Supporting tertiary students with disabilities: individualised and institution-level approaches in practice

This research explores the complex factors affecting the implementation of learning supports for students with disabilities or ongoing health conditions. It focuses on two types of learning support: individualised reasonable adjustments; and institution-level learning supports, the latter being available to all students.

These supports can play an important role in improving outcomes for students with disabilities or ongoing health conditions in terms of their engagement with, and completion of, tertiary education.

Key messages

• A range of reasonable adjustments were identified in the research, including changing assessment formats to suit the student’s needs, for example, oral instead of written presentation; the availability of note takers in class; and extended time for students to complete exams. This reflects the diversity of the student population, as well as the various learning environments for which the adjustments are intended. Students also identified a number of reasonable adjustments (for example, extended time to complete assignments) that are typically available as institution-level supports for all students. 
• A student’s access to reasonable adjustment supports often depends on them disclosing their illness or disability. This is problematic, as many students are concerned about the risks to their reputation which may accompany disclosure. As a consequence, this research highlights the benefits of improving institution-level supports to produce inclusive learning environments, since these do not necessitate disclosure.
• Students and disability services staff judge the effectiveness of learning supports differently. Students focus on the impact that supports have on their ability to cope; their motivation to succeed; and their enjoyment of studying. On the other hand, disability services staff emphasised students completing courses or postponing study until better prepared.
• Best practice for the provision of learning supports involves: strengthening teacher knowledge about the ways by which to adapt tasks and spaces to support individual students; recognising and respecting differences in student needs; and establishing inclusive curriculum design and practice across the educational institution.

Dr Craig Fowler
Managing Director, NCVER

Experiencing disability or ongoing ill health can significantly disrupt the educational attainment and employment prospects of young people completing school or beginning careers, potentially creating lifelong social and economic disadvantage (Catroppa et al. 2008; Mealings, Douglas & Olver 2012; Polidano & Mavromaras 2010; Waghorn et al. 2011). While international and Australian evidence suggests that the number of students in post-secondary education with disabilities is growing (Barlow et al. 2007; Brett, Norton & James 2012; Griffin & Beddie 2011), their course-completion rates tend to be poorer than for other students (Cavallaro et al. 2005; Karmel & Nguyen 2008). Students with disabilities may need additional support to ensure their access and participation on the same basis as other students.

‘Reasonable adjustments’ are a form of individualised support provided by educational institutions for students with disabilities to enable their participation in education on an equal footing with other students, in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act and the Australian Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth of Australia 2005). Although guides to making reasonable adjustments in the teaching and assessment of students with disabilities have been developed (for example, Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Development 2013; Queensland VET Development Centre 2010), less is known about the range of reasonable adjustments being offered to tertiary students with disabilities, how they are implemented in practice, or their impacts on students’ experiences, retention and success in tertiary courses (Griffin & Nechvoglod 2008; Simpson & Ferguson 2014; White 2011).

This report investigates the provision of supports for students with disabilities in tertiary education from the viewpoints of three key stakeholder groups: tertiary students with disabilities or ongoing ill health; specialist disability services staff; and teaching staff with course or curriculum leadership roles. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 current students with disabilities, seven specialist disability services staff and three course leaders in two tertiary education institutions: one vocational education and training (VET) institute and one university. The interviews explored the following topics: the kinds of individualised reasonable adjustments offered to these students and the factors influencing their implementation and perceived usefulness; and the institution-level learning supports considered useful in supporting these students.

This research found that:

• Supporting students with disabilities to participate in tertiary education is complex in practice. The processes involved in supporting these students include identifying, negotiating and implementing learning supports, processes in which multiple people need to be engaged.
• The methods for supporting students with disabilities to participate in tertiary education in practice had more similarities than differences across the two institutions involved in this study.
• Many types of individualised reasonable adjustments were identified, reflecting diversity in the students, as well as in the learning tasks, assessments and learning environments for which the adjustments are intended. 
• At least some adjustments described as useful for students in this study (for example, extended time to complete assignments) are also institution-level learning supports available to all students. Some others (for example, tutorial support, study skills development) are provided specifically by disability services and general learning support services staff.
• Some institution-level learning supports, particularly those involving technologies (for example, smart phones, online tools) and inclusive classroom supports, were identified as useful to students with disabilities. Institution-level learning supports refer to the structures and practices that enable the participation of most students most of the time. These were largely invisible to students with disabilities, disability services staff and course leaders until the supports became in-accessible (for example, online course materials not being consistently available).
• Students and disability services staff define the effectiveness of learning supports in different ways. For students, a better understanding of their own needs, the increased ability to cope, more enjoyment and doing their best in studying were markers of effective learning support. On the other hand, disability services staff emphasised students completing courses or postponing study until better prepared as indicating effective learning support.

Overall, students reported valuing the support received from disability services, as well as the willingness and responsiveness of teaching staff in addressing their learning support needs. Students with less visible disabilities reported that their difficulties and need for reasonable adjustments seemed less well understood. Nevertheless, from the perspectives of students, disability services staff and course leaders, the processes that underpin the use of disability supports are complex to navigate. Several factors contribute to this complexity.

First, student access to disability services is influenced by variability in student awareness of the available learning supports, choice about whether and when to register for disability support, and uncertainty about the registration procedures. This indicates that clear information — and in multiple formats — detailing the available learning supports is crucial to guide students to relevant services, disability disclosure and disability services. Staff awareness of the available supports is also critical.

Second, students, disability services staff and teaching staff all have involvement in the processes of identifying learning support needs, developing learning support plans, and negotiating how reasonable adjustments are implemented. Yet, with multiple people involved, the extent of collaboration in these processes was seen as variable and not consistently or easily negotiated:

• Students would prefer to determine the extent of their own involvement in the processes of identifying, negotiating and implementing learning supports, instead of routinely being expected to negotiate learning support plans and adjustments with disability services, course leaders and teaching staff. Students reported that without this involvement the identified learning supports were not always relevant or useful.
• Disability services staff described supporting students both directly and indirectly and using varied approaches that emphasised monitoring, encouraging, empowering, requiring students’ self-management, or complying with institutional requirements. Disability services staff indicated that they often relied on each other for informal skills development, given the diverse range of student needs requiring support. While disability services staff described expending considerable time on providing information for teaching staff, they did so with a sense of limited power in negotiating how learning supports are actually implemented in practice.
• Course leaders clearly articulated valuing inclusive educational practices; they also indicated that the identification and implementation of support for students with disabilities was compromised by the high workload of teaching staff and their administrative responsibilities. From their perspective, these factors potentially undermined the effective communication and relationships with individual students and disability services that were necessary to implement appropriate support.

The viewpoints of students, disability support staff and teaching staff highlight the need for a greater emphasis on collaboration among the parties involved — with the student at the centre — in order to provide relevant and effective learning supports for individual students. Greater collaboration could also serve to identify where institution-level learning supports are most useful to students with disabilities, as well as the ways by which specialist disability services may be more seamlessly linked with institution-wide learning supports.

While based on a relatively small case study, this report identifies good practice examples of the ways by which the provision of individualised reasonable adjustments may be enhanced and highlights the institution-level learning supports that could be expanded to foster learning environments that are inclusive of students with disabilities in tertiary education.