Australian Government Department of Education
More Support for Students with Disabilities 2012-2014
Evaluation Case Study
Changing the roles of
special education teachers
MSSD Output 9: Modifying lesson plans
New South Wales
Department of Education
and Communities (DEC)
www.phillipskpa.com.au
Changing the roles of special education teachers
Abstract
As part of its systemic reform agenda encapsulated in the Every Student, Every School
initiative, the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities (DEC) has
sought to have a specialist teacher presence in every regular government school across
the State. This has required extensive reorganisation of human resources, as well as
necessitating skills development for staff deployed as Learning and Support Teachers to
ensure that coaching, mentoring and coordination skills are as significant as the specialist
teachers’ skills and knowledge in special education. The resources provided by the More
Support for Students with Disabilities (MSSD) Initiative have been applied by DEC to
achieve this outcome.
Introduction
More Support for Students with Disabilities (MSSD) Output
Output 9: Supporting teachers to develop or modify lesson plans to suit the needs of students
with disabilities.
Case study methodology
The focus of this longitudinal case study is on Learning and Support Teachers in a metropolitan high
school, and a primary school, located in Western Region New South Wales.
Site visits to the two participating schools were completed in mid-November 2012. In each instance,
consultations were held with school principals and members of the learning and support team. An
additional consultation was also held with two regional personnel with responsibility for managing
the professional learning programs and oversight of support structures that have been established
to guide the implementation of the strategy.
A follow-up site visit to each school is planned for March 2014 to assess the impact of the MSSD
Initiative in both settings.
Description of activity
Background
The New South Wales Every Student Every School is an initiative to strengthen the capacity and
expertise of schools and teachers to provide additional support to students with disability. The
framework of the initiative features five key elements: curriculum, teaching and learning, teacher
quality, collaboration and accountability. It is supported by the MSSD initiative.
Key elements and actions
A key element of the New South Wales Every Student Every School initiative is the provision of a
specialist teacher presence as Learning and Support Teachers in every mainstream school to support
students with additional learning and support needs, and to support their classroom teachers. The
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emphasis is on supporting learning through skilling classroom teachers and has required an
extensive reorganisation of roles through a combination of:

reoriented role of former Support Teacher Learning Assistance (STLA) teachers within their
existing school

placement of former itinerant support teachers (behaviour/integration/learning difficulties)
into ongoing positions in individual schools in contrast to former roles working across a
number of schools

redeployment of special education teachers from one setting to another

where positions remain unfilled, the employment of casual teachers with appropriate
skills/qualifications.
Other changes had occurred separate to this including the introduction of open, merit based
recruitment of special education teachers. School principals remain responsible for deciding how
their school’s allocated resources for learning and support are used, with flexible funding for teacher
and/or school learning support officer – teacher aide (SLSO) time.
The Learning and Support Teacher positions have been established for a three year period to provide
surety for planning purposes to schools. Additionally, annually adjusted funding of approximately
$39 million across the State has been allocated to assist schools to respond to changing needs. This
reflects a reorganisation of resources in which funding previously allocated to SLSO positions has not
been continued which has been cause for confusion and rancour in some communities. DEC
provided assurances to the communities that specialist teachers were placed into position
allocations in schools on the basis of their existing permanency and eligibility to teach in specialist
roles.
The rationale for this approach is the acknowledged need to respond more effectively to the
learning and support needs of the full range of students with disability in New South Wales public
schools, and to meet obligations under the Disability Standards for Education 2005. It also aligns
with the overarching policy perspective driving reforms in the New South Wales public school
system under the banner of Local Schools - Local Decisions — being more responsive to the changing
needs of schools. Principals, through their school learning and support teams, will have flexibility for
determining how the school’s resources are used to best meet the learning and support needs of
students in their school.
The approach does not replace the long-standing structures that have been established for students
with a confirmed disability who have moderate, complex or highly specialised targeted support in
mainstream schools. Rather, through deployment of specialised staff, it is expected that they will
support classroom teachers to develop skills to cater for the learning needs of all students in their
class.
Organisational arrangements
Statewide structure
The Learning and Support Teacher positions have been established with a statewide support
structure illustrated in Figure 1. While the policy and resourcing are the domain of the Central
Office, the operational components of implementation are managed at the regional level.
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Critical points of connection within the layers of this structure include:

Principal Education Officers (PEOs)/Senior Education Officers (SEOs) and school principals
regarding the implications of the learning and support framework, staffing arrangements
and the establishment of learning and support teams

regionally based assistant principals play a role in the delivery of professional learning and
support to Learning and Support Teachers – often working in teams of two to combine
expertise across behaviour management and student learning

relationships between Learning and Support Teachers and class teachers and School
Learning and Support Officers (teacher aides) as their work is informed by the principles and
the structures established by the principal and learning and support team.
Figure 1: Structure for implementing a learning and support framework
Policy and resourcing
CENTRAL OFFICE
Principal Education Officer (PEO)
Senior Education Officer (SEO)
REGIONS
Assistant Principals
School Principals
LEARNING AND SUPPORT TEAM
Learning and Support
Teachers
SCHOOLS
Class teachers
School Learning Support Officers
Role development and professional learning
Learning and Support Teachers were in place at the beginning of the second semester in July 2012. A
staged approach to implementation commenced with a statewide meeting of the regionally based
assistant principals who, in turn, conducted meetings (regional or network level) of all teachers
appointed to the role, delivery of professional learning modules and local level planning to adapt
roles to the context of individual schools. The statewide guidelines of the Learning and Support
Teacher role have informed role development at the local level. These guidelines state that Learning
and Support Teachers:

work collaboratively with the classroom teacher to support assessment for learning of their
students with additional educational needs and identify specific learning and support needs

plan, implement, model, monitor and evaluate teaching programs for students with
additional learning and support needs in conjunction with regular classroom teachers

plan, implement, model, monitor and evaluate personalised adjustments for learning, where
required, with the classroom teacher, student and/or parent or carer
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
model exemplary classroom practice when tailoring adjusted learning programs for students
with additional learning needs

provide direct support for students with additional learning and support needs through a
range of strategies (including direct instruction, delivery of adjusted learning programs,
assessment and monitoring of progress) including the areas of social integration, language
and communication, literacy, numeracy and behaviour (this may include students with
confirmed disabilities)

provide professional specialist advice, support and mentoring to classroom teachers on how
best to cater for the diverse learning needs in their classrooms, and how to work effectively
in partnership with families to maximise learning opportunities for students at school and at
home

provide professional specialist advice and assistance about students with additional learning
needs to the school's learning and support team

assist with professional learning for class teachers and school learning support officers
within their school and local network of schools where appropriate.
To implement the role effectively, Learning and Support Teachers require a range of skills, in
particular:

drawing on assessments and testing data at individual, cohort, whole of school and at a
systemic level, to inform decisions and guide planning

understanding students and their education needs with the contributions of the students
themselves, teachers and families, combined with observations and a knowledge base
drawn from contemporary research on learning

building and sustaining relationships with colleagues to facilitate collaboration on pedagogy
and strategies to differentiate planning and delivery and having an armoury of tools,
resources and strategies to draw on as required.
These skill sets are not isolated attributes, they are complementary and combine to focus attention
on student learning as the central concern. While the professional learning program will be critical
to developing some of the required skills over time, the Western Region recognises that limitations
of available staff means that gaps may still be evident in the longer term.
For this reason the Western Region has augmented the role statement for a Learning and Support
Teacher to feature examples of ways in which each of the components of the role may be
implemented although not necessarily by the one person. The region has also developed a tool to
enable principals and learning and support teams to identify how the underlying functions of the
role may be fulfilled where individual Learning and Support Teachers do not have the personal skills
and capabilities to cover the full breadth of the role.
Outputs and outcomes
Consultations with Learning and Support Teachers suggest a sense of undertaking a journey. To
date, the groundwork has been put in place in terms of role development and training but it is too
early for any real momentum to be registered. Teachers in this role are quite conscious that not all
staff are going to be comfortable with a peer assuming an advisory role that may include classroom
observations. Nevertheless, in the short timeframe in which the roles have been operationalised in
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one case study school, teachers and principals are able to cite examples in which Learning and
Support Teachers have:

developed templates to support classroom observation of students, particularly in relation
to their role

completed one-to-one sessions with individual teachers to develop differentiated learning
tasks

developed personal learning plans for a range of students including students returning to
school after suspension, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, students with a
disability and, in the secondary school, all new Year 7 intake students.
In the other case study school, formal role statements are yet to be established as there has been an
investment in time and resources to gradually wind back the former role and determine how the
learning and support role will function in the future. Critically, a changeover of staff is also
impacting on the extent to which the Learning and Support Teacher role has become established,
with the current Learning and Support Teacher transferring into a regionally based assistant principal
position to support a number of Learning and Support Teachers across a network of schools.
The school is ready to implement the learning and support framework, with preparation elements in
place, including:

delivery of Module 1 to all staff over two sessions before the end of the school year

establishment of two data management systems, one a locally developed spreadsheet that
draws on the DEC CENTRAL system to provide staff with relevant information about student
and the other, EduPro an ‘off the shelf’ student profiling system

a meeting schedule for learning support

specific planning to make more effective use of SLSOs (teachers aides) in undertaking a
broad range of para professional functions.
Lessons learned
Key observations
In both case study schools the role of the Learning and Support Teacher has been embraced. It is
envisaged that it will have a positive impact on improving the educational outcomes for students
with disabilities and, through this, lead to overall improvements in school performance. However, it
is also apparent that the schools are ‘feeling their way’ as to how the roles will become embedded in
day-to-day operations.
At a planning and structural level, there is a clear commitment to move away from a deficit model
where previously Support Teacher Learning Assistance (STLA) teachers were assigned responsibility
for remediating students with learning difficulties, disabilities and/or behaviour problems. Figure 2
illustrates the main elements and direction of the transition:
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Figure 2: Role transition – STLA to Learning and Support Teacher model
The transition to a focus on building teacher capability is not necessarily immediate. Learning and
Support Teachers report that some of their colleagues are finding it difficult to come to terms with
the changing role, ‘… you get this sense that they think you are shirking on your responsibilities’.
Moreover, one Learning and Support Teacher acknowledged that the changing role presented a
challenge in terms of letting go of one-to-one interactions with students, and that some staff will be
challenged by the collaborative nature of the role in which team teaching, modelled lessons,
classroom observations and shared planning will become the norm:
Not everyone will be comfortable with this. For some it will be quite threatening and trust
will need to be established. Ultimately, you can only work with those who are willing to
involve you in their classrooms.
The Learning and Support Teachers are not alone in facilitating change. Aside from the structural
support achieved through the leadership of principals and the guidance of the learning and support
team within the school, there are number of other elements to Every Student Every School that will
contribute to the roles becoming embedded in schools:

The professional learning modules developed by DEC Module 1 will raise awareness of the
need for change and teachers’ obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and
Disability Standards for Education 2005 and will be available via an online training program
in 2013.

Additional online training will be provided free of charge by DEC in areas such as dyslexia,
Autism Spectrum Disorder and learning difficulties (drawing on materials sourced from the
United Kingdom).

There is potential for the National Schools Statistical Collection to require teachers to
identify the adjustments that have been made in response to the learning needs of students
in their class.

The potential for collaborative planning and differentiation will be a feature of the
performance management processes in the Teacher Assessment and Review Schedule
(TARS).
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Sustainability
The Learning and Support Teacher model has strong potential for sustainability as a means to effect
change and foster improved outcomes for students in New South Wales government schools. This is
clearly subject to the skill sets being apparent across the three elements: data management,
knowledge of students, and skills in working collaboratively with peers.
Notwithstanding this optimism, some caution is needed in terms of the potential benefits being
undermined by the impact of reform fatigue. The consultations at both sites revealed concerns
about the constant pressure on schools, and teachers specifically, to respond to an ever increasing
agenda of reform.
Under the banner of Every Student – Every School, MSSD Output 9, is only one of a suite of priorities
that require a response. These include the implementation of the national curriculum, the Local
Schools, Local Decisions, Learning Management & Business Reform (LMBR), and the implementation
of the new Resource Allocation Model (RAM). Schools and teachers are under intense pressure to
respond, adjust and implement on a number of fronts that are not necessarily aligned or mutually
supportive.
At the same time, rather than being an imposition on schools, the initiatives listed above are
considered to be enablers from a systemic perspective. They are designed to facilitate and support
school decision-making about student learning and support. Collectively they provide the vehicle
that will enable schools to implement personalised learning and support for students, although
schools may not yet be in a position to see this potential. Ultimately, the reforms are therefore
expected to enhance the capacity of individual schools to achieve personalised learning and support
for students with disabilities.
Potential for adoption in other contexts
Given the requirements of the Disability Standards for Education 2005 that place expectations on all
schools to be responsive to the needs of students with disability by making adjustments to cater for
their specific learning needs, there is obvious potential for a similar coaching and mentoring role to
be adopted or adapted in other contexts. Specialised coaches working in a collaborative spirit with
classroom teachers is a critical strategy to improve the educational outcomes for students with
disabilities.
This case study is part of a longitudinal study and will be updated in 2014.
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