Disability Inclusion Funding and Support

Target group for Tier 2 school-level support

It is expected that schools direct Tier 2 funding to supports for students with disability who require supplementary, substantial or extensive reasonable adjustments to participate in and derive substantial benefits from their education. For more information on this classification of adjustments, refer to the section below ‘Identifying students in the target group in a mainstream school’.

These learners will benefit from more targeted support, classroom and school-wide adjustments and approaches. More broadly, by strengthening school-wide capacity and capability, these practices and support are also expected to indirectly benefit all students.

Tier 2 school-level funding and support assists schools to make reasonable adjustments for students with a disability across their school, with increased capacity to:

• identify student learning needs
• plan supports
• consult with the student, their families and treating practitioners (as appropriate)
• purchase school resources.

Identifying students in the target group in a mainstream school

Where possible, schools should use data and evidence to identify student needs and prioritise adjustments and support known to work for these needs.

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on Students with Disability (NCCD) provides a systematic process that allows schools across Australia to identify, in a consistent manner, students with disability receiving adjustments to access education and classify the level of adjustment. The NCCD is an annual collection of information about the adjustments that Australian schools make for students with disability. For more information, visit: Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability.

The NCCD process can support schools to determine students in the Tier 2 target group by considering:

1. Does the student have a disability or additional need?
   • Schools use learning, wellbeing, engagement and health information to identify students who meet the broad definition of a person with disability, as defined under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
2. Is the school providing supplementary, substantial, or extensive adjustments so that the student can participate in their education?
   • Schools determine which of their students’ educational needs are being met by provision of reasonable adjustments. For the Tier 2 target cohort supplementary, substantial and extensive adjustments are most relevant.

Schools may also identify students in the Tier 2 target group through:

• local school processes and planning that identify the learning needs of students – this should be analysed through multiple points of data such as curriculum-based student learning attainment, standardised assessment data and classroom observations (refer to resources below)
• considering students across the school with individual education plans (IEPs), and if there are any students with disability and additional needs who may benefit from an IEP and/or student support group (SSG) if they do not have one
• discussions with area based staff including Student Support Services and regional disability coordinators.

Resources

• The Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) Setting Expectations and Promoting Inclusion Implementation Guide (PDF) describes the professional practices of effective implementation within the FISO improvement cycle. This includes identifying the education challenges where efforts will be prioritised, planning for how the prioritised challenges will be addressed, identifying and celebrating what is working, and adapting when barriers are encountered or changes occur.
• The FISO Strategic Enablers for Implementation Guide (PDF) aims to support schools to reflect on and strengthen four common enablers: self-evaluation capability throughout a school; real-time data monitoring implementation; leadership capability for school improvement; and robust implementation structures.

Schools can then consider how to best utilise additional school capacity and capability resourced through Tier 2 school-level funding to meet the needs of these students.