Compliance Framework | Program Support Group for students with disabilities

Independent Schools Victoria Compliance Framework

Obligations required under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth.) and Disability Standard for Education 2005 (Vic).

Students with Disabilities

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Do you need to comply?

Yes. Under section 32 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992(DDA), education providers must comply with the Disability Standards for Education 2005. (The Standards) The primary purpose of the Standards is to clarify, and make more explicit, the obligations of education and training service providers under the DDA and the rights of people with disabilities in relation to education and training.

Conditions of compliance

The Disability Standards for Education 2005 set benchmarks for education and training providers with which all Victorian government schools must comply. These benchmarks include the right to comparable access, services and facilities, and the right to participate in education and training unimpeded by discrimination. Education providers have a positive obligation to make changes to reasonably accommodate the needs of a student with disabilities.

The Standards apply to education providers in relation to the provision of their education and training services.

The Standards cover:

enrolment
participation
curriculum development
student support services
the elimination of harassment and victimisation.

The Commonwealth Government provides targeted funding for students with disability in non-government schools through the Literacy, Numeracy and Special Needs Program (LNSLN). Click here to go to the Independent Schools Victoria Students with Disabilities Funding webpage. Seminars to assist with the processes are held at Independent Schools Victoria.

If you have to comply, what do you have to do?

The Standards set out a process whereby education providers can meet their obligations to make reasonable adjustments where necessary to ensure that students with disabilities are able to participate in education and training on the same basis as students without disabilities.

The process includes:

consultation with the student regarding the nature of the disability
consideration of whether an adjustment is necessary
if an adjustment is necessary, identification of a reasonable adjustment
making the reasonable adjustment.

If the provider complies with this process, then they have complied with the Standards, and they cannot be said to have discriminated.

Under the provisions of the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (the DDA), a school should have in place formal processes for consultation with students with disabilities and their families regarding planning for the student's program at the school.

As part of the consultation process, schools should establish and maintain a Program Support Group (PSG). The PSG should consist of:

Chair: Principal or nominee
Parent, guardian or caregiver of the student
Parent advocate (if requested by the parent)
Class teacher (primary) or teacher(s) nominated as having responsibility for the student (post primary)
Special education staff
Student unless it is inappropriate
Others co-opted as needed, e.g. physiotherapy, OT, speech therapist, psychologist

The PSG should adopt the following procedures:

Meetings are scheduled regularly (at least once per term)
Confidentiality is maintained (parental consent should be received before information is shared)
Accurate records should be maintained and made available to all members of the PSG.

What are the consequences if you don't comply?

If a person considers that they have been aggrieved under the DDA, then they may make a complaint to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. The Commission can investigate and attempt to conciliate the complaint.

Where a complaint is unable to be conciliated, it can be terminated by the Commission and proceedings alleging unlawful discrimination can be instituted in the Federal Court of Australia or the Federal Magistrates Court.

Who will help you?

Independent Schools Victoria contact:

Elspeth Adamson
Manager, Student Services
Ph. 03 9825 7204
elspeth.adamson@independentschools.vic.edu.au

Independent Schools Victoria links:

Students with Disabilities Handbook 2012 (PDF)