclusive and trauma-informed practices used by school staff.”
A disability advocate said the horror stories they heard from families in ACT public schools confirmed that “there is no truth to what you are promoting”.
The responses include parents who had moved interstate seeking better support, resorted to homeschooling or opted for a private school.
The Directorate has let the Facebook responses stand, saying that it appreciates that families had different lived experiences.
“We are reading your comments and sharing your feedback with relevant areas of the Education Directorate. We encourage parents and carers to raise concerns directly with us by emailing inclusionsupport@act.gov.au.”
Ms Berry said she has asked the Education Directorate to investigate each of the individual complaints made on Facebook so that it could understand the problems and address them.
“[It’s] certainly not acceptable in my mind, and I think if you spoke to teachers and school principals in our schools and other staff, that is not the environment that they expect either,” she said.
“So we need to overcome that. We need to listen to the complaints of these individuals and their children, and then together collaborate and work together on what are the solutions.”
Ms Berry did not believe the system was broken, saying work was being done on developing an inclusion strategy and the Directorate had already begun implementing some of that work with inclusion coaches in the Tuggeranong schools.
“I’ve witnessed firsthand the difference that it can make to both that young person and their family, but also the culture within the school, from the students all the way through up to the school principals,” she said.
“I know that in some places we’re doing it right. Clearly there are some gaps in what we’re doing, and it is impacting on people, and we need to do better.”
