Notice information
- Topic
- Diversity in Learning
- Stages
- Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2), Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4), Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6), Stage 4 (Years 7 and 8), Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10), Stage 6 (Years 11 and 12)
Official notice
Nomenclature change – students with disability
In reference to students, NESA is replacing the term ‘students with special education needs’ with ‘students with disability.'
- Effective
- Immediately
- Reference
- NESA 24/19
Who needs to read this?
- Principals
- Curriculum co-ordinators
- Head Teachers (Special Education)
- Special Education Teachers
This change will provide greater clarity and consistency for teachers as they work to support students with disability in accordance with state and national requirements:
- Disability Standards for Education 2005
- Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
- Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on Students with Disability (NCCD).
There is no change to the requirement for teachers to provide adjustments for the range of students with disability, including students with particular health and learning needs. Adjustments are determined based on the functional impact of the disability on the student’s learning, rather than a particular diagnosis of disability.
Advice on the NESA website has been updated to reflect the change in nomenclature. Syllabus documents will be updated progressively.
Programs, interventions and support continue to be referenced as ‘special education’.
Schools can make their own decisions about language used in school policies, procedures and programs. As these are reviewed, schools may wish to consider adopting the term ‘students with disability’ if this is not in use already.
Further advice to guide teachers in supporting students with disability is available:
For more information email curriculum@nesa.nsw.edu.au.