The Department of Education and Training (DET) the has many helpful policies, resources and guidelines in relation to children with disabilities. There is no requirement for staff to read these documents or adhere to them.
In Federal Court cases, the DET renounce their publications, and refer to them as “only guidelines”. Therefore, whilst there are many helpful publications produced by DET, they cannot be relied upon if one is expecting a minimum level of good practice based on those documents.
The DET does not provide schools with directives in relation to suitable or appropriate programs for children with disabilities, and the devolution of powers to Principals allows those individuals to make any decisions they believe are appropriate, regardless of any expertise in specific disabilities.
Departmental attitudes towards evidence-based interventions and best practice are discussed further in other sections of this website.
It is useful to note that the Royal Children’s Hospital Educational Institute is funded by the DET. They also have valuable resources, rarely adhered to, as they also are not required to be read or followed by Department employees.
In general, the Catholic Education Office defer to DET documents, policies and guidelines in the absence of their own.
In 2012, the Independent Schools of Victoria association began producing a ‘Students with Disabilities’ handbook. This concentrates in the main on funding applications rather than support for children with disabilities, however does mention the Disability Standards for Education.