What we mean by inclusive education:

Inclusive education means that all students, regardless of disability, ethnicity, socio-economic status, nationality, language, gender, sexual orientation or faith, can access and fully participate in learning, alongside their similar aged peers, supported by reasonable adjustments and teaching strategies tailored to meet their individual needs.

Children and young people with disability are the main focus of our strategy, yet they are not the only ones who stand to benefit from our proposals.

In moving to a more inclusive system with support that better reflects the changing needs of children we will improve the experience of teachers, families and other students.

Students will:

• Feel welcomed into their local school community
• Experience more responsiveness to changes in their needs
• Have more involvement in decisions about their education
• Experience smoother transitions between schools and settings
• Receive a clearer demonstration of learning outcomes from teachers

Families will:

• Be treated as partners and recognised as experts of their child
• Receive earlier identification and support for their children
• Find it easier to connect with other families with similar needs
• Have better and easier experiences with our system (including complaints)
• Be provided with more consistent information from schools, NDIS providers and health services

Schools will:

• Have more resources, and those resources will be more flexible
• Find it easier to find and use evidence-based professional learning and tools
• Be able to access specialist teachers and other experts
• Experience more celebration and sharing of what schools are doing well
• Be supported by facilities that are progressively designed and built to cater better to all students needs