What can the Inclusion Support Program offer me?
Under the Inclusion Support Program (ISP), the Victorian Inclusion Agency provides free support to eligible education and care services.
We work in three ways:
- Our Inclusion Professionals* work locally with services, educators and groups. Contact your local Inclusion Professional now.
- We lend equipment that supports the inclusion of children with a disability or undergoing assessment, through the Specialist Equipment Library.
- When a service cannot resolve a specific barrier to inclusion through the support of their Inclusion Professional, they may be able to access the Inclusion Development Fund. Our Inclusion Professionals support services to make that application.
*If you have engaged in inclusion support in the past, you might remember meeting an inclusion support worker or Inclusion Support Facilitator under the Inclusion and Professional Support Program (IPSP). Inclusion support consultants under the ISP are called Inclusion Professionals (IPs).
What is an Inclusion Professional?
An Inclusion Professional is an experienced early or middle childhood consultant who supports services and educators to embed inclusive practice and overcome barriers to inclusion.
How can my local Inclusion Professional support me?
Our Inclusion Professionals offer:
- Help developing a Strategic Inclusion Plan (SIP), so your service can access inclusion support
- Program support and practical strategies
- One-to-one and group mentoring
- Access to specialist equipment and funding for children with additional needs
- Facilitation and participation in local networks and links to community services
- Online resources that support good practice
- Help applying for Inclusion Development Funding
Our Inclusion Professionals support the inclusion of all children – especially children with additional needs – including:
- Children with disability, undergoing assessment, or with serious medical conditions
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
- Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- Children from refugee or humanitarian backgrounds
- Children presenting with language and speech delays
- Children presenting with challenging or disruptive behaviour
- Children with a trauma-informed background
Wondering how Inclusion Professionals have supported services?
How Darebin services are working towards embedding Aboriginal perspectives
Despite the City of Darebin being home to 1,200 Aboriginal people, few Aboriginal children were attending long day care. Together with their Inclusion Professional, a group of local services applied for Innovative Solutions funding. The application was a success. With the funding, respected local Aboriginal Elder – Uncle Trevor Gallagher – built their capacity to embed Aboriginal perspectives in their services.
How specialist equipment helped one child interact with her peers
In one service, educators worked with their local Inclusion Professional to understand barriers to inclusion for a child with an undiagnosed neurological disability. Together with their Inclusion Professional, the service realised that a specialist chair would allow the child to play alongside the other children. Since borrowing the equipment from our Specialist Equipment Library, the child’s gross motor skills and core strength has significantly improved.
What educators are saying about our Inclusion Professionals:
- ‘My [Inclusion Professional] set up a new network so that I could attend meetings. This has been brilliant as I have been a single educator model for several years.’
- ‘This service has been so important to us and we are very grateful for all the assistance that we get.’
- ‘[Our Inclusion Professional] has shown she has a wide and extensive knowledge of services we can contact for members of our community.’
- ‘[Our Inclusion Professional] has been very open and supportive as our service has a high percentage of children from CaLD backgrounds.’
- ‘[Our Inclusion Professional] worked effectively and closely with us to help with inclusion supports for a child with a very rare set of disabilities.’
Who delivers the Inclusion Support Program in Victoria?
The Victorian Inclusion Agency is a consortium of three organisations that work closely together to support services. We are led by Community Child Care Association, in partnership with Yooralla and KU Children’s services.
How do I access inclusion support?
Contact your local Inclusion Professional now
Handy inclusion support forms
Inclusion planning for SIP (paper-based)
Long day care, outside school hours and occasional care services can use this form to gather and document planning information required to be inputted into the Inclusion Support Portal, if they wish to have a record outside of the portal.
Inclusion planning for SIP (paper-based) form
Inclusion planning for SIP: Whole family day care service (paper-based)
Family day care services can use this form to gather and document planning information required to be inputted into the Inclusion Support Portal, if they wish to have a record outside of the portal.
Inclusion planning for SIP: Whole family day care service (paper-based) form
Inclusion planning for SIP: Family day care educator (paper-based)
Family day care educators can use this form to gather and document planning information required to be inputted into the Inclusion Support Portal, if they wish to have a record outside of the portal.
Inclusion planning for SIP: Family day care educator (paper-based) form
Parental consent form (Community Child Care Association)
This permission form is suitable for education and care services located in the following local government areas: Ballarat, Banyule, Bendigo, Buloke, Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Darebin, Gannawarra, Greater Bendigo, Hepburn, Loddon, Macedon Ranges, Melbourne, Mildura, Mitchell, Moorabool, Merri-bek, Mount Alexander, Swan Hill, Whittlesea and Yarra.
Parental consent form (Community Child Care Association)
Parental consent form (KU Children’s Services)
This permission form is suitable for education and care services located in the following local government areas: Alpine, Ararat, Bayside, Benalla, Boroondara, Brimbank, Colac Otway, Corangamite, Glen Eira, Glenelg, Golden Plains, Greater Geelong, Greater Shepparton, Hindmarsh, Hobson's Bay, Horsham, Hume, Indigo, Kingston, Mansfield, Maribyrnong, Melton, Moira, Monash, Moonee Valley, Moyne, Northern Grampians, Port Phillip, Pyrenees, Queenscliffe, Southern Grampians, Stonnington, Strathbogie, Surf Coast, Towong, Wangaratta, Warrnambool, West Wimmera, Wodonga, Wyndham and Yarriambiack.
Parental consent form (KU Children’s Services)
Parental consent form (Yooralla)
This permission form is suitable for education and care services located the following local government areas: Bass Coast, Baw Baw, Cardinia, Casey, East Gippsland, Frankston, Greater Dandenong, Latrobe City, Manningham, Maroondah, Mornington Peninsula, Murrindindi, Nillumbik, South Gippsland, Wellington, Whitehorse and Yarra Ranges.
Parental consent form (Yooralla)
Department of Education permission to share personal information form
This permission form is used for families and guardians to consent to share their child's personal information in the course of accessing support through the Inclusion Support Program
Permission to share personal information form
State-based acknowledgement form
This form is for education and care services that acknowledge they have appropriately explored all Victorian state-based resourcing options, such as KIS funding and PSFO support, before contacting the Victorian Inclusion Agency to explore further support and resourcing.