Position Paper

‘Promoting inclusive education for students with a disability through adjustments to support
individualised support and planning.’

Position

This position paper is aimed to the Commission to stimulate reasonable adjustments that
desperately needed to promote individualised support and planning for all students, including
students with a disability. The need for inclusive education is paramount to achieve equitable
school communities and eliminate barriers that exist between students with a disability and
achieving a quality learning environment in secondary schools. Practicing individualised
learning and planning will reduce the stigma that is present between Australia’s education
system and the learning of students with a disability (Hackmann et al, 2019). The aim for an
inclusive education will support equity throughout all school communities by providing
teachers and pre-service teachers with effective pedagogy skills to advocate individualised
planning to achieve optimum learning outcomes (Costello & Boyle, 2013). While there are
many individuals that disagree with this statement, achieving inclusive education through
individualised planning will improve all aspects of education by promoting a positive
learning environment.

Judgement

Teacher mentors lack of inclusive pedagogy

There is a strong segregation that exists with classrooms across Australia and students with a
disability. This is primarily due to the lack of individualised planning, resources, and
mentorship available to teachers. While majority of teachers strive to implement inclusive
education in classrooms, the mainstream, also known as integration education, overpowers it.
As graduate teachers are introduced to teaching profession, many experiences mentor
teachers focus on delivering content using traditional methods that does not highly an
inclusive education. As a result, adopting teacher-centered pedagogy will become more
difficult to support the psychological, social, and educational needs of students with a
disability due to the lack of dialogic interactions (Efthymiou & Kington, 2017). This is a
paramount concern as graduate teachers that should be promoting an inclusive education, are
forced to adopt a traditional integration education within their classrooms. The inability for
teachers to promote an individualised planning for inclusive education can lead students with

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a disability on a path of uncertainty and depression due to the lack of inclusion in classrooms
(Graham, 2020). In fact, students with a disability may be at greater risk of developing mental
issues due to lower concepts and high external loci of control (Maag & Reid, 2016). As a
result, specialised teaching mentors need to be employed to support the promotion of
inclusive education in teaching practices amongst all other teachers and graduates.

Mandating Education standards

The second issue that hinders individualised planning for students with a disability is the
education standards. The education standards incorporate a set of criterions and minimum
standards that teachers must achieve to be further accredited in their profession. Although the
education standards focus on effective teaching and learning, there are no standards that fit to
support students with a disability. This is a significant concern as teachers are focusing more
on requirements such as professional learning rather than improving pedagogical skills to
support students with a disability. The first education standard forms a criterion on ‘know
students and how they learn’ (NSW Education Standards Authority, 2020). While this does
focus on students as a community, there is no criteria that aligns with individualised learning
and supporting students with a disability. Due to this, students with a disability are required
to learn subject content through an approach that majority of other students learn rather than
focusing on an approach suited to them. This will further repudiate students with a disability
and can increase the risk of psychological, social, and physical distress which is the main
cause of mental illnesses amongst young adults (Sartorius, 2009). This is primarily due to the
mandating of the education standards. This creates a void in the education systems that
requires a solution to achieve individualised planning within classrooms and promote
inclusive education with students with a disability.

The curriculum

While the curriculum continuously improves to benefit the learning of contemporary content
for students, it does not include requirements to involve individualised planning to support
students with a disability. There are eight learning areas in the curriculum that require the
improvement of general capabilities through cross-curriculum activities (Australian
Curriculum, 2020). Throughout many schools in Australia, students with a disability have
shifted into special education classrooms. As a result, students with a disability may not be
learning simultaneously with other classrooms and therefore may not achieve the curriculum
requirements and forgo opportunities to learn (Soukup et al, 2016). Due to this overriding

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issue, students with a disability have been overshadowed in practical subjects including
technology and applied science (TAS) subject area. With approximately 90% of students with
a disability in Australia attending mainstream schools, schools have developed special
education classes to achieve practical curriculum content (Parliament of Australia, 2015).
However, this does not consider inclusive education as it isolates students with a disability
with the rest of the cohort. As a result, schools have focused on delivering practical subjects
to students with a disability in a shorter period, hence limiting their subject requirements.
Without accurate resources and time, students with a disability become further disadvantaged
due to the inability to meet minimum workforce standards due to the lack of time in subjects
(Chen, 2017). This is a significant issue in the curriculum and needs to be restructured to
introduce inclusive education in classrooms and cater for students with a disability through
individualised planning and support.

Recommendation

Mentorship and Coaching

The first recommendation relates to the lack of mentorship available to teachers as a resource
to invite inclusive education in classrooms. Recently the government made changes to school
education across NSW by introducing ‘Technology 4 Learning’ program. As part of this
innovative approach to learning, experienced teachers in TAS faculty were hired to form an
innovative team that travel around schools in NSW to mentor other teachers (NSW
Government, 2020). This approach focuses on STEM (Science, Technology, English and
Mathematic) learning and involves cross-curriculum activities to improve student general
capabilities. It is recommended that the government invests in a mentoring program for
individualised planning and inclusive education for students with a disability. By acquiring a
team of experienced teachers that recognize the importance of inclusive education in
classrooms, their pedagogical skills can be duplicated to support students with a disability.
This approach may also focus on combining the STEM team and inclusive education team to
produce innovate strategies to support students with a disability in classrooms that require
practical application skills. This approach was adopted amongst college students with an
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and found that young adults with an ASD were more likely
to concentrate in science and computer science compared to the general population (Wei et
al, 2012). This recommendation will ultimately break down the barriers that existing between

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general classrooms and students with a disability and improve teacher inclusive education
skills.

Amendment to Australian Standard and Incentive Program

It is also recommended that amendments are made to the Australian teaching standards. This
recommendation relates to the first in which teachers are consistently required to improve
their inclusive education skills through indivdualised planning to cater for the students with a
disability. The focus of ‘understanding how students learn’ relating to standard 1.2.1 through
to 1.2.4 is recommended to improve by focusing on individual students how they learn and
how their learning approach can achieve practical collaboration in classrooms (NSW
Education Standards Authority, 2020). These standard need to focus on inclusive education
by involving students with a disability in all classrooms which will ultimately improve the
Australian Curriculum. Accompanying this recommendation is an incentive program that is
focus on students with a disability. The NSW government has recently introduced an
assistance scheme to support students in isolation during COVID-19 (Service NSW, 2020).
An incentive program including additional support in practical classrooms and financial
support of up to $2000. This will support students with a disability in practical classes
including purchasing a personal device and meeting the costs for projects. Through the
combination of both these changes in standards and incentive program, students with a
disability can focus on improving their problem-solving, critical thinking and decision-
making skills. These students are more likely to have an uncomplicated shift into the
workforce by preparing to meet the minimum general capability skills required for each
student. As a result, these students will be prepared for the workforce and in return improve
Australia’s economy through upskilling students with a disability as they join careers that
inspires them and reduce the stigma that exists.

Conclusion

Individualised planning and support for students with a disability needs to be introduced and
augmented in schools throughout Australia. Providing an inclusive education approach will
not only break down barriers that exist between schools but eliminate the stigma and isolation
of students with a disability with other classrooms. By applying the recommendations
outlined, students, teachers, parents, and the Australian government will benefit from these
changes to provide a supportive environment in classrooms. Therefore, it is highly advocated
that additional energy and encouragement is to be put into this area of education as it is

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highly dependent of government action. Individualised planning and support is the difference
necessary to support students with a disability and deliver inclusive education throughout
classrooms across Australia.

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References

Australian Curriculum. (2020). Learning Areas. Retrieved from

Chen, J., Lin, T., Justice, L., & Sawyer, B. (2017). The Social Networks of Children With
and Without Disabilities in Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms. Journal of
Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(7), 2779-2794.

Costello, S., & Boyle, C. (2013). Pre-service secondary teachers' attitudes towards inclusive
education. The Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(4), 129-143.

Efthymiou, E., & Kington, A. (2017). The development of inclusive learning relationships in
mainstream settings: A multimodal perspective. Cogent Education, 4(1), Cogent education,
2017, Vol.4 (1).

Graham, L. (2020). Inclusive education for the 21st century. Theory, Policy and Practice.
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Hackmann, D.G., Malin, J.R., Fuller Hamilton, A.N, & O'Donnell, L. (2019). Supporting
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Maag, J.W., & Reid, R. (2016). Depression Among Students with Learning Disabilities.
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NSW Education Standards Authority. (2020). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
Retrieved from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/8658b2fa-62d3-

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Parliament of Australia. (2015). Chapter 5 – how to better support students with disabilities in
schools. Retrieved from
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Sartorius, N. (2009). Disability and mental illness are different entities and should be
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Service NSW. (2020). Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme. Retrieved from
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Soukup, J.H., Wehmeyer, M.L., Bashinski, S.M., & Bovaird, J.A. (2016). Classroom
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Wei, X., Yu, J.W., Shattuck, P., McCracken, M., & Blackorby, J. (2012). Science,
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