Evaluation of Disability Inclusion

This 3.5 year DET-funded evaluation is being conducted to investigate the perspectives and experiences of students with disability, their parents/carers, as well as the teaching and administrative staff involved in the planning, implementing and oversight of providing reasonable adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education. The project is being conducted against the backdrop of a new policy and funding initiative in Victorian state schools which moves away from a historically medicalised model of funding and support, and towards a needs-based model in line with current federal legislation and accountability measures. The new Victorian funding model, titled Disability Inclusion, will be rolled out progressively over the next five years across regions in Victorian schools. Working in partnership with Deloitte, the Monash team will conduct research in schools to understand how key stakeholders perceive the policy as supporting whole-school inclusive practices, and models of support. To meet its purpose, the evaluation will have two streams: (1) An implementation evaluation stream which will assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the model, including implementation processes and outcomes, and (2) An outcome evaluation stream which will assess short and medium-term outcomes of the model. Monash University researchers will work with Deloitte in developing instruments for collecting data from key stakeholders, as well as collecting and analysing the data and reporting the findings.