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Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for Students with Disabilities

The P-12 Curriculum Framework, released in 2008, outlines all curriculum requirements from Prep to Year 12 in Queensland State Schools. The P-12 Curriculum Framework Policy (new window) 383k is supported by guidelines including Curriculum Guidelines for students with disabilities. These guidelines assist schools to incorporate the needs of students with disabilities within whole-school and class planning approaches.

The Disability Standards for Education 2005 require all educational institutions to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities (see definition - Disability Discrimination Act 1992 ). Queensland's P-12 Curriculum Framework requires teachers to plan for the specific learning needs of all students, including students with disabilities, and to document educational adjustments for students who are identified as having significant educational support needs. These adjustments are documented within curriculum and unit plans, and in individualised student plans if appropriate, as determined by schools' planning processes. Individual planning for students with disabilities is mentioned in Attachment 1 Plans for Students with Disabilities of the Curriculum Guidelines for students with Disabilities.

In Queensland, Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are not mandatory for students in Years 1 - 12 (or age equivalent). An IEP is required only for children with disabilities who receive an individualised Early Childhood Development program or service (see SMS-PR-015: Early Childhood Development Programs and Services for Children with Disabilities - Prior to Prep). In this case, the IEP is developed collaboratively with parents/carers on a six monthly basis, to meet the child's individual needs and identify priority goals, implementation strategies and assessments.

The IEP process remains a valuable means of collaboratively planning for the educational needs of students. It brings together parents/carers, educators, specialist support staff and the student (where appropriate) as a team to consider the student's current level of performance and to determine the student's educational needs and future learning priorities. Many schools continue to use the IEP process. The stages of the IEP process provide valuable opportunity for ongoing collaborative planning and developing shared understanding within the team.

The Department of Education and Training's OneSchool application provides the functionality to document adjustments within both curriculum planning and individual student planning, and also to report on students whose educational program includes KLAs at a juncture that differs from their same age cohort. Schools can enter IEP information including goals, strategies and resources into OneSchool as Support Provisions within the Specific Educational Requirements area. Each Support Provision can be previewed and printed as an Individual Student Plan (ISP). Alternatively schools that develop IEPs in their own format can upload these documents to OneSchool as an attached report.

Class teachers keep records of curriculum planning for all students in the class. An IEP is a tool that may be used to document planning for specific individual educational needs arising from a disability. Individual schools and the student's educational support team use professional judgements to determine whether the IEP process would provide an effective planning approach for students with disabilities.

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