The ACT Audit Office conducts performance audits to ensure public resources are managed well, identify opportunities for improvement, and promote better practices. The audit of supports for students with disability considered the ACT Education Directorate’s practices to provide reasonable adjustments for students with disability in public schools.

The audit office engaged AHA to provide advice about performance standards and evidence for better practice, and to review findings made by the audit.

We were appointed based on our knowledge and understanding of the assessment of needs and provision of reasonable adjustments for students with disability in Australian public schools; expertise acquired through our work facilitating the Disability Inclusion Profile rollout in Victoria.

This expertise was supplemented by a rapid review of the policy environment both nationally and in the ACT, and the evidence on what supports and adjustments work for students with disability in the Australian context.

We reviewed audit office work papers and draft audit reports to ensure they accurately described the Education Directorate’s policies, procedures, guidelines and documented practices, and their alignment with the Disability Standards for Education 2005 and other relevant performance standards and evidence. We also sought to address any gaps in the identified performance standards.

The final Performance audit report: Supports for students with disability in ACT public schools was tabled in the ACT Legislative Assembly.