Special Needs Children in Mainstream Classes?

The West Australian newspaper in Perth reported recently that Professor Whitehouse, an expert in Autistic studies, addressing a public meeting, said that every child with special needs had the right to be enrolled in a mainstream classroom. 

It is sadly ironic that Professor Whitehouse's speech coincided with the release in mid August 2025 of a University of NSW  survey of 5,000 primary and secondary educators that found  90% of teachers reported moderate to extreme levels of stress. They believed their workloads were unmanageable. Two thirds of the teachers reported cases of depression or anxiety.  That is double the national average.          Lead researcher, Dr Helena Ganziera, said it was not just a wellbeing issue, but a workforce issue.        "Our findings show that teachers are experiencing mental health symptoms at rates far above the general population, and that these symptoms are closely linked to their workload and intentions to leave the profession.”                                                                                                                                               The UNSW survey supports a similar study carried out by Monash University in 2022 which found 59% of those surveyed wanted to leave teaching because of their overwhelming workload.                      Deakin University and the University of Melbourne conducted similar studies which found that a significant  number of teachers are resigning or taking early retirement due to what they feel are excessive work pressures.                                                                                                                            In Western Australia, a Curtin University study found that some policies designed to improve teacher well being had not taken into account existing teacher workloads and were in fact increasing their workload.                                                                                                                                                        There are many reasons for these seriously increased levels of teacher stress and anxiety found in the UNSW study. One of the reasons, for some teachers, is their need to fully cater for one or more children with special needs while trying to adequately educate the other 24 children in their classroom. It should also be remembered that mains team classes that do not include any special needs children are not all plain sailing for class teachers. 

In 2000 I heard Professor Fiona Stanley inform a group of  principals and early childhood teachers that 20% of children have learning problems related to mental health issues. That is one in five children in each class. Dr Stanley expressed her admiration to the early childhood teachers that were present.  She told those Early Childhood teachers that, on a daily basis and with limited resources, they dealt with five or more children with mental health issues affecting their learning, while at the same time delivering an education programme to their mainstream classes.

I remember writing in 2001 in The WA Primary Principals' Association quarterly magazine, WAPPA WORDS, that our teachers were like soldiers, whose commanding officers had given them inferior weapons and insufficient ammunition while constantly berating them for not winning the battle. There are good arguments for placing children with special needs in mainstream classrooms, as Professor Whitehouse urges. However, unless that mainstream classroom is fully resourced (aides, nurses, psychologists, social workers) to provide a suitable education for that special needs child, then it is really child abuse. What is more it is an abuse of the whole teaching process.

That child’s special needs will not be fully met, the other children in the classroom will receive less of their teacher’s attention and guidance than they deserve and the under resourced and under pressure teacher will be frustrated and stressed trying to cope with what is sometimes an impossible situation. They will have a nervous breakdown, take stress leave or resign. Our society needs these quality teachers. It cannot afford to lose them because of system failure.

Having a “feel good” policy of Inclusion is one thing. However, making it work for the benefit of the special needs child and not to the detriment of the other children in the class and their class teacher, requires that the official policy be adequately funded and resourced. I firmly believe that it is beneficial for children with special needs and mainstream children to interact. However, it does not necessarily mean the special needs child has to be in a mainstream class for the entire day. 

I can speak with personal experience about this. When I was teaching at Mt Lawley Primary School in 1971, Supernumerary Teachers were introduced into Western Australia for the first time. As a result, I became a full time specialist science teacher, teaching science to all grades. By doing so, it enabled primary teachers to enjoy a free period for the first time. These free periods were for Duties Other Than teaching, DOTT. Which was whole rationale for having Numerary Teachers.

 At that time, special needs children at Mt Lawley PS were put into a "Ducks' Class". There were about ten children in it, varying in age from 8 to 12.  (How I became a specialist science teacher in a primary school is another long story which you can read about in, “Gough Whitlam And How He Led Me To The Principalship”, written in September, 2012. The link is: -http://noelswriting.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/how-gough-whitlam-led-me-to.html .

One day, the kindly teacher who taught this special class asked if I could take her children for science. This would have given her some respite, or DOTT.  At first, I was quite reluctant to take on this teacher's special needs children because my science lessons were child centred, activity based, problem solving sessions which involved a lot of manipulating, measuring, controlling variables and recording. I did not think her children would be up to it, in fact, I feared that they could quite possibly injure themselves or others.

However, I knew that she had a point. She was entitled to DOTT time, too. So, I agreed to take her children in with my very best Year 7 class. The year seven children were given a few pointers in peer tutoring and then buddied up with a special needs child. My lessons generally consisted of six different activities around the room, with a group of five or six children working at each activity. Each week the group would move on to a new activity. It was a six-week programme developing science concepts and skills of inquiry. I spread the special needs children into each of these activity groups.

Well, it was just terrific. Not only did these intellectually deprived, cognitively, physically and emotionally challenged children participate with enthusiasm and delight in the activities, but the year seven students, for the first time in their school days, became aware that these much maligned, indeed shunned and ridiculed members of The Ducks' Class, were actually human beings who had feelings, who could express delight, wonder and appreciation at the interesting experiences in which they were all  sharing.

In my movements around the playground on Yard Duty , I noticed that some of the year sevens were now including some of their "Ducks’ class" science buddies in their play activities. I felt gratified by the whole experience and realised that including these children with special needs had improved their social skills. Perhaps, more importantly, it had also had a socially beneficial impact on the years sevens. 

The policy to introduce special needs children into mainstream classes in W.A. came into effect in the mid 1980s. As a principal at that time, I soon  realised that many parents were keen to have their child placed in the mainstream because they believed that their child would then achieve mainstream syllabus outcomes. Of course, that did not always occur.

Of paramount importance is the interest of the child with special needs. In some cases, their needs are brilliantly met in mainstream classrooms. In other cases, because of the specific special needs and the lack of adequate  resources, their needs are not met. Nor are the needs of the rest of the class.

Interaction between mainstream and special needs children is very important, for both groups, but it should not be at the risk of failing to meet the special needs of a child. Some children can have their special needs met in the mainstream. Others cannot. Their  placement in the mainstream will not adequately address their special needs, will be  detrimental to the education outcomes of the mainstream class and to the health and wellbeing of their teacher as many university research studies are showing. We have a duty of care to the child with special needs. We also have a duty of care to the mainstream children and their overworked, under resourced teachers.

As a parent, if your child had a serious medical condition such as  brain cancer or  liver, kidney or heart problems, would you be stamping your feet to have your child treated by your local GP and placed in a general hospital ward of the local hospital or would you be seeking a referral to a medical specialist and placement in a hospital that had the qualified staff and the special equipment necessary to treat your child’s special medical needs?