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Almost 900 school bags have been placed on the steps of Parliament House in a visual protest calling for change in Western Australia’s public education system.
Each of the bags had a tag attached, telling the story of a family or young person with a disability who had experienced discrimination or difficulty in school, or of their teachers struggling under the current system.
Emily Heyworth, from ACE WA, and Symone Wheatley-Hey from Square Peg Round Whole.Credit: Holly Thompson
The protest matched one held three years ago in November 2022 – organised to call for a review of the state’s public education system.
That review has since been announced and completed, but the results were not what was promised according to protest organiser Symone Wheatley-Hey, who also runs advocacy group Square Peg Round Whole.
She has previously said the review was not progress or reform, but “fairy dust and spin” because it only offered vague “accepted in-principle” statements on critical recommendations, no clear implementation timetable, no funding strategy, and no meaningful shift in law or policy.
Outside WA parliament on Thursday afternoon, Wheatley-Hey said legislation change should have been the whole point of the review.
“If change is embodied in our legislation, regardless of which government, regardless of which minister, regardless of which head of departments or policy changes, those fundamental basics are enshrined, and I think that’s really important,” she said.
“It’s clear our community is in desperate need of healing and repair, and robust, transparent, time-bound future-proofed action would be a really solid way to start repairing that trust.
“Information and understanding and listening is always a really strong place to start from, but we need action, we need progress – listening itself is not enough.
“If you listen and then you turn away, then that almost makes it worse.”
Opposition Education Minister Liam Staltari said the stories on the backpacks were “stories of trauma and of challenge” and that they need to be heard and listened to.
“These are stories provided by families who are dredging up some really challenging moments in their lives,” he said.
“The call of this protest is (for the state government to) keep your promises.
“We’re calling on the government as an opposition for clear timelines on reform and ... an independent complaints panel and resolution body because trust between families and students and teachers is so essential for everyone.
“All of us in Western Australia have a stake in getting that right.”
Education Minister Sabine Winton spent time reading the messages on the backpacks and said she had requested copies of each one so she could take more time to look through them.
“It was incredibly moving and humbling to read stories from children, parents and families, but also from teachers and educators in particular,” she said.
“Some immediate takeaways for me was this desire to be heard, this desire to be understood.
“I’m a mum and I’m a teacher, and it hurts your heart. I’m absolutely determined, and have been since I’ve been minister for education, to make sure that we have the supports in place for teachers to be able to support children and meet them at their needs.”
Winton said it had been a month since she had tabled the review of the education act, and that she was now looking at practical ways to support families and children living with a disability.
She said by the end of the year, she wanted the Department of Education to supply further resources for parents to support them in making complaints, “whilst we pursue reviewing the guidelines and procedures.”
“In the next six months, we need to review those guidelines to see if they need to be strengthened, and I’m hearing that from parents,” she said.
“But there’s practical things that we can do right now to support students.
“The best way we do that in the short term is to provide supports for schools and teachers to understand the students that are coming to their schools.
“We need to recognise the area of disability is so diverse, but we need to do more as a system for schools and educators to be able to have the professional training they need to support students with families.”
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