Curriculum Inclusion for ALL :
Real-life stories of inclusion of Queensland students with disability
Stories
Starting strong (Year Prep to Year 2)
Building on foundations (Years 3 - 6)
- Building strong foundations in maths with Eva
- Julie climbs the ladder to assessment success
- Assistive technology opens the door for Lara
On track for success (Years 7 - 9)
Ready for the future (Years 10-12)
Message from the CEO
The Community Resource Unit (CRU) has been working for change in Queensland for the past thirty-five
years. We are committed to working for the full
inclusion of all people who live with disabilities, and we believe that having all children grow up and learn together
is a critical first step to a full and rich life in community.
At this time of change in Queensland, as more people become aware of their right to an inclusive education, we meet parents and teachers who are committed to including students with disability in their local school but struggle to imagine how that actually happens in our classrooms and playgrounds on a day-to-day basis.
This resource has been developed as part of the Families for Inclusive Education project funded by the Queensland Department of Education. It is a collection of local examples of inclusion in teaching and learning and access to the curriculum in practice. These examples highlight the importance of student voice. We hope these will provide both inspiration and examples for those who are keen to learn.
Margaret Rodgers
(CEO - Community Resource Unit)
About this resource
In 2023 CRU’s Families for Inclusive Education project invited families and educators to contribute everyday examples of curriculum inclusion.
These highlight what is possible when students, families and school teams work together in creative and flexible ways so that every student can be included in classroom learning.
This resource is not a technical guide to curriculum inclusion for students with disability.
The aim of this resource is to spark interest, curiosity, a desire to learn more and to raise expectations of what is possible when a focus is placed on genuinely including a child with disability alongside classmates in their year level.
Our hope is this resource will be read and shared by families, educators, and supporters of inclusive education.
We hope it inspires thinking around what is indeed possible, when there is a will to include all to access the curriculum.
How to get started
Navigating the stories
You can move through the stories in many ways.
- You can just scroll through
- You can click on the return to start button at the end of each story
- You can click on the hamburger menu in the top right hand corner to choose a particular page
To get started you can scroll down to start with Darcy’s story.
If you would like to choose a particular year level range or child, return to the main menu and make your choice
Key
This box introduces the story
This box has further information or links to learn
more
This box has information about the process
This box has a quote from the student
This box has a quote from a parent
This box has a quote from the teacher
Darcy aces Prep with AAC
Darcy’s family have collaborated with his class
teacher in Prep to create Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) key vocabulary boards on the topics
he is learning about at school.
Darcy’s mum Chantal shares the many benefits that this
form of communication is having on Darcy’s learning and his interactions with others.
1. Having AAC key vocabulary readily available for Darcy on the
various topics and content he is learning removes the cognitive load
and time of trying to navigate through his AAC app on his iPad to find
what he wants to say.
Screenshots of Proloquo2Go pages customised for this project. Images used with permission.
What is AAC?
Communication devices, systems, strategies or tools that support natural
speech are known as Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
Learn more about AAC – Brief read here
“We have noticed that when Darcy’s whole class use AAC, he is more likely to come home
and show us what he has been learning.”
~ Chantal (Parent)
Screenshots of Proloquo2Go pages customised for this project. Images used with permission.
2. These pages from Darcy’s AAC device
have also been printed and used as communication boards for his whole class.
3. Making sure Darcy has
access to his communication device and ensuring he has the vocabulary he needs has allowed him to participate in Prep alongside his peers.
“Being able to collaborate with Darcy’s teacher to ensure he has the vocabulary he needs has allowed our family to be more engaged in Darcy’s learning and talk about what he is doing.”
~ Chantal
“Having his AAC device and subject specific folders has helped Darcy tell us about his day at school. Darcy being able to come home and ‘teach’ us his school work (just like his brothers did at his age) has been exciting for all of us!”
~Chantal
Screenshots of Proloquo2Go pages customized for this project. Images used with permission.
“Darcy has loved his first year of school and is always so proud when he can share with us what he is learning.”
~ Chantal
Texts are selected based on appropriate year level as described in the
Australian Curriculum
and school context.
Explore the curriculum here
Billings leads the way to his own literacy triumphs
Billings is a Year 2 student. At the start of Year 2, his teaching team and family made a concerted effort to
boost his literacy journey by providing him with choice and meeting his interests. This involved carefully noting his strengths and interests, consulting with Billings and his family and planning between teaching colleagues. A strategy with ‘Student Agency’ at its centre was devised.
This important work has led to great gains in literacy and self-confidence for Billings.
Why is student consultation important and
what should consultation look like for students
with disability?
Under the Disability Standards for Education (DSE) education providers must consult the student or their parent, guardian, carer or associate before making a reasonable adjustment. To learn more about consultation and how teachers can effectively consult with students with disability.
Read 'Consulting Students with Disability - Practice Guide' here
This example highlights how
fostering ‘Student Agency’ can
lead to many positive outcomes
for a student with disability.
Learn more about Student Agency -
Brief read here
“I am so proud to share the success Billings has achieved in his literacy journey thus far. Today, he sees himself as a reader (and sometimes a writer) for the first time.”
~Louise (Teacher)
1. A focus was placed on what
ignites his interest in
reading and writing.
2. In all activities, staff began by engaging Billings as a true partner
in his own learning, respecting
his point of view and taking
his opinions and interests into
account.
Teaching staff regularly consulted BIllings and his mother, Laura, to ensure strategies and topics were best suited to and aligned with his strengths and interests.
3. A ‘Low-Demand’ (see below resource box) approach works best for Billings. He is more likely to engage when the teacher uses
non-verbal (action only) prompts.
A successful non-verbal prompt prior
to undertaking a reading task with Billings
has been to have reading books that are at his independent reading level out and ready prior to starting a reading session.
Examples of Billings’ work
4. Providing Billings with a clear visual outline of what will happen first and next, and then working in agreement with him on the lesson steps has led to successful engagement in writing sessions.
“Manual handwriting is a labour-intensive task.Typing often eliminates the potential barriers to creativity.
Learning typing skills is a new goal, as this will assist Billings in the middle and later primary years in being able to independently create texts without handwriting.
Learning to type will open up doors for more communication opportunities for Billings.”
“As a teacher, I have seen time and time again that if you can read and write, the doorway to communicating and exploring the world opens, with endless opportunities. This is what I want and hope for Billings to experience.”
~ Louise
5. Allowing Billings to select his preferred writing tool has been very successful. Sometimes the teacher writes what Billings tells them to write (scribes), at other times he happily uses a program called, ‘Clicker’ (which allows Billings to move and visually interact with words, one at a time).
At all times a pencil is kept visually available.
This is because sometimes, without thinking, Billings will pick up the pencil automatically and record his ideas by writing a sentence or two.
6. Generating text responses from Billings was more successful when topics centred on his special interests.
Topics were also shifted as needed to generate enthusiasm when it seemed waning.
These strategies led to Billings being far more engaged in the literacy curriculum.
7. After engaging in a range of texts that showed different sentence structures and descriptive vocabulary, Billings increased his use of particular vocabulary, and varied his sentence structures while creating texts.
8. Billings began verbalising his thoughts as he was reading, asking questions and showing he was entertained. With daily practice came rapid growth in his decoding and comprehension.
9. Being open to books, instead of his prior resistance, means that Billings is now interested in ‘browsing’ the school library. He now often expresses a preference for particular authors and texts.
10. Once the routine of reading daily and creating texts became a habit, Billings let go of his resistance and started to make connections, particularly with reading. Dare we say, he began to fall in love with and to seek out books!
11. This new enthusiasm for literacy is going to return rewards to him many times over. Hopefully, he will trust his ability to try new things at school, gain confidence in his literacy abilities, and explore new topics of interest.
“When Billings recently left to go on holidays, he
packed his new copy of a book by author, Dave Pilkey. His mother reported that he enjoyed reading this book with his family and that he was a bookworm all holidays!”
~ Louise
Improved literacy skills have boosted Billings’ engagement and learning across subject areas. For example, in Prep and Year 1 Billings was reluctant to take part in reading or writing activities across all subject areas, even subjects he loved such as mathematics and science. Now Billings is more at
ease with reading and writing activities across all subject areas.
What is a 'Low Demand' approach?
The teaching team followed a 'Low Demand' approach. The aim of the low demand approach is to minimise a child’s anxiety and stress by reducing the demands and expectations that are placed upon them.
Brief read here.
An interview between Billings and his Year 2 Teacher about his growth in reading this year…
Teacher: Can you remember at the beginning of the year, you didn’t like reading and now you do? What’s changed?
Billings: Everything has changed, just for me.
Teacher: What type of books do you enjoy reading at school and with your family?
Billings: Captain Underpants and Dogman. Each was written by the same author, Dave Pilkey.
Teacher: Do you like picking your own books?
Billings: Yup.
Teacher: Where is your favourite place to read?
Billings: At home.
Building strong foundations in Maths with Eva
Eva is in Year 3. This year her school team and parents have worked collaboratively to ensure Eva’s success in mathematics.
Eva’s school team and parents have found that through applying a differentiated approach to teaching and learning Eva was able to make great gains in mathematics learning alongside her peers.
“We have noticed that Eva engages and enjoys learning most when provided with hands-on and play-based activities.
We have ensured that her learning in mathematics this year has incorporated many elements of visual and tactile learning.”
~ Teacher (Katie)
What is Differentiation?
Differentiation enables teachers to cater for the diverse range of learners in a classroom and enable all students to learn and achieve with success.
Differentiation involves the teacher using teaching, learning and assessment strategies that are flexible, are engaging and provide an appropriate level of challenge.
Teachers are ‘differentiating’ when they:
Align learning with student’s interest and allow student choice.
i.e. choice to work independently, in a pair or within a small group.
Represent core learning in a variety of ways.
i.e. listening to the teacher, reading a text with a peer, watching a video.
Enable students to demonstrate their learning in a way that best suits them. i.e. using concrete materials, creating a digital presentation, writing a report, performing a role-play.
Find more examples of differentiation across subject areas here
Differentiation and Assessment
The flexibility of the Australian Curriculum is responsive to the diversity of learners as it allows for students to express their knowledge and understanding in a variety of ways.
In a classroom this may often mean that not all students are completing the same assessment in the same way.
For example, students may have the choice of sharing their knowledge verbally with a teacher, using concrete materials, recording their answers on paper, making a video, providing a voice recording... the options are endless!
Watch video here
Task overview
1. When planning for Eva’s inclusion in mathematics her teacher considered carefully how best to engage Eva in classroom learning.
Observing and noting Eva’s interests and consulting Eva and her parents was key to understanding what interested and sparked joy and focus for Eva.
2. Recognising Eva’s preference for hands-on learning she was supported by teaching staff to build prisms using magnetic shapes.
3. Eva quickly learned how to construct, recognise and name 3D shapes.
4. Eva then began to find and recognize these 3-D shapes in books and when playing with toys.
5. When Eva was feeling more confident, she enjoyed sharing her new knowledge with the teacher, which made it easy for the teacher to monitor her progress and provide additional encouragement.
6. Eva worked with her peers to construct scenarios such as farms using shapes.
This helped immensely with consolidating Eva’s mathematical knowledge and in building her confidence and sense of belonging.
“We have seen how much Eva has progressed in mathematics this year. We are seeing her start to use this content in real life. For example, she will spontaneously in the shops pick up 2 lemons and say ‘1 plus 1 is 2’ - or look at a clock and take a guess at the time ‘it’s 12 o’clock!’ ”
~ Britt (Parent)
“We see Eva’s eagerness just to go with them (her classmates) and want to leave us behind. We are seeing inclusion in real life happening!”
~Britt
Explore tips for talking with your child’s teacher about classroom learning and assessment.
Brief read here
Julie climbs the ladder to assessment success!
Julie’s parents expressed their concerns to their Year 3 daughter’s teacher about Julie’s unwillingness to attend school in the lead
up to assessments.
Julie, her teacher and family share here how scaffolding
of tasks in the lead up to a Humanities and Social
Sciences (HASS) assessment helped to reduce the cognitive
load, ease Julie’s internal pressure and bring about enjoyment and success in the assessment process.
Julie is a student
who experiences confidence and success when supported to initiate a task and when provided with information in an
accessible format.
For example, use of key
words, brief concise phrases or a few lines of text on activity sheets with one or two corresponding images.
“When Julie is
provided
with a scaffold she engages with greater ease and knows
where to start.”
~ Ann (Teacher)
1. Scaffolding of work tasks and projects (breaking large pieces of information into smaller parts) helped Julie to experience success and to feel that the work required was manageable.
2. Providing Julie with options on the way she could express her knowledge and understanding of content learnt in class was key to Julie accessing and being assessed at her year level alongside her Year 3 peers.
3. Julie was provided with questions that she
could easily comprehend but were relatable to the
standard Year 3 assessment questions.
Images from Julie’s completed
poster
“Julie feels ‘cognitively and intellectually’ safe because the task and the supports
provided meet her needs. She also has enough challenge (and autonomy) to take risks
and push herself.”
~ Sue (Julie’s Parent)
4. The support of a scribe (adult who would write Julie’s words as she spoke them) during writing tasks enabled Julie to share her thoughts in full.
5. When completing this assessment Julie benefited from having an adult sit alongside her, explaining one question at a time, repeating the answers she gave and allowing Julie to record the answers herself.
6. At times when Julie became fatigued, the adult would write down Julie’s words for her (scribe). Explaining and scribing are adjustments that can be provided to any student who needs it.
Reasonable Adjustments
For this assessment piece Julie chose to create a poster which detailed her learning about First Nations Australians.
Julie’s teacher applied several adjustments to the assessment task which removed potential barriers to success for Julie.
Adjustments are actions or modifications. They enable students to access content and achieve valued outcomes.
What is a ‘Scribe’?
In a school setting a ‘Scribe’ is an adult who writes for a student. It is important that a student’s scribe ‘takes dictation’ / writes exactly what the student speaks. A scribe should not paraphrase a student’s responses.
A scribe may also support a student by assisting them to stay on task, provide general encouragement (without indicating if a student is correct or incorrect) and may ask general questions to support a student with clarifying their ideas.
To learn more about scribes - Brief read here
To learn more about scribing and other ways to support students who experience writing challenges - Listen here
“Julie is very good
at remembering information that
she has engaged with.”
~ Ann
Adjustments applied for this assessment
task included:
- Choice in assessment type
- Reducing text on activity sheets
- Use of child friendly language
- Highlighting key words on task sheets
- Use of a graphic organiser
- Breaking tasks into smaller, achievable parts
- Keeping verbal instructions concise and brief
- Providing an adult scribe
- Having a support person near during focused work times
“Being a task that was
completed over time, requiring
patience and vision, it also means that
Julie knows she can ‘do hard things’.
The joy of Julie being able to share her work
with her parents and relate to them the success
she feels, is also an important part of the process”
“The success that Julie feels
when she is able to complete a
task alongside her peers with slight
modifications and adjustments, is tenfold.
With every success, comes a new neural pathway that ‘she can do it’.”
“We want Julie to remember with each task, that she is capable and with the right support,
she can do anything that her peers can do. This is so important when we want children to
engage in their education process.
Positive achievements mean children come to understand their capabilities and value as learners.”
“Julie’s processes and outcomes were assessed against the Year 3 standard.”
~Ann
“At home Julie would tell us about how excited she was to work on her poster because ‘My teacher understands what I need and I can ask for help.’ (her words).”
“Julie has often expressed feeling scared or
afraid of ‘assessments’. Usually around assessment time
we see a drop in her willingness to attend school.
Not only did Julie continue to attend school willingly while this assessment was happening, she went with excitement.”
~ Sue
7. Julie’s engagement in this assessment was boosted when she was provided with the
opportunity to select pictures for her poster independently and to decorate
her poster how she pleased. This sense of autonomy
was important for Julie’s self-esteem and confidence.
Julie completes her poster
What is ‘Scaffolding’?
“Instructional scaffolding is a process through which a teacher adds supports for students in order to enhance learning and aid in the mastery of tasks. The teacher does
this by systematically building on students’ experiences and knowledge as they are learning new skills. These supports are temporary and adjustable.
As students master the assigned tasks, the supports are gradually removed.”
~ Iris Centre, Vanderbilt University.
Learn more about scaffolding - Brief read
Opening the door to writing for Lara
Narrative writing provides a way for students to express their creativity and develop essential writing skills.
Writing is a complex skill however, there are many ways that writing
can be supported.
In this example of curriculum inclusion, Lara, a student in Year 4, her teacher and parent share a writing process which involved the use of a variety of scaffolds and assistive technology. In following this process, a number of barriers were removed enabling Lara to share her creative thoughts and experience writing success.
“Lara’s success with this writing task was helped by the
structure, steps to follow and feedback and by the support and encouragement from teacher at the different stages.”
~ Nicole
Lara’s Writing Goals:
Write a short imaginative text which…
- Follows a logical sequence including an orientation, complication and resolution
- Features simple sentences and some compound sentences
- Features use of simple punctuation
- Uses appropriate tense
- Has been re-read and edited
Writing can take many forms…
In the English glossary of the Australian Curriculum the term ‘Write’ is defined in a way that is inclusive of the many different ways students can write.
This means when an aspect of a curriculum achievement standard requires a student to ‘write’ they can demonstrate this by using a scribe (for verbal or signed response), a braille device, a sequence of drawings (such as a photo story), eye-gaze technology and software, handwriting or by speech-to-text technology or by typing (including spell check and word prediction).
View this information from the Australian Curriculum V9 here
Lara is a creative thinker, and she has many ideas.
To assist Lara with recording her ideas in a logical
manner, the following scaffolding steps were
provided:
Image credit: Top Teacher Resources
1..Lara was provided
with a variety of ‘where’, ‘who’ and ‘what’ images to choose from. These images enabled Lara to select key elements for her story.
2. Lara was then provided with a graphic organiser. This enabled Lara to make a logical writing plan.
Image credit: Top Teacher Resources
“When responding through writing, it can be difficult for Lara to process her thoughts and record these at the same time.”
~ Rachel (Teacher)
“She loves to think of creative stories and enjoys writing, though tires easily and comes home exhausted “from lots of writing all day!” She enjoys talking about her stories.”
~ Nicole (Parent)
Image credit: Top Teacher Resources
‘Understanding my son’s dysgraphia helped me advocate for him’
This article shares a parent’s journey to understanding the many benefits of assistive technology for their child.
Brief read here
First attempt using writing scaffolds
3. Lara utilised speech-to-text on the iPad. This enabled Lara to record her creative ideas with ease and to edit along the way.
4. Lara then copied from her spoken text to create a written product. This made her feel more like her peers. Lara then typed her story.
Text created using speech-to-text
“Lara was able to master recording and editing quite quickly and developed confidence throughout the process.”
~Rachel
“She was very excited about the opportunity to type her story once she had completed the necessary steps, which further motivated her to complete the task.”
~ Nicole
“It helped me to get my ideas down. It was fun to speak into the iPad. It helped me because when I write, my hands get sore. It’s also hard for me to think and write too.”
~ Lara (student)
This assistive technology process enabled Lara to demonstrate that she can:
- Create a short imaginative text
- Create a sequenced text with an orientation, complication and resolution
- Use appropriate simple sentences
- Re-read and edit her writing
“I was happy it was done. I was proud
of myself because I stayed on track
and I was focused. I wanted to
get it done.”
~ Lara (Student)
Ways to support the writing process
Visual supports: Visuals can support brainstorming and sequencing ideas for writing (see ‘build-a-story’ image p. 19).
Voice recording: Recording thoughts by ‘speaking’ them into a device can support creative thinking and allow students to ‘play back’ and listen to their writing ideas throughout the writing process.
Graphic Organisers: Graphic organisers provide structure and enable students to make logical writing plans and to develop detail for writing tasks (see ‘story planner’ image p. 19).
Speech-to-Text: Students ‘speak’ the sentences they wish to ‘write’ into a device (which has speech-to-text enabled) and the device types their sentences for them (See ‘Stolen Jules’ example above).
“This assistive technology process
became a staple in our class tasks/assessments toolkit after
evidence highlighted its success.
The wonderful opportunity that arose after was that these students who had accessed assistive technology were able to then teach and model these processes to their peers who needed it in other tasks/assessments (e.g. a boy who had broken his arm.)
~ Rachel
Teamwork builds a bridge for Will
Will is a Year 8 student whose communication is assisted by
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Will’s family and teachers have found that AAC is providing him an important bridge into year level learning at high school.
Here, Will’s teachers and family detail how following a collaborative planning process and effective use of AAC ensured his inclusion and success in his Year 8 novel study.
1. Prior and during this unit of work Will’s two English co-teachers, his mum and the school-based Speech-Language Pathologist worked collaboratively. This ensured that his strengths and interests were incorporated into this unit of work.
Screenshots of Proloquo2Go pages customised for this project.
Images used with permission.
“We (co-teachers) met on a weekly basis to plan for the alignment
of content and skills needed for Will’s success.”
~Lisa and Regan (Teachers)
What is AAC?
Communication devices, systems, strategies or tools that support
natural speech are known as Augmentative and Alternative
Communication (AAC)
Learn more about AAC – Brief read here
Example pages from the Year 8 novel resource booklet created by Will’s school team.
2. A resource was created to assist with vocabulary building,
character and plot
comprehension based on the
Year 8 curriculum task.
This resource included visuals and interactive activities which provided Will with multiple and varied opportunities to demonstrate his understanding of character description and plot comprehension.
3. Will’s parent was also very supportive with this content at home, playing the audio book and allowing the student to fully immerse himself in the story which reinforced the content and vocabulary both at home and at school.
“Will was able to demonstrate his understanding in an authentic and effective way.”
~ Teacher
Will and I read his Year 8 novel together at home using a combined audio e-book. Will showed great interest in the
story and we would use his
Year 8 novel AAC vocabulary
page on his iPad to chat about
the events in each chapter.
~ Christine (parent)
“This was Will’s first novel study. Initially I was nervous about whether he would engage in the unit. However, he exceeded all expectations.
I had a joy filled cry when I spotted Will curled up with his device one evening. He had navigated through a streaming service independently and had found the movie based on his Year 8 novel. He was engrossed and watching it intently.”
~ Christine
Learn more about ‘collaborative planning in inclusive classrooms’
Brief read here
“This peer collaboration with Will supported by his communication system worked very well as it engaged the students and provided the whole group with the tools and language to understand characterisation in the story.
This highlighted the importance of ongoing peer connection in all of the students’ learning.”
~ Lisa & Regan
Find out more about the importance of fostering peer connections.
Brief read here
“The benefits to Will and his peers of the use of his AAC and the collaborative planning for and during this unit were highlighted when his teachers emailed home some photos of Will discussing the death of one of the main characters together. His peers searched through his AAC system to find the words to explain what had happened.”
~ Christine
“Will’s use of AAC in this unit of work lead to his peers also further developing their skills in using assistive technology to communicate a variety of ideas.
This fostered a positive learning and working environment where the students felt empowered to communicate with each other, in more meaningful ways.”
~ Lisa & Regan
4. Will chose peers that he was comfortable working with to discuss these activities with him using his AAC program.
This fostered an environment of collaboration and inclusion in the whole class context.
Scaffolding Sam’s passion for music
We have explored how scaffolding techniques can be helpful for younger students. Scaffolding is also a useful technique for secondary school students.
In this example we look at ways scaffolding has ensured the inclusion and success of Year 10 students in Music.
Task:
Analyse and evaluate how the First Movement of Vivaldi’s Programmatic piece, ‘Winter’ has manipulated the Elements of Music to create the imagery of the sonnet ‘Winter’.
Steps to complete this task:
- Explore Vivaldi’s violin concert, ‘Four Seasons’.
- Watch the documentary video ‘Winter’.
- Discuss and explore the music concepts in the documentary video to complete the supporting student workbook.
- Use the Analyse and Evaluate table (Fig. a - see below) to:
- Identify and describe how Vivaldi has used Music Elements and Compositional Devices.
- Examine connections between the Music Elements to the Winter Sonnet to find meaning and ways they create imagery of the Winter sonnet.
- Judge the strengths and limitations of the piece.
- Justify a viewpoint relating to the effectiveness.
- Use the scaffold to:
- Plan and write your extended response
- Apply written literacy skills using music terminology.
Conditions
- Analyse and Evaluate Table: Dot points (Fig. a - see below)
- Extended response (500-700 words) (Fig. b - link to PDF here)
1..As a whole the class pulled apart (deconstructed) the piece of music using the Analyse and Evaluate table (Fig. a).
3..Students were supported by staff and the Analysis table (Fig. a) to find three examples in music that create the imagery of a sonnet.
2.. As there are numerous sections to the piece the teacher modelled through a mix of focussed and guided instruction to independent deconstruction.
Fig. a: Analyse and Evaluate Table
Link to full PDF here
4..The students then wrote about the three examples on their response sheet (Fig. b - link to PDF here)
5..This process focused less on
essay structure and more on finding the answers from the
table the class completed together (Fig a).
6..Staff supported
students at different levels.
Some students needed a scribe (an adult to write the student’s words),
some only required help to stay on task and some needed clarification
of each question while moving through the task.
7..All of the pre-work was done together as a class. Students weren’t separated. The teacher aide moved around the classroom supporting and working with students as required.
“I found this task really engaging.”
~ Sam (student)
“When the task is
broken down into
smaller chunks,
students tend
to feel like it is something
they can accomplish rather
than give up at the size of the task.”
~ Keryn (teacher)
“Since commencing Year 10 music our son has developed a keen interest in music and has taken up guitar lessons outside of school.
He now talks about music often, is interested in composing music and talks about this as a profession. We are really happy with how much he is enjoying this subject at school.”
~ Cara (Parent)
“Typically an essay is expected for this unit of work. However, the responses the students with writing difficulties provided on their response sheet
sufficiently met the criteria for this assessment.”
(Fig. b - link to PDF here )
Assessment Criteria
The folio of student work contains evidence of the following:
• Analysis of ways composers and/or performers use the elements of music and
compositional devices to engage audiences.
• Evaluation of how music and/or performances in a range of styles and or cultures,
times, places and /or contexts communicate ideas, perspectives and/or meaning.
Supports and scaffolds provided throughout this unit of work which assisted in removing barriers for students with writing difficulties included:
- Class working together to complete a table (Fig. a).
- Encouraging students to refer to pre-completed table (Fig. a) to find examples.
- Providing a response sheet with guiding questions (Fig. b - link to PDF here).
- Ensuring individualised support was provided by teacher and teacher aide where necessary (scribing, providing clarification, keeping students on task).
- Permitting students to express learning in short answer format (Fig. b - link to PDF here).
Where to next?
Want to learn more about quality curriculum inclusion for students
with disability in inclusive classrooms?
CRU’s ‘Classroom Learning’ webpage
includes a collection of articles, videos and links to webpages
on the topics of inclusive teaching practices, adjustments,
assistive technology, curriculum and policy.
Link to page here
The Australian Curriculum has the flexibility to be inclusive of all students. The examples provided in this resource demonstrate how careful, collaborative and student-centred planning, guided by the Australian Curriculum, leads to quality teaching and learning for all students.
Want to learn more about how the Australian Curriculum meets the needs of students with disability?
Read more here
Thank you
Thank you to the students, their families and teachers who
generously shared their experiences of inclusion in
teaching and learning and reasonable adjustments to support this.
Such contributions help others to
imagine possibilities,
set new boundaries,
and improve the inclusion of students with disability.
*Please note that some names in the stories shared in this booklet have been changed.
