Reasonable Adjustments at School: What Australian Parents Are Legally Entitled to Demand

Your child has a disability. You asked the school for support. The school said they're "doing what they can." That is not a legal response — it is a deflection. Australia has a federal law that spells out precisely what schools must do, and "what we can" is not the standard.

The Disability Standards for Education 2005 (DSE 2005) requires every Australian school — government, Catholic, and independent — to make reasonable adjustments for students with disability. Understanding exactly what that means, and where the limits of that obligation sit, is the foundation of effective advocacy.

What the Law Actually Says

The DSE 2005 was formulated under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA). Together, they create a legally enforceable framework covering five areas of education: enrolment, participation, curriculum development, student support services, and the elimination of harassment and victimisation.

A reasonable adjustment is a measure or action taken to assist a student with disability to access education on the same basis as students without disability. The DSE defines "same basis" as being able to engage in learning, use facilities, and access curriculum in a way that is comparable — not identical — to what non-disabled peers experience.

Critically, the DSE 2005 mandates that before implementing adjustments, the school must consult with you. The school cannot unilaterally decide what adjustments are appropriate and implement them without your input. If meetings are happening without you, that is itself a potential breach.

What Counts as a Reasonable Adjustment

There is no fixed list of reasonable adjustments. The law is deliberately broad because disability presents differently and contexts vary. However, common categories include:

For cognitive disabilities: Extended time on tasks and assessments; visual schedules and colour-coded materials; alternative assessment formats (oral instead of written); simplified written instructions; preferential seating near the teacher; chunked assignments with interim check-ins.

For physical disabilities: Ergonomic seating and furniture; speech-to-text technology to bypass fine motor fatigue; accessible room layouts; modified timetables to account for fatigue or medical appointments; permission to use assistive devices.

For sensory disabilities: Noise-cancelling headphones; preferential seating away from high-traffic areas; scheduled sensory or movement breaks; reduction of fluorescent lighting; advance warning before loud events.

For social/emotional disabilities: Advance notice before transitions; a designated calm space the student can access independently; explicit social scripts and visual cues; positive behaviour support plans; modified discipline procedures that do not use suspension as a default response to disability-related behaviour.

An adjustment must be specific and documented. "We're keeping an eye on him" is not an adjustment. A weekly check-in logged in the student's planning document is.

The "Same Basis" Test

The adjustment is only legally required if it enables participation on the same basis as peers. This does not mean identical — it means meaningfully equivalent access. A student with dyslexia who is given double time on a reading assessment is not receiving an advantage. They are receiving the conditions under which their performance reflects their knowledge rather than their disability.

Schools sometimes frame adjustments as giving one student an unfair advantage over others. This is not a valid legal position. The DSE 2005 explicitly requires that the adjustment benefit the student with disability, balanced against the interests of other students. Where an adjustment genuinely disadvantages other students' learning (a rare situation), the school must find an alternative — not simply decline.

What "Unjustifiable Hardship" Actually Means

Schools can decline to make a specific adjustment if implementing it would cause "unjustifiable hardship" — but this exemption is much harder to invoke than most schools imply.

Unjustifiable hardship requires the school to demonstrate that it has exhausted all reasonable funding avenues, explored all alternative forms of the adjustment, and that the financial or operational burden remains genuinely unsustainable. The landmark 2000 Federal Court case Finney v. Hills Grammar School established that a well-resourced institution cannot simply claim financial hardship. The school must actively engage with the problem. Scarlett Finney, a six-year-old student with spina bifida, was awarded $42,628 in damages after Hills Grammar relied on generalised assumptions about cost rather than actually assessing her specific needs.

In modern case law, unjustifiable hardship is rarely successfully invoked against government schools or well-resourced independent schools. If a principal tells you a specific adjustment is impossible due to hardship, ask them to provide written documentation of what alternatives were explored and why each was rejected.

What to Do When a School Is Not Making Reasonable Adjustments

Start by documenting everything. The moment you believe the school is failing to meet its obligations, keep a log of every conversation — date, time, who said what. Follow up verbal conversations with brief emails: "Thanks for meeting today. As I understand it, the school's position is X. Can you confirm?" This paper trail is essential if the matter escalates.

Step 1: Request a formal planning meeting. Ask the school to convene an IEP, learning support, or planning meeting to specifically discuss what adjustments will be documented and implemented. Ask for this in writing, citing the DSE 2005 obligation to consult.

Step 2: Put your concerns in writing. If the school refuses to make adjustments you believe are reasonable, write to the principal outlining what you have requested, what the school has declined, and which DSE 2005 obligations you believe are engaged. A letter citing specific legal provisions is much harder to deflect than a verbal complaint.

Step 3: Escalate within the system. If the school does not respond adequately, escalate to the regional director or the state education department's complaints unit. State ombudsmen can investigate procedural failures.

Step 4: File an external complaint. If internal channels fail, you can file a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) under the DDA 1992, or with your state's anti-discrimination body. The AHRC will attempt to resolve the matter through conciliation — a structured negotiation between you and the school. If conciliation fails, you receive the right to escalate to the Federal Circuit Court.

Knowing your rights in writing — before you walk into the meeting — changes the dynamic entirely. The Australia Disability Assessment Decoder includes the exact letter templates for requesting adjustments, the legal citations to use, and the step-by-step escalation pathway when a school refuses.

The Trap Parents Fall Into

The most common mistake is accepting verbal assurances that adjustments are "happening." Without documentation, they may not exist in the eyes of the NCCD evidence requirement. Schools must document that adjustments have been implemented for at least 10 weeks to count the student in their NCCD submission. If the school tells you things are fine but has no written plan, no logged adjustments, and no review date — the "adjustments" are not real in any administratively enforceable sense.

Push for everything in writing. Request a copy of your child's planning document, their NCCD adjustment level, and the specific adjustments being counted as evidence. If those documents don't exist or are vague, you now know exactly what to ask for.

The law is on your side. Learning to use it effectively is the skill the school system does not teach parents.

See more Australia guides →