On this page:
- Supporting information required for the Disability Inclusion Profile
- Principles of the supporting information guidance
- Sources of supporting information
- Collating and submitting supporting information
- School documentation as supporting information
- Supporting information from specialists and school-based experts, including Health, Wellbeing, and Inclusion Workforces
Supporting information required for the Disability Inclusion Profile
Principles of the supporting information guidance
The Disability Inclusion Profile meeting will discuss the student’s strengths and educational aspirations, their functional needs across 31 educational activities, and the adjustments required to enable their participation in their education.
The facilitator will support meeting participants to discuss and agree the ‘level of adjustment’ being provided or required for the student to participate in each of the profile’s 31 educational related activities.
Supporting information is used within the profile process to confirm that the level of adjustments identified accurately match the student’s functional needs.
It is recommended that schools upload a maximum of 15 individual documents as supporting information. It is strongly encouraged that schools consult with their health and wellbeing (HW)/student support services (SSS) key contact and/or RDCs prior to any initial profile request to ensure that supporting information relates to the specific levels of adjustment in the domains or activities identified.
Refer to the Supporting information guidance for schools to identify and prepare key information for the profile.
Should the student be eligible for tier 3 funding, the student’s levels of adjustment across all 31 educational activities contribute to the tier 3 funding allocation. As such, schools should provide supporting information related to all relevant activities and domains within the profile. Refer to: Tier 3 student-level funding.
A flexible approach is taken to the supporting information requirements for eligibility for tier 3 – student level funding. This approach minimises the burden for schools and families in collating information. It seeks to understand the adjustments that are required for the student to participate in their education on the same basis as their peers.
Sources of supporting information
The following types of supporting information can be provided to support the profile process:
- information about both the school-wide and student-specific adjustments currently being provided to support the student
- information on the implementation of these adjustments over time, including the intensity, frequency and personalisation of adjustments, and the student’s responsiveness to them.
School-wide adjustments include any adjustments, policies, facilities, resources and supports in place that are not specific to any one student.
Student-specific adjustments are adjustments in place to meet the specific needs of a student to participate at school.
The following sources of supporting information are typically the most useful for the profile process (Refer to the Supporting information guidance for schools for further information):
- individual education plans that meet an average of level 2 on the IEP quality rubric. Refer to the Individual Education Plans (IEPs) Policy
- student support group (SSG) minutes that record the implementation and review of adjustments over time and specialist involvement. Refer to the Student Support Groups Policy
- school teaching and learning program documents and classroom planning documents that detail specialist-informed adjustments
- a summary ‘snapshot’ of the student’s strengths, aspirations, and adjustments in place
- additional student-specific plans, such as:
- student health support plans
- behaviour support
- personal hygiene learning plans or equivalent
- a transition and learning development or other transition plans
- attendance plans
- career action
- cultural support
- student support plans – gender affirmation plans (please contact Safe Schools on 9637 3699 or safe.schools@education.vic.gov.au for more information and advice)
- other student-specific plans (for example, communication plan, transfer/mobility plan, meal/toileting plan, or safety plan, and so on).
Advice on how to gather the right kinds of supporting information to support the process is available at: Supporting information guidance for schools .
Collating and submitting supporting information
Following approval of a profile request screening requirements, schools are encouraged to work with parent/carer(s) to collate relevant supporting information, to be provided in addition to that provided at the request stage. If they have not done so already (refer to: Requesting a Disability Inclusion Profile meeting), schools are also encouraged to discuss the supporting information with their HW/SSS key contact before the meeting.
Schools are required to upload supporting information via a new secure link provided by the facilitator service.
All supporting information must be provided electronically (scanned and uploaded). The facilitator service will be unable to accept hard copies of supporting information, including at the profile meeting. It is recommended that schools upload a maximum of 15 documents as supporting information.
Schools will be expected to explain how the supporting information demonstrates the student characteristics and the levels of adjustment in place. For additional guidance, schools can consult with their HW/SSS key contacts or RDCs, or refer to the supporting information guidance for schools.
Schools can table additional documents during the profile meeting and these will be considered by the facilitator. If these documents are required to substantiate a level of adjustment, facilitators will request that these documents are uploaded after the profile meeting. The facilitator service will provide a secure link for this purpose. In some cases, particularly when seeking to support the differentiated and supplementary levels of adjustment, no additional documentation will be required as a verbal description of the student’s characteristics and adjustments will be sufficient.
School documentation as supporting information
Profile information form
Schools must complete a profile information form as part of the profile request. This form collects information about the student and details of SSG members that will attend the profile meeting.
Optional school-wide adjustments form
Schools can also complete an optional, but strongly recommended, school-wide adjustments form. The facilitator service will send this form to schools when requesting supporting information. This form gives schools the opportunity to outline all the adjustments, policies, resources, facilities and supports they have in place for all students with disability.
The facilitator service will keep a record of this form to use for future profile meetings held at your school. Schools only need to provide this form once, though schools may wish to revisit this form periodically.
Disability Inclusion and supporting information for the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Disability Inclusion funding is not related to a student’s eligibility for supports under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Many students who have a profile meeting will also participate in the NDIS. NDIS documentation provided by the parent/carer(s) may be used as supporting information for profile meetings, however, its use or consideration is not mandatory.
Supporting information for the profile may include NDIS documents, including:
- a copy of a NDIS plan
- any NDIS therapy reports, assessment reports or progress reports.
The outcome of the profile meeting is separate from the NDIS.
NDIS participants are not compelled to disclose their participation in the NDIS. If a student is an NDIS participant, they may choose to self-report this to the school.
Parent/carer(s), pending agreement from the school, can invite people that are involved with their child through the NDIS to the profile meeting, including:
- NDIS funded therapist
- local area coordinator
- early childhood professional, such as an early childhood teacher and allied health.
Digital supporting information
Digital supporting information (such as videography and photography) can be provided as part of the profile process. Digital supporting information may be helpful to have a visual representation of adjustments, where it cannot be demonstrated through formal documents. Digital supporting information should not replace other kinds of school-based documentation and should not be used to demonstrate a student’s functioning, challenging behaviour or to highlight their disability.
Any provision of digital supporting information must be consistent with consent provided by parents for use of photos, videos and images of the student and needs to align with the department’s Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy requirements and your school’s local policy.
Third-party software, programs or applications used for collating student information
No third-party software, programs or applications have been accredited by the department for use as part of the Disability Inclusion Profile process. There are a range of risks related to the use of such software, programs of applications, including related to child safety, records management and privacy.
Should schools wish to use any software, programs of applications they are free to do so. However, any use must be compliant with all relevant legislative requirements, including those that relate to child safety, records management and privacy.
Use of third-party software, programs of applications must be approved by the school’s principal and a Privacy Impact Assessment must be completed. Refer to Privacy and Information Sharing: Privacy impact assessments.
Ideally, schools should have in place a contract with the software, programs or applications to ensure appropriate use of private, personal and health information.
In deciding to use any software, programs or applications schools should weigh a range of factors including the potential benefits and financial costs to the school and whether alternative solutions exist.
Refer to the Privacy and Information Sharing Policy.
Supporting information from specialists and school-based experts, including Health, Wellbeing, and Inclusion Workforces
The profile can be supported by professionals who provide evidence-based advice and guidance that enables schools to effectively implement appropriate adjustments to support students in the school environment. These professionals include specialists and school-based experts.
Specialists are those who have qualifications with the capability and competency to implement and/or recommend supports and adjustments within their field of expertise. Examples may include Health, Wellbeing, and Inclusion Workforces (HWIW) (see below), medical or allied health practitioners, or teachers with additional qualifications in specific curriculum areas or inclusion and wellbeing.
School-based experts are those with other experience, capability and competency that enables them to use current and high-quality evidence to implement and/or recommend supports and adjustments that align with their area of expertise. School-based experts are not required to hold a formal leadership role. Examples may include disability inclusion coordinators, learning specialists, school-based mentors, or teachers with extensive experience in a specific school-based activity.
Specialists and school-based experts must hold expertise that aligns with the school-based activity to which they are contributing.
In some circumstances, such as where there is a safety risk to the student, a specialist with the appropriate qualifications will be required to contribute to supporting information for a profile. Facilitators will advise where this is the case. As an example, for students with swallowing difficulties that result in a risk of aspiration or choking, their supporting information must be informed by a medical practitioner and/or speech pathologist.
The department’s HWIW are considered specialists and should have their involvement demonstrated in supporting information for students undertaking the profile.
HWIW comprise:
- student support services
- primary and secondary school nurses
- visiting
- Koorie engagement support officers
- other regional/divisional or area-based staff whose key role is to provide support to schools. Schools are encouraged to identify appropriate additional workforces with their HW/SSS key contact
Mental health practitioners are also considered specialists where their area of expertise aligns with specific activities.
More information on the role of specialists and school-based experts, including HWIW, in providing supporting information is detailed in the Supporting information guidance for schools .
Specialists/school-based experts and supporting information
The involvement of specialists and school-based experts in supporting students can be demonstrated in the supporting information held and submitted by the school. At times, specialists and school-based experts may provide additional supporting information that is separate to school documents. This may include a formal report or a record of specialist involvement. These should be provided to the school to collate with other supporting information. Schools are responsible for co-ordinating the submission of all supporting information to the facilitator service.
In the case of private specialists (including those working through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)), schools will need to work with the parent/carer(s) to provide consent/release of this information to share with the school. Refer to: Supporting information guidance for schools .
Reviewed 08 February 2023