NT-IA
Inclusion Support Program
The Inclusion Support Program (ISP) is a key component of the Government’s Child Care Safety Net, which provides support for eligible mainstream Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services to build their capacity and capability to include children with additional needs, alongside their typically developing peers.
This program ensures all children have genuine opportunities to access, participate and achieve positive learning outcomes as per the Approved Learning Frameworks (Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and My Time, Our Place - Framework for School Age Care in Australia). The program also assists services to implement a quality, inclusive and equitable practice under the National Quality Framework (NQF) and in accordance with the National Quality Standard (NQS) and Approved Learning Frameworks.
Access free inclusion resources through this link.
Support available through the ISP includes:
Funding
Funding from the Inclusion Development Fund (IDF) to address a barrier to inclusion that cannot be resolved through support from an Inclusion Agency or the Specialist Equipment Library (SEL).
Inclusion Professional Support
Support from one of our inclusion professionals to assist services to build their capacity and capability through the development of a Strategic Inclusion Plan (SIP), which looks at the current capacity and capability of a service through a strengths based approach.
Specialist Equipment
Specialist Equipment to facilitate and support the inclusion of a child or children with additional needs.
Program Objectives
The ISP has two primary objectives:
1
Capacity & Capability
Support mainstream ECCC services to improve their capacity and capability to provide quality inclusive practices, address participation barriers and include children with additional needs alongside their typically developing peers.
2
Access to services
Provide parents and carers of children with additional needs with access to appropriate ECCC services that assist those parents to participate in the workforce.
Children with Additional Needs
As defined by the Inclusion Support Program Guidelines Version 2.5 July 2023: While there is no national definition of ‘additional needs’, there are children who may need or require specific considerations or adaptations to participate fully in ECEC services (although not all children with additional needs will require support).
Additional needs may arise for children who:
have a disability or developmental delay
are presenting with challenging behaviours
have a serious medical or health condition, including mental health
+are presenting with trauma-related behaviours.
Meeting the needs and requirements of:
· Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
· children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
· children from refugee or humanitarian backgrounds
may also require specific considerations, such as cultural support, to ensure that these
children are able to participate fully in ECEC services and experience positive outcomes.
The NT-IA also supports families, parents and carers of children with additional needs to gain relevant information on appropriate early childhood services to help them to participate in the workforce.
Select the button below to download the Guide to the NQF - Glossary.
Service Delivery Model
The ISP consists of three key elements:
1
Inclusion Agencies (IAs)
In each state and territory, an Inclusion Agency is contracted to assist eligible services build their capacity and capability to provide and embed inclusive practice in their delivery of early learning and care programmes. Section A of the Guidelines outlines the role of IAs and how ECCC services can access IA non-financial support.
2
Inclusion Development Fund (IDF)
The IDF provides funding to assist eligible services to address a barrier to inclusion that cannot be addressed by the support provided by an Inclusion Agency. Sections B, C, D, E and F of the Guidelines outline the Inclusion Development Fund and how services can apply for support.
3
Inclusion Development Fund Manager
A single national Inclusion Development Fund Manager is contracted to provide nationally consistent and equitable management of the IDF through assessing applications for funding and communicating outcomes to services. Section G of the Guidelines outlines the role of the Inclusion Development Fund Manager and how it interacts with services.