Recommendation 7.9 – Data, evidence and building best practice

What has been achieved to date

Governments have signed the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement or Better and Fairer Schools Agreement – Full and Fair Funding 2025-2034 which commits all parties to a Review of the Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia to ensure it remains a relevant tool, including by considering the range of student level outcome data captured, appropriate disaggregation of data, and possible new and updated measures. The Review will include consideration of:

• a new equity in learning gain measure, to enable measurement of student learning growth; and
• national measures of access, participation and outcomes for students with disability.

In March 2025, Education Ministers agreed for disability and inclusion to be included as a priority topic in AERO’s 2025 Research Agenda. This will include work to deliver actionable insights for improving educational outcomes of students with disability. 

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

NSW released ‘Our Plan for NSW Public Education’ which includes student success measures that reflect the experiences and outcomes of students. Complementing the Plan, NSW is progressing work to monitor the experiences and outcomes of students with disability to inform evidence-based policy, programs and initiatives. From 2025-26, the department will begin internally monitoring these measures and using the insights to improve outcomes for students with disability.

What the Disability Royal Commission said in the final report

Data development and collection

a) The Education Ministers Meeting should:

• commission a national project to develop data definitions and data collection methods to enable consistent and comparable reporting on educational experiences and outcomes of students with disability
• ensure data and information (as detailed at the Appendix and disaggregated by Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) category, gender, age, stage of schooling, First Nations students, students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and LGBTIQA+ status) is collected by state and territory departments on:
  • student experiences
  • school outcomes for students with disability
  • progress in addressing barriers to inclusive education practices.

b) State and territory governments should enhance data systems and processes to enable all schools to submit at least the minimum data required in the prescribed format.

c) State and territory school registration authorities should:

• embed data requirements set by the Education Ministers Meeting in registration requirements for all schools in their jurisdiction
• require parents registering children with disability for home schooling with the state or territory school regulator to submit standardised information about their child’s educational, social and behavioural progress and support needs to improve understanding of students with disability who are being home schooled and their outcomes.

Monitoring and reporting

d) State and territory education departments should annually report jurisdictional data to the Education Ministers Meeting on minimum data requirements for students with disability. Based on the jurisdictional data, the Education Ministers Meeting should monitor and publicly report annually on:

• the educational experiences of students with disability
• outcomes of students with disability
• progress in addressing barriers to inclusive education practices.

e) To improve reporting of disability data, the Education Ministers Meeting should:

• publish school-level NCCD student numbers (by adjustment level) on the My School website, having due regard for privacy issues
• commission the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority to work with states and territories on data collection requirements to enable reporting on National Assessments Program – Literacy and Numeracy results for students with disability
• include broader school workforce characteristics and information about workforce shortages in state and territory and Australian Government annual inclusive education reporting.

Improving the evidence base

f) To improve the evidence base for best practice for inclusive education, the Education Ministers Meeting should commission the Australian Education Research Organisation to:

• develop a research program about inclusive education practices, working with teachers, schools, education systems and people with disability
• conduct and coordinate inclusive education research
• support schools to translate research into school practices.

Joint Government Response July 2024

The Australian Government and state and territory governments support a vision for improved data and evidence on the experience and outcomes of students with disability, building best practice for inclusive education and improving funding for students with disability.

Implementing these recommendations requires further consideration by governments, including further work to consider data collection categories and reporting. In addition, implementing components of these recommendations will require consideration of impacts on workload for schools and data management systems.

State and territory governments will consider how to deliver the intent of these recommendations within their jurisdictions.

More recommendations

View progress on other recommendations made by the Royal Commission.