Universal Design for Learning and QDTP Within the NCCD

The answer to supporting this diversity is Universal Design for Learning.

The Australian Government, through the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability, defines Universal Design for Learning as an approach that considers the needs of all learners from the beginning. This results in flexible teaching that enables everyone to access education.

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership refers to Universal Design for Learning as a framework that supports teachers to develop lesson plans and assessments that accommodate all learners.

This is achieved by providing students with:

- multiple ways of engaging with the learning process - multiple ways for teachers to demonstrate the knowledge and skills within the Content Descriptions - multiple ways for students to demonstrate the Achievement Standards, where a specific method has not been explicitly named

Universal Design for Learning allows teachers to provide students with personalised learning. It helps them meet the diverse capabilities of every student.

To provide this approach, teachers first need to identify the strengths and barriers to learning, or functional impacts, of all students within their classroom.

They then use the Universal Design for Learning framework to identify Tier 1 pedagogical strategies that use these strengths and reduce these barriers.

These targeted strategies allow teachers to cater for the diverse needs of learners by providing adjustments that are not greater than those used to meet the needs of diverse learners.

Within the NCCD, this level of support is referred to as Quality Differentiated Teaching Practice, or QDTP.

QDTP is not about doing something separate for one student. It is about teaching in a way that makes the classroom more accessible for many students, including students with disability.

Within the Australian Curriculum V9.0, the term write is defined as producing text using pencils, pens, digital tools and/or technologies, and/or using a scribe. Writers plan, compose, edit, and publish in print or digital forms.

Many students can provide a handwritten response. But handwriting does not meet the diverse needs of all learners.

Digital tools like typing and speech-to-text software can meet the needs of diverse learners. They are examples of QDTP supports within the NCCD.

These tools may target the functional impacts of specific students with disability. But they are also good for all learners.

That is the key point. A strategy can support a student with disability and still sit naturally inside strong classroom teaching.

For a student to be included in the NCCD, the school must have evidence that adjustments have been provided for a minimum period of 10 weeks of school education, excluding school holiday periods, in the 12 months preceding the census day.

The minimum 10-week period does not need to be consecutive. It can be cumulative and split across school terms in the 12 months before census day.

Teachers often ask two practical questions:

- What does 10 weeks of evidence look like? - What does a week of evidence look like for NCCD purposes?

The NCCD 10-week rule assists schools with this decision. Where a student receives adjustments for any amount of time within a school week, that constitutes a week for the purposes of the 10-week rule.

At the QDTP level, if a student with disability has a barrier to learning related to handwriting and is provided with the opportunity to use typing or speech-to-text software at least once per week, they can be included in the count.

That is because use of typing or speech-to-text software once in a school week constitutes a week of evidence for the purposes of the NCCD.

Important: This flexibility does not apply to Extensive adjustments, which must be in place at all times.

For more on adjustment levels, see the NCCD adjustment levels guide.

Some students with disability will still need more support.

This is where the strengths and barriers to learning of specific individual students need to be known.

Some of these needs may already be supported by the classroom teacher's Tier 1 pedagogy. Only the needs not already addressed require further individualised support.

For example, a student who is quadriplegic may not be able to handwrite, type, or use speech-to-text software during Tier 1 teaching.

This student may need eye-gaze technology, which still falls within the definition of write within the Australian Curriculum V9.0.

These individualised supports provide evidence along the continuum from Supplementary to Extensive adjustments.

Decisions about levels for each student included in the NCCD are made at the end of the NCCD cycle by looking at the breadth of evidence. Teachers and educational specialists then collaboratively decide category and level.

For guidance on the coordinator's role in these decisions, see the NCCD coordinator role guide.

The NCCD process is like keeping a logbook for a car for the purposes of the Australian Taxation Office.

A driver uses their car regularly, but the ATO requires a logbook to be kept for a specific period. The logbook must contain specific details to meet ATO requirements.

Schools provide supports to students with disability throughout the school year. The NCCD is a 10-week snapshot of this support.

The support of the student with disability drives the work. The NCCD process records the work.

Like a logbook, the NCCD requires specific evidence. Schools need evidence in four areas:

- assessed individual needs of the student - adjustments being provided to the student to address their assessed needs associated with disability - ongoing monitoring and review of the adjustments - consultation and collaboration with the student and/or associates

For a deeper look at these four evidence areas, see the NCCD evidence guide.

How can schools provide evidence that adjustments are being provided to students, and that monitoring and review has taken place, without adding to a teacher's workload?

Many schools ask teachers to write reflection notes about the supports that have been put in place.

Molina et al. 2024 asserts that 87% of the time, teachers are not implementing high-quality inclusive practices within the classroom. This suggests there may be a gap between perception of what has been implemented and reality within the classroom.

This raises an important question. What happens if teachers are writing reflection notes on something that has not actually been implemented?

The Australian Government suggests that one way to provide evidence that adjustments have been implemented, and that monitoring and review has occurred, is to have a third party conduct a quick observation of the lesson.

During this observation, the third party documents:

- the date of observation - names or initials of students receiving the adjustment - the adjustment being put in place - what was observed - any areas for improvement

For confidentiality reasons, initials should be used instead of full student names where appropriate.

A third-party observation could provide evidence of the implementation of typing, speech-to-text software, or eye-gaze technology.

Classroom teachers can then focus on supporting students, not unnecessary bureaucracy.

Universal Design for Learning helps teachers plan for learner diversity from the beginning.

Within the NCCD, many UDL-informed classroom strategies can also provide evidence of Quality Differentiated Teaching Practice when they address the functional impacts of disability.

The goal is not to create paperwork for its own sake. The goal is to support students well, then keep clear evidence that the support happened.

Superadjust helps teachers log NCCD evidence while the adjustment is happening, so QDTP does not become another after-hours admin task.

See how Superadjust makes NCCD evidence a 3-second habit.