Australia Association for Research in Education
students with disability
Disability: Let’s adjust learning design now for everyone
Bob Dylan’s classic Subterranean Homesick Blues goes: “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Anyone teaching or working in higher education knows the number of students with disabilities is growing. The number and proportion of students disclosing disability has grown every year since data was first reported nationally in 1996. …
Special schools: should they be phased out?
Even before the release of the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation …
What I learned from my first year of teaching
“Ring the bells that can still ring, Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in …
Differentiation is in our schools to stay. What is it? And why are most criticisms of it just plain wrong?
The use of a teaching practice known as ‘differentiation’ has become more common over time as educators have sought to respond to increases in the diversity of students enrolling in their local school. The term is now used widely by Australian teachers and school leaders, as well as policy makers. For example, according to the …
Students with disability have a right to inclusive education: Reviewing the Melbourne Declaration
Students with disability were not identified as an explicit priority within the Melbourne Declaration, a statement that was agreed back in 2008 by all Education Ministers in Australia. It stated that the main goal for education in Australia should be equity and excellence for all young Australians and outlined a commitment to action. Now the …
Ask a child ‘what works’. How classroom teachers can consult children with communication difficulties
In Australia children with disabilities have the right to be consulted about what can be done to help them participate fully in school life. The Australian Disability Standards for Education specifically directs teachers to “consult the student” about what adjustments they could reasonably make within their classrooms to help students with disabilities “participate in education …