By now, most people in the education sector would be familiar
with The Disability Royal Commission.
Recently, the Commission delivered an Interim Report which
included, amongst other things, a section entitled 'Areas of
Further Inquiry'.
One of the issues referred to in this section was
'gatekeeping practices'. 'Gatekeeping practices'
are where a school informally discourages a student with a
disability (for example, a student who may be diagnosed with autism
spectrum disorder) from attending the school with staff advising
the parents that their child would 'be more suited to another
school' because their school cannot cater for the child's
special needs.
In many situations, 'gatekeeping practices' are unlawful
because the school would not have adequately discharged its
obligation to consult sufficiently to determine what
'reasonable adjustments' the student requires and whether
the school can meet those needs.
