Inclusive education
Students with disability in Australia do not get the same chances at school as other students.
Less than half finish Year 12 (ABS, 2022).
Some are kept out of regular classrooms.
Many schools are not ready to support students with disability.
Even though there are good policies, schools don’t always follow them.
There is not enough support to help all schools include students with disability properly.
Reports like the Disability Royal Commission and Australia’s Disability Strategy say this needs to change. But most programs now are small, optional, and only focus on teachers, not the whole school.
There is a big gap. We need better ways to make inclusion part of everything schools do: how they teach, how they lead, and how they treat students.
Systemic change
In 2025/26 we will create a big plan to help high schools include students with disability better.
We will employ a leader to run the project.
We will look at what works in Australia and around the world.
We will make a map to show who is involved in education and where the gaps are.
We will talk to teachers, school leaders, government, and people with disability to design the plan together.
We will work with disability leaders and universities to make sure the plan is strong and useful.
This plan will help schools make inclusion part of everyday teaching, school leadership, and school culture.
It’s not just the right thing to do, it also makes sense for the economy. A report we asked Deloitte to do says that making education more inclusive could save Australia $1.7 billion.