Support to non-state schools

The department is committed to ensuring all Queensland students with disability can access and participate fully in high quality education.

The department, Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ) and the Queensland Catholic Education Commission (QCEC) have a voluntary agreement to cooperate and/or collaborate in activities related to students with disability for the mutual benefit of all sectors.

This agreement is outlined in the Memorandum of Agreement—Special Education Services and Dual Enrolment 2020–2022 (MOA) which provides a number of support services and resources by departmental staff to support non-state schools.

The department has commenced reviewing the models for providing resources to state schools for students with disability (the state schools review) as recommended by the 2017 Queensland Disability Review and committed to in the Every student with disability succeeding plan 2021-2025​.

The department will continue to provide supports and services to non-state schools​ in 2022 as outlined in the MOA.​

Supports and services available to non-state schools to access, for students with hearing, physical and/or vision impairment, include:

• Education Adjustment Program (EAP)—the EAP handbook identifies students who are receiving significant education adjustments. The department processes EAP verification requests for students with a hearing, physical and/or vision impairment.
• Advisory Visiting Teachers (AVT)—are departmental teachers with specialist knowledge and skills in the above disability areas. The main role of the AVT is to support school staff to make reasonable adjustments to support the student's education program so they access, participate and achieve.
• Students with disability equipment loan and trial service—provides a collection of specialised equipment that schools can loan to support students to access and participate at school.
• Vision impairment services—provide expert, advisory and direct services to schools to support the educational achievement of students with vision impairment. Non-state schools can access:
• Alternative Format Library—produces and loans a range of alternative format learning materials to support students with vision impairment to access and participate in their learning. This includes providing learning materials in braille, large print and audio; tactile kits and picture books for literacy; and tactile resources for science, mathematics, music, and humanities and social sciences.
• Education Low Vision Assessment Centre—assists school teams to understand a student's functional use of their vision in educational environments and determine appropriate reasonable adjustments.

Other services, program options and resources available to non-state schools are:

• Dual enrolment program options – in particular circumstances, a student may have a dual enrolment between a non-state school and a Queensland state special school or state primary/secondary school. There are eligibility requirements for these program options.
• Hospital education program service—students enrolled in a state or non-state school may be eligible to attend a hospital education program. School staff and parents/carers can access further information about eligibility requirements by visiting the Queensland Children's Hospital School website.
• Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) on School Students with Disability cross-sector moderation—the department, ISQ and QCEC coordinate the delivery of cross-sector moderation sessions to provide opportunities for staff across Queensland to engage in cross-sector moderation.

For more information about the processes involved in accessing and/or managing these services and resources, refer to the Forms and support materials for non-state schools tab.