Support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice

Level of adjustment descriptor

Students with disability are supported through active monitoring and adjustments that are not greater than those used to meet the needs of diverse learners. These adjustments are provided through usual school processes, without drawing on additional resources, and by meeting proficient-level Teaching Standards (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership).

Adjustments are made infrequently as occasional action, or frequently as low level action such as monitoring. These adjustments may include:

• explicit, minor adjustments, including targeted or differentiated teaching, assessments or activities
• specific and relevant teaching strategies to support targeted areas of communication
• active monitoring and supervision, meeting health, personal care and safety requirements through usual school processes
• enabling access to learning through usual school processes (eg through a differentiated approach to teaching and learning) and existing facilities (eg existing modifications to buildings and learning environments).

Students with a medical condition whose learning and support needs are met through usual processes (eg whole-school professional learning) and active monitoring by school staff are included in this category. These students may have a plan in place to support monitoring of their condition. Their identified needs would be subject to close monitoring and review.

Typical adjustment

Quality differentiated teaching practice caters to the needs of a diverse student population. Students at this level do not require the adjustments that are captured in the other three levels. 

Adjustments at this level generally:

• are explicit, albeit minor, adjustments to teaching and school practice that enable students with disability to access learning on the same basis as their peers
• have been made in a school as part of developing or maintaining a culture of inclusion.

Specific examples of adjustments at this level could include:

• adjustments to teaching and learning, such as:
  • a differentiated approach to curriculum delivery and assessment that anticipates and responds to students’ learning differences
  • personalised learning that is implemented without drawing on additional resources
• adjustments to enable access to learning, such as:
  • whole-school professional learning for the management of medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes or anaphylaxis that require active monitoring. This forms part of a school’s general, ongoing practice to equip teachers and education staff with the skills and knowledge to support students’ health needs
  • building modifications that already exist in the school and cater for a student’s physical disability where no additional action is required to support the student’s learning.

Student characteristics

Through support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, a student is able to participate in courses and programs at the school and use the facilities and services available to all students, on the same basis as students without a disability. 

Examples might include:

• students with medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and anaphylaxis, that have a functional impact on their schooling, but whose disability-related needs are being addressed through quality differentiated teaching practice and active monitoring
• a student with a mental health condition who has strategies in place to manage the condition in consultation with medical professionals, that can be provided within quality differentiated teaching practice
• a student with a medical condition or a mental health condition that has a functional impact on their schooling and requires ongoing monitoring but who does not require a higher level of support or adjustment during the period they are being considered for the data collection
• a student who has been provided with a higher level of adjustment in the past or may require a higher level of adjustment in their future schooling.