Integration in Victorian primary schools : a study of the role of the Victorian Teachers' Union in the creation of public policy

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Melbourne, 1988The thesis is a descriptive analysis of the role played by a pressure group, in this case the Victorian Teachers' Union (VTU), in the creation of public policy. It argues that the VTU did not play a significant role in the creation of the Labor Government's policy to integrate children with disabilities into regular primary schools. As occurred overseas, parent organisations were instrumental in placing the issue on the political agenda and pressuring the government to implement an integration policy. The VTU's decision to formulate its own policy on integration was a reaction to this pressure. There are several reasons for the VTU's lack of success in influencing government policy on integration. The VTU accorded primary importance to industrial issues with the result that its decision to develop an integration policy was reactive and belated. Policy development began only a few months before the establishment of the Ministerial Review of Educational Services for the Disabled. Consequently the Union came to the Review without any clearly defined or detailed policy. Moreover there was no strong commitment on the part of the membership to the concept of integration. In fact the reverse was true. Union policy had been developed by an active minority and the leadership had failed to communicate effectively its policy to the membership. When the membership became aware of the implications of the government's integration policy its reaction was so hostile that, in order to maintain membership support, the VTU leadership was forced to repudiate sections of the Report of the Ministerial Review which it had signed unconditionally. The VTU was then forced into negotiations with the government at the implementation stage of the policy-making process