Recommendation 7.3 – Improve policies and procedures on the provision of reasonable adjustments to students with disability

What has been achieved to date

All governments share a vision for more accessible and inclusive education for school students with disability.

The Australian Government has released:

• information resources for education providers and educators to help them understand and carry out their legal and professional obligations to students with disability.
• information resources for students with disability and their caregivers to help them understand and exercise their rights under the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Standards).

Further implementation of this recommendation will be informed by the ongoing modernisation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the 2025 review of the Standards.

State and territory governments, which are responsible for the day-to-day operations of schools, continue to deliver reasonable adjustments to students with disability and work to continuously improve relevant policies and procedures.

Some examples of state and territory progress to implement the intent of this recommendation include, but are not limited to:

• Tasmania’s Educational Adjustments Disability Funding model for provision of additional resources (staffing and funding) to schools to support students with disability was independently reviewed in 2023. Since then, improvements have been made to procedure and guidance materials, and work is underway to help both staff and community to better understand educational adjustments for children and young people with disability.
• In Term 1 2025, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority published the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Mathematics Levels A to D Version 2.0, curriculum familiarisation resources and professional learning for schools. These 4 levels support the learning of students with disability and additional needs and can be used by teachers to plan and deliver inclusive mathematics teaching and learning programs.

What the Disability Royal Commission said in the final report

a) State and territory educational authorities should develop and make available in accessible form:

• guidelines to enable schools, principals and teachers to comply with their statutory obligations to provide adjustments for children and young people with disability
• guidelines addressing the relationship between the statutory duty to provide adjustments and duties of care imposed on educational authorities, schools, principals, teachers and staff, such as those imposed by occupational health and safety legislation and the general law
• guidelines addressing the processes for identifying, planning, implementing and evaluating adjustments required for individual students with disability
• guidelines explaining the nature and content of the obligation under the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Cth) (Education Standards) to consult with students with disability and their parents, carers and supporters
• information explaining the sources of funding for providing supports to students with disability and the procedures governing the allocation of funds for that purpose
• requirements for schools and principals to keep records and to report on the provision of adjustments for individual students with disability
• guidelines for developing individual learning plans for students with disability, including requirements for keeping records on the learning program for each student and for making the records available to parents, carers and supporters
• guidelines for ensuring equal access to consent, relationships and sexuality education for students with disability through learning resources, including for neurodiverse students and LGBTIQA+ students.

b) State and territory educational authorities should ensure that education providers have greater access to tools and resources to:

• assist principals and teachers to adapt the curriculum and teaching and assessment practices to enable diverse learners, especially those with complex communication or support needs, to participate in learning experiences on the same basis as students without disability enrolled in the same course (subject to the unjustifiable hardship qualification in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth))
• support culturally safe adjustments to teaching strategies for particular students with disability, such as First Nations students and students from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

c) The Australian Government, through the responsible minister, should consider whether the Education Standards should be amended to address the proposals in a) and b). However, any such consideration should not delay state and territory educational authorities implementing a) and b).

Joint Government Response July 2024

The Australian Government and state and territory governments support the Disability Royal Commission’s vision for more accessible and inclusive education for school students with disability.

Education Ministers commit to work in partnership with people with disability to set out how this vision will be achieved over time.

More recommendations

View progress on other recommendations made by the Royal Commission.